Lahiri Mahasaya

Shyama Charan Lahiri (30 September 1828 – 26 September 1895), best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi guru who founded the Kriya Yoga school. In 1861, his non-physical master Mahavatar Babaji appeared to him, ordering him to revive the yogic science of Kriya Yoga to the public after centuries of its guarding by masters. He was unusual among Indian holy people in that he was a householder, marrying, raising a family, and working as a government accountant, an “Ideal yogi-householder.” He became known in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda, a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, and through Yogananda’s 1946 book Autobiography of a Yogi, considering him a Yogavatar, or “Incarnation of Yoga,” since Lahiri himself was chosen by the yogic masters to disseminate the principles of yoga to the world.