heaven should do the AGNICHAYANA, or “building of
the fire altar,” ritual for Savitri.
The name is derived from the SANSKRIT su (to
incite or impel). Savitri thus brings to life or com-
pels thoughts and action. This seems only natural
for the Sun, who wakens the world and keeps it
alive by its life-giving rays.
Further reading: Alfred Hillebrandt, Vedic Mythology
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990); P. Pandit, Aditi and
Other Deities in the Veda (Pondicherry: Dipti, 1970); W.
J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic (Cal-
cutta: Rupa, 1973).
Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission See SANT
MAT MOVEMENT.
Scandinavia
The Scandinavian countries were preponderantly
Christian until the middle of the 20th century; the
Lutheran Church had been the established religion
for centuries. While a spectrum of Christian sects
appeared during the 19th century, the first break in
the Christian consensus appears to have occurred
early in the 20th century with the spread of THEOS-
OPHY to Scandinavia and the subsequent formation
of several esoteric groups such as the Martinus
Institute, founded in Denmark in the 1940s.
Hinduism was introduced into Scandinavia
in 1967 as a result of the teachings of Swami
NARAYANANANDA (1902–88), a YOGA teacher from
Bengal. He had been discovered by some Danes
who were traveling in India and they created the
first ashram for his work in Gylling, Denmark.
In 1969 they erected a house for Swami Naraya-
nananda, who made his first trip to Europe in
- He regularly visited Europe throughout the
rest of his life, and the Narayanananda Universal
Yoga Ashrams spread to the other Scandinavian
countries.
As a youth, a Dane later known as Swami
Janakananda (b. 1939) began practicing YOGA
and MEDITATION. Then in 1968 he met Swami
Satyananda Saraswati (b. 1923), founder of the
INTERNATIONAL YOGA FELLOWSHIP MOVEMENT, and
went to India to study at the Bihar School of
Yoga. He became a SWAMI, was given his spiritual
name, and returned to his homeland two years
later to found the Scandinavian Yoga and Medi-
tation School in Copenhagen. Shortly thereafter
he published Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in
Daily Life, later translated into nine languages.
In 1977, Janakananda organized “Meditation
Yoga 77,” an international yoga congress held
in Stockholm. He invited an international list
of speakers, reflecting the many Indian teachers
who would visit the Scandinavian school in suc-
ceeding years. He later opened a retreat center in
southern Sweden. As did Narayanananda’s move-
ment, the school spread to the other Scandinavian
countries. The first affiliated Norwegian school
opened in 1983. In more recent years, other yoga
centers, such as the Ashtanga Yoga Center of Hel-
sinki, have opened in major Scandinavian urban
centers.
Already in the 1970s, the expansive INTERNA-
TIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS tar-
geted the Scandinavian countries. They opened
their first center in Sweden and eventually spread
to Denmark and Finland. Today they maintain a
large temple in Grodinge, some 25 miles south of
Stockholm.
In 1974, Sri CHINMOY (b. 1931) visited Iceland
and subsequently formed the only Hindu commu-
nity on the island. Chinmoy, noted for his physi-
cal feats, once lifted the prime minister of Iceland
as part of a weightlifting demonstration.
In the 1980s, a small number of Indians
began to find their way to Denmark and Sweden.
By the beginning of the 21st century, there were
some 1,500 Hindus in Sweden and around 3,500
in Denmark. Wherever concentrations of immi-
grants settled, temples and community orga-
nizations began to appear, among the first the
Hindu Union in Jönköping, Sweden, founded
in 1974. The larger community in StockholmScandinavia 391 J