Swami Shyam, born in Chandani, Jalaun district, Uttar Pradesh, India, was raised in the Vedic tradition of Knowledge of the Self. Shyam has meditated, studied and been dedicated to this tradition since his early childhood, when his father invited Swami Ramanand, a guru from Uttar Pradesh, to live in their home. Swami Ramanand initiated the young Shyam in meditation, and the family home became a meeting place for satsang for those who lived in the region. Ramanand taught the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures, as well as meditation. In 1973 Shyam moved to Kullu, Valley of Gods, Himachal Pradesh, India. Meditation and knowledge of the self are the essence of Shyam's teachings. He has meditated, studied and taught meditation throughout his life, and established organisations for the continuation of this work, such as the International Meditation Institute, which he founded in 1976 in Kullu; Shanti-Sneh Abhiyan, which he formed in 1986 in Kullu; and the Man-Friend Association, which he founded in the early 1960s in Chandigarh, India. In 1986, at the First International Yog Conference in New Delhi, Shyam was awarded the Yog Shiromani Award by the President of India, Giani Zail Singh, for his work in the field of meditation and self-realization and the 1974 Integrity Award presented by Geoff Stirling on behalf of Apache Communications in Gander, Newfoundland. Shyam has spoken by invitation to thousands of people throughout India and in Europe, North America and South America, at international conferences, organisations, universities and schools, as well as on television and radio. The published works of Shyam include original works in English and Hindi, as well as translations with commentaries of ancient Sanskrit texts, published by the International Meditation Institute. Some of these books have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Punjabi, Norwegian and other languages. He wrote every day, sometimes several times, culminating in thousands of writings based on his own practice and inner research. In addition to prose, Shyam had seven published volumes of poetry; he has written over 10,000 poems. His poetry speaks of the knowledge of the universal Self, meditation and the sense of love and devotion. It is written in classical meters, which are traditionally sung. Lauded twentieth- and twenty-first-century Hindi poets Mahadevi Varma and Gopaldas Neeraj, as well as scholars of Hindi literature, Laxmi Narayan and Ganpati Chandra Gupta, have written introductions to his published volumes of poetry. Academic theses have been written on his philosophy and his creative works. The basis of Shyam's teachings is meditation. The core of his teachings is the vision of oneness, the knowledge of I, you, or self, which he says is "pure, free, forever, birthless and deathless." This knowledge, he says, is unfolded through the practice of meditation, study and the application of that knowledge in a person's waking state. His mantra, "Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum", means, "I am eternal, I am blissful." It encapsulates the essence of Shyam's philosophy and teachings.
Books about Shyam
Below is a selection of published books and PhD dissertations on the poetry, philosophy and life of Shyam: In Hindi:
• Shyam Sandesh: Swami Shyam ke Sakshatkar by Vishwaprakash Dixit "Batuk"
• Hindi Bhakti Yog Kavya Parampara aur Shyam Kavya by Rameshwar Prasad Dvivedi
• Swami Shyam: Vishwa-Sant tatha Guru Shreshth by Anita Naiyyar
A Human Being Should Know that the Self Never Dies, 2011 Translations of Sanskrit Texts
Bhagavad Gita, 1985
Bhagavad Gita: A Precise Rendering, 2001
Bhagavad Gita: The Importance of Human Life, 2009
Patanjali Yog Darshan, 1980, 1990, 2001
Light of Knowledge: Shankaracharya's Vivek Chudamani, 1977, 2011
The Avadhoot Gita, 2007
Ashtavakr Gita: Simplified Knowledge of the Self, 2001
Ashtaavakr Gita: A Precise Study of the Human Mind, 2001
Ashtaawakr Gita: The Scripture of Knowledge for All Times, 1998 Books in Hindi
Dhyan Kyon?
Patanjali Yog Darshan
Nirbandh Man
Shyam Sudha, 1981, 1990
Shyam Amrit
Shyam Jyoti, 1984
Shyam Amar, 1989
Shyam Rang
Shyam Gitavali, 2002
Films about Shyam
In 1977, Film Australia released a documentary film entitled Swami Shyam in the series Our Asian Neighbors: India, produced by Bruce Moir and directed by Chris Noonan. Film Australia summarised the documentary: "A guru and his followers live in an ashram in Kulu Valley, within the Himalayas. The audience is directly involved in experiencing an Indian Swami. The film ends with one of the Swami's three-minute lessons in meditation." In 1995, Jean-Pierre Piché directed Sadhana: Back to the Source, a docu-drama in which a seeker meets four teachers from different parts of India. The fourth segment is his meeting with Shyam in the Himalayas, including an initiation into the technique of meditation.
