The tradition of the Siddhas preserves a list
of 84 masters of the lineage. Several of the names
are shared in a corresponding Tibetan Buddhist
Siddha tradition. The most famous Siddha master
was GORAKHNATH (Gorakshanatha); his name is
included in both Tibetan and Indian lists. In India
he is supposed to have been born between 900
and 1200 C.E.
The Siddhas practiced alchemy, ingesting poi-
sonous oxides of mercury to achieve bodily
immortality. They were known for their extreme
asceticism, antisocial behavior, frightening appear-
ance, and supernatural powers. They were often
also associated with magical healing. The Siddhas
were tantric and accepted membership from any
caste. The modern tradition of SWA M I MUKTANANDA
refers to itself as Siddha Yoga; it reveres a lineage
of Siddha masters who have characteristics in
common with Siddhas elsewhere, but of course
also the 84 Siddhas of tradition.
The Tamil Shaivite tradition has a body of litera-
ture dating from as early as 600 C.E. tracing what is
called a Sittar tradition (the word is from the same
Sanskrit root), which resembles the larger Siddha
cult. The first of these Sittars was considered to
be TIRUMULAR, who wrote Tirumantiram, perhaps
the first important tantric text, outlining KUNDALINI
YOGA and describing other tantric practices.
Further reading: George Weston Briggs, Gorakhnath
and the Kanphata Yogis (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1982); John Campbell Oman, The Mystics, Ascetics and
Saints of India (Delhi: Oriental, 1983); David Gordon
White, The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medi-
eval India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996);
Kamil V. Zvelebil, The Poets of the Powers (London:
Rider, 1973); ———, The Siddha Quest for Immortality
(Oxford: Mandrake, 1996).
Siddhaswarupananda, Jagad Guru
(1948– ) independent bhakti yogi
The American-born yogi Jagad Guru Siddhaswa-
rupananda was a teacher in the INTERNATIONAL
SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS (ISKCON)
before forming his own offshoot organization.
Chris Butler was born in 1948 in New Orleans,
Louisiana, but moved to Hawaii as an infant and
grew up in the islands. His interest in religion in
general and YOGA in particular emerged during his
last years of high school. He studied with the YOGA
teachers available to him and experienced SAMA-
DHI sublime consciousness. As a young man, he
founded the Haiku School of Nirvana Yoga (also
known as the Haiku Meditation Center) on the
island of Maui, where he taught ASHTANGA YOGA
and KUNDALINI YOGA.
Around 1970 he met Srila BHAKTIVEDANTA
SWAMI PRABHUPADA, the founder of ISKCON. Butler
accepted Bhaktivedanta’s teaching of devotional or
BHAKTI yoga and his emphasis on a personal deity,
as opposed to Butler’s previous belief in an imper-
sonal divinity. Butler closed his work in Hawaii
and accepted an initiation from Bhaktivedanta to
join his movement. He remained with ISKCON
until after Prabhupada died in 1977.
In the year after Bhaktivedanta died, Butler
concluded that his GURU had emerged as a non-
appointed pure devotee who held his status by
virtue of his own spiritual attainment, not via his
relationship to the GAUDIYA MAT H center. Shortly
before his death Bhaktivedanta, following the
example of his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta, appointed
12 men to manage the math. Similarly, Bhaktive-
danta appointed 12 men to manage ISKCON.
None of these appointees was a guru by virtue of
this appointment; each could be a guru only as an
unappointed, but accomplished, devotee.
Butler assumed that he was such an unap-
pointed guru, and, in 1978, as Jagad Guru Sid-
dhaswarupananda, he began to initiate disciples.
He founded the Science of Identity Foundation as
a vehicle to facilitate his teachings. He has led a
rather low-key existence, traveling constantly and
staying in various locations for relatively short
periods as he is invited by his initiates. He has
written several short books and produced a vari-
ety of video and audio materials for his followers.Siddhaswarupananda, Jagad Guru 411 J