Swami Satchidananda: the saint who opened Woodstock
Part 10 of The Masters Who Crossed the Ocean. In orange robes before half a million young Americans, he opened the Woodstock festival — the most improbable pulpit an Indian master ever stood at.
The Masters Who Crossed the Ocean — Part 10 of 12.
On 15 August 1969, a bearded swami in flowing orange robes descended by helicopter to a stage in upstate New York, sat down before some half a million young Americans, and opened the Woodstock festival. It was the most improbable pulpit any Indian master ever stood at — and Swami Satchidananda made it his.
From Coimbatore to Rishikesh
He was born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder on 22 December 1914, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, into a prosperous family, and worked in business until his young wife died and grief turned him into a seeker. He studied briefly with Sri Aurobindo and at the ashram of Ramana Maharshi — both of whom appear in this series — before finding his guru in Sivananda at Rishikesh, who ordained him in 1949 and gave him the name meaning "existence, consciousness, bliss."
Woodstock
The West reached him through its artists. In 1966 the pop artist Peter Max and others brought him to New York, where he founded the Integral Yoga Institute. Then came Woodstock. Echoing Vivekananda's Chicago address of 1893 — where this series began — he greeted the crowd as "Brothers and Sisters of America," told them that "music is the celestial sound that controls the whole universe," and led half a million people in chanting Sanskrit mantras. Two years later the jazz musician Alice Coltrane named an album Journey in Satchidananda in his honour.
Yogaville — and an honest shadow
He built Yogaville in Virginia and the LOTUS — Light Of Truth Universal Shrine — an interfaith temple expressing his signature teaching, "Truth is One, Paths are Many." He was a genuine early pioneer of interfaith dialogue in America.
An honest profile cannot stop there. From 1991, Satchidananda faced public allegations of sexual misconduct from former students; protesters appeared at his events, and several board members of his organisation resigned. He denied the allegations, no criminal charges were brought, and many devotees remained loyal — but the accusations complicate, without erasing, a life that genuinely globalised yoga. He died on 19 August 2002 after speaking at a peace conference in Chennai.
Next in the series: Neem Karoli Baba, the Himalayan saint behind Be Here Now.
Sources: Wikipedia: Satchidananda Saraswati.
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