English
Who is Swami Gyaneshwarpuri ?
A monk, a yoga and Hindu ascetic, a mystic with roots in Christianity and the Catholic Church
I like to spend time in secluded and remote places with positive energy in the forests of the southern and central parts of the Moravian Karst. I use many of the caves there for meditation purposes. All with the consent of the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area Administration, of course. This is the subject of this original blog, News from the Karst.
"I'd rather you walked with me to the top of the mountain and experienced the sunrise than have myself embark upon glowing accounts of what the sunrise does to you when you gaze at it from the top of the mountain." Anthony de Mello.
That's how "I", Gyaneshwarpuri, feel.
I first came to the limestone rocks, forests, and caves of the Moravian Karst in 1982 as a hiker and speleologist. Since then, I have discovered a total of four unknown caves: Ponorný hrádek and Soví konín on the Skalka Plateau, as well as Milarepova propast v Závrtu u Habrůveckých smrků and Poustevníkova Děravka on the Habrůvka Plateau. I have also discovered many other karst formations, such as sinkholes, etc. However, my most significant discovery took place in collaboration with my friends in the historic underground of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Křtiny. This is how the legendary painted skulls of unknown saints from the underground ossuary beneath the tower of the Křtiny church were discovered. Now that I am a Hindu and yoga monk duly ordained by Vishvaguru Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda from India, I no longer explore caves and just visit them in the Moravian Karst mainly to meditate, chant mantras, contemplate, and relax. My goal is to successfully complete my spiritual journey to God in the Moravian Karst in the Czech Republic in this one lifetime and achieve Union with Him, that is, to achieve Enlightenment.
Poprvé v hnědé františkánské kutně - jeskyně Kostelík ve Křtinském údolí (2025).
Swami Gyaneshwarpuri is a devoted disciple of His Holiness Vishvaguru Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, Yoga Master and Teacher of the Spiritual Path from India, who he has been a follower of since 1996. During that time, he has undergone a tumultuous spiritual transformation as a result of Kundalini awakening, which, at the age of 53, resulted in his ordination – Sanyas Diksha – as a Hindu and yogic monk at the Maháprabhudíp ashram in Střílky on 23 July 2021. Becoming a swami was a longtime wish and goal of his life. Therefore, he observed the fast and went to the mountains and the forest to meditate. Until his wish literally miraculously came true by the Swamiji's Grace. Since then he has remained in santosha – contentment, all of his worldly desires dissipated, and he is returning to the Spiritual Home from which we came. Swami Gyaneshwarpuri stays as a lonely, silent hermit in the caves of the Moravian Karst. He was lucky enough to have been born near this most sacred place in the Czech Republic, a magical and mystical space, inhabited in the past by shamans and hermits, which he decided to follow. He is not a yoga teacher and does not preach Hinduism. He has the right to use the spiritual title of swami (master of the self) and to wear the orange robe, the dress of Indian yogis and sadhus. He has thus obtained this highest initiation of the Swamiji. He is of a cosmopolitan supra-religious mindset and inner disposition, hence he also worships the Christianity of Jesus, Buddhism, Taoism and other world religions. He is historically the first Hindu monk ordained in the Czech Republic. He writes professional publications in the field of speleology, sacral history and archaeology and, last but not least, his own original mysticism and philosophy, poems, spiritual stories and fairy tales with spiritual lessons. He pursues the Power of Love in all things and walks the Path of Knowledge (jnana yoga) as implied by his spiritual name Gyaneshwarpuri (gyana = jnana), which translates as "He who has understood". He is therefore an inner jnani, which corresponds to his hermit's philosophy of life, incomprehensible at first sight. He has been liberated since birth, but he has not yet realized the highest state of moksha consciousness, when the individual "self" becomes the whole Universe. However, he has his own inner guidance and connection to God, the Divine Self. To realize God and attain Enlightenment is his highest and only Goal in this incarnation to which he dedicates his spiritual yoga sadhana, meditation in retreat, mantra japa, repetition of God's name, prayers, yoga asanas, kriyas, etc. according to Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda's System of Yoga in Daily Life. At present, he often stays in lonely and desolate places in the mountains and forests. He has studied the Bible on his own since childhood, but he has never claimed to be a Christian. Later, he also read the Bhagavad Gita and other Indian scriptures. He also read some Buddhist and Taoist scriptures. However, what appealed to him most was the wisdom of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Paramhansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Hanshan, Bhagwan Sri Dip Narayan Mahaprabhuji and of course Swami Maheshwarananda, in whom he recognized the essence of his spiritual insight into Truth from his meditation caves and mountain hermitages. He also venerates the ideal of the Himalayan yogis of India and St. Francis of Assisi. He does not teach yoga publicly, and as a true jnana, a man of knowledge, he accepts neither yoga students nor personal disciples. Currently, on Swami's recommendation, he lives with his mother in a small ashram in Brno – Bosonohy. The hermit Gyaneshwarpuri is someone who, above all, will not be spoken of, for he combines the boundless humility of Francis' rule with the boundless rigour of Sri Devpuriji against the demons of egoism. This, my friends, is Himalayan yoga in the Czech Republic.