Swami Gurupriyananda Giri
Sudha Ma was born in a loving and devoted Hindu family in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India and grew up in Hyderabad where she spent the remainder of her childhood. Because she was raised in a family with great spiritual discipline, faith in god, prayer and worship came naturally. Her mother, a teacher, meticulously guided her spiritual training and encouraged scriptural reading from a young age. During her child hood she had the great privilege of visiting many holy places and meeting and listening to many monks hoping one day to meet her God-ordained Master. She completed her education receiving a Masters degree in Chemistry from Osmania University where she met and married her husband Harinath. They had three children and she maintained a balanced family life, working, raising her family and continuing her spiritual pursuits.
In 1996, by the grace of God, her relenting search for a guru ended when she met her beloved Gurudev Baba Hariharanandaji and Baba Prajnananandaji, and along with her husband was initiated into Kriya yoga. Since then, Sudha Ma whole heartedly dedicated her time to the service of Guru: transcribing discourses, helping with publications and arranging Kriya lectures at Universities, churches and temples. She has been responsible for the publication of our popular magazine SthitaPrajna. A worldwide traveler, Sudha Ma spent time in most of our Kriya Yoga ashrams in the USA, Europe and India. In 2009, she generously devoted a year to serve as principal at Balashram, our residential school in India for orphaned and under-privileged children.
Finally, on the auspicious day of Mahashivaratri, Feb 20, 2012, blessed with the supreme grace of the Guru, and joined by her husband Harinath, she took the vow of sannyasa, initiation into the monastic order, and became Gurupriyananda, which means the ‘bliss of being dear to the Guru.’ With complete surrender to her Master and unwavering devotion to the path of enlightenment, Swami Gurupriyananda Giri now continues her quest for Truth while serving in the Ashrams.
In 2014, Swami Gurupriyananda Giri authored the book The Road Less Traveled: My Journey to Monkhood in the hope that it will serve to inspire others who follow the same path.
Since 2016, Swami Gurupriyananda has been working with the Australia Kriya Yoga Association. With the grace of God and gurus, a new ashram - Kriya Vidya Mandir was founded and inaugurated on the 18th of April 2018. Besides giving discourses and guiding meditations at the ashram, Swami Gurupriyananda travels to different centers in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, to conduct initiation programs, teach Kriya yoga and organize occasional spiritual retreats.