Swami Shraddhananda

INTRODUCTION

Sw. Shraddhananda, or Mataji, as she is known affectionately in the Sacred Feet Yoga sangha which she founded and headed until transitioning in 2021, is universally known for her scholarly expertise, intellectual honesty, and compassionate willingness to address difficult issues in these turbulent times. She is recognized by Interspiritual leaders and by her students as a Spiritual Teacher who is capable of offering Shaktipat and guiding the sacred energy to completion. Her wisdom, drawing upon decades of scholarly experience and transcendent insight, is both timeless and timely.

The gift of such an accomplished teacher and writer is her ability to lift a reader out of dark, stuck places and to shine a brilliant light on those qualities within that are still to be discovered. As you turn the pages of any of her books, you are likely to experience the delight of self-discovery where a line leaping suddenly off the page draws open the sweetness of the heart. Jesus Was a Shaktipat Guru, and her exquisite book of poetry, Small Claims, Large Encounters, are filled with such Aha! moments.

The generosity of sharing her personal spiritual process and insights skillfully welcomes us into our own journey. Anchored in the Cosmic Heart, Mataji is a powerful wisdom guide for our times.

Mataji's students love the challenge of working with a genuine Spiritual Teacher who has a profound integrity in regard to her students' sadhana. She does not compromise her students' enlightenment. She wants her students to experience and be established in the abundance of sweetness generated by living in the Self--a state that she fully owns herself having imbibed her Guru's teachings.

This is no easy task and demands the student's rigorous application not just to joy-filled spiritual practice but also to the intellectual understanding through scriptural study (Jnana Yoga) and self awareness. Serious students welcome the importance given to Jnana Yoga as part of a balanced spiritual practice, appreciating that such practices bear great fruit.

FORMAL BIOGRAPHY

Rev. Dr. Sw. Shraddhananda, aka Mataji (1948-2021), enjoyed a distinguished career in academic teaching dating back to Allegheny College, a select plus liberal arts institution where she was tenured and promoted to full professor, followed by the Honors Program at the University of Kentucky and service as the first Dean of Graduate Studies at The New Seminary, the oldest Interfaith seminary in the world originally based in New York City.

She was given the name Mataji at Bhagawan Nityananda's first ashram in Kanhangad, South India. Over time, the sacred title was incorporated into her role as head of Sacred Feet Yoga.

She has studied Yoga since 1988 as a disciple of the Siddha lineage as it manifests in Bhagawan Nityananda of Kanhangad and Ganeshpuri. In 2010, she received transmissions for the founding of Sacred Feet Yoga, an Interspiritual path which she headed as disseminator of Shaktipat, the sacred energy known as the Holy Spirit in Christianity. She was also a lifelong Christian, and for eleven years, meditated and studied with the Shambhala Buddhists. She attended Warrior Assembly and was a Registered Shambhala Buddhist Guide.

Sw. Shraddhananda, or Mataji, was Preceptor and Lineage Holder of the Sannyasa prong of the Community of The Mystic Heart, an Interspiritual community anchored in the teachings of Br. Wayne Teasdale. With the approval of the Mahamandaleshwar, she also offered Sannyas in the Saraswati Order of Monastics dating back to Shri Shankaracharya in 8th century India. She was an ordained Exorcist in the Liberal Catholic Movement. She holds a Ph.D. from Emory University and lectured on six continents.