Ajapa, a very ancient form of yoga, is a breathing/meditation technique that was taught thousands of years ago by the Rishis, or wise men, of India. Though it is virtually unknown in modern times, the method of Ajapa Yoga has been carefully guarded through the ages at Siddhashram, a hidden monastery in Tibet.
In the 1860s, Swami Guru Purnanandaji Paramahansa (1834-1928) made the perilous journey to Siddhashram. There he learned the ancient technique of Ajapa Yoga. After five years at Siddhashram, Guru Purnanandaji was ordered by the masters to return to India, to begin the mission of teaching the technique to others.
After Guru Purnanandaji decided to give up his material body, the teaching was maintained unaltered by his disciple, Swami Guru Bhumanandaji Paramahansa (1873-1958), a renowned scholar throughout India. When Guru Bhumanandaji left from this material world, Guru Janardanji Paramahansa (1888-1980) continued the work of teaching Ajapa Yoga, and undertook to spread the knowledge of Ajapa around the world. In 1970 he was invited to visit the Academy of Science in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He was then invited to Germany, Canada and the United States, where he delivered lectures and taught the Ajapa technique.
In 1966, Guru Janardanji found and adopted a baby boy, Guru Prasadji, whom he prepared to carry on the teaching of Ajapa. Shortly before he decided to give up his material body, Guru Janardanji named the boy his successor. Then only fourteen years old, Swami Guru Prasadji Paramahansa took up the responsibility of maintaining the ashrams and guiding the practitioners of Ajapa Yoga. Today he maintains five ashrams and several Ajapa Centers around the world.
