हरिःॐ
I was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany, with a German mother and an Indian father, but spent most of my years of study and practice in the holy city of Vārāṇasī, my father's hometown, where I have lived since 1997 in a small aśrama on the Hariśacandra cremation ground directly on the banks of the Ganges. My great-uncle Śrī Kauśal Kiśor Śrīvastava introduced me to spiritual science there in the early years. From the very beginning my Sanskrit studies were shaped by Śrī Vāgīsa Śāstrī, who authorised me in Veda and Vāgyoga. I studied for some time at the Sampūrnānanda Sanskrit University in Vārāṇasī and Classical Indology at the University of Heidelberg, and received instructions in yoga from R. Sriram from the age of 16. Other teachers were Śrī Rāmanātha Śarma (Veda) and Śrī Nārāyaṇa Miśra (Philosophy).
My own practice goes back to the tradition of a South Indian master - we are Samayacāris of an intact Śrīvidyā Sampradāya tradition - my revered teacher is the example of a strong female guru at the helm. Furthermore, since 2004 I have studied Kashmiri Śaivism with growing devotion under Dr. Mark Dyczkowski, for 16 years as his closest disciple. To my own delight, since 2012 I have was able to spend a lot of time practising in the Nandadevi mountains in the Himalayas and have been commuting between India and southern Germany for 30 years now, with a teaching profession since 2006. I also perform small to large rituals as a priest and have been skateboarding since I was seven years old - that was a long time ago, because I still do it. In recent years I have also written a series of books on Sanskrit mantras and rituals (Mantraśikṣā) and a series on the basic texts of Kashmiri Śaivism (Śaivaśikṣā), which I am currently working on publishing in both English and German. Teachers
Tradition
Tradition in Sanskrit means paramparā, 'that which is passed on from one to another'. In India we have a very great tradition, and above all a tradition that has existed uninterruptedly for thousands of years. We refer to the Ṛṣis of the Veda, to the Yogis and Mahāyogis, to the sacred Sanskrit language, to Yoga, Veda and Tantra. We refer to philosophy and knowledge, to the energy body and ritual... to the entire Dharma, in short, we refer to the entire traditional soul wisdom and spiritual science of Indian culture, which has always examined the human being in all its depths. They are teachings charged with the power of consciousness that our teachers embody for us, so they accompany us on this path of self-knowledge. They tell us where to concentrate and what concentration is. They exemplify spiritual thoughts for us and their light draws us to the other side.
