Swami Satchidananda

Indian-American yoga and spiritual teacher, inventor of the "Integral Yoga" system widely popularized in the West (22 December 1914, Chettipalayam, Tamil Nadu — 19 August 2002, Madras, South India). Satchidananda Saraswati (born C.K. Ramaswamy Gounder), known as Sri Swami Satchidananda, established the Pharoah Sanders, to Sri Swami; Coltrane was his close disciple. The guru's name Saccidānanda is a compound of three Sanskrit words, "sat" (essence), "cit" (consciousness) and "ānanda" (bliss).

Ramaswamy was born to a wealthy family of landowners. He embarked on a mediational tour across India after losing his wife, studying with various gurus, including briefly Ramana Maharshi. In 1949, Gounder met his core teacher, Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887—1963), founder of the Divine Life Society (DLS). Sivananda ordained Ramaswamy into "sannyasa" and gave him a new name. Swami Satchidananda studied with him for over 17 years and became one of his teacher's best-known missionaries after Vishnudevananda (1927—1993).

In 1966, filmmaker Integral Yoga Institute on New York City's Upper West Side.

Following a sold-out public lecture at Integral Yoga Communications imprints. In 1976, Satchidananda naturalized as a US citizen.

In 1991, a group of former students brought public accusations of Satchidananda's sexual misconduct. However, the guru never saw any legal action, and the publicity crisis didn't tame his reputation. Swami continued publishing and touring with lectures for another decade; he died, aged 87, after a conference in South India and was buried at his US residence in Yogaville.