Three months after he arrived in the United
States Dr. Chaudhuri founded the Cultural Inte-
gration Fellowship in San Francisco, with the aim
of furthering universal religion, cultural harmony,
and creative self-development. This was the first
major ASHRAM in the country dedicated to the
values of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The Cul-
tural Integration Fellowship in 2001 celebrated its
50th birthday and still flourishes under the guid-
ance of Bina Chaudhuri.
In 1968 Dr. Chaudhuri founded the California
Institute of Asian Studies in San Francisco (which
in 1981 became the California Institute of Inte-
gral Studies). This graduate school is devoted to
the promotion of cultural understanding between
East and West, offering masters’ and doctoral
degrees in philosophy, psychology, Asian stud-
ies, and interdisciplinary studies. Dr. Chaudhuri
started an accreditation process for the school
that reached its fruition in 1981, six years after
his untimely death of a heart attack there in June
1975.
Dr. Chaudhuri wrote numerous books in
English. Among them are Modern Man’s Religion
(1966), Philosophy of Integralism (1954), The
Rhythm of the Truth (1958), Shri Aurobindo: Prophet
of the Life Divine (1959), and Integral Yoga: The
Concept of Harmonious and Creative Living (1965).
He wrote two lesser known books in Bengali: Ma
(1944) and Sri Auboinder Sadhana (1949).
Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri had a strong impact
on philosophical and religious studies and affairs
in the San Francisco Bay area and beyond. He
was host to Swami MUKTANANDA at the Cultural
Integration Fellowship on one of the Swami’s first
trips to the United States. He also played host
there to the American spiritual figures Alan Watts,
Ram Dass, and Sant Keshavadas. He hosted and
provided venues for such famous musicians as
Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan in their early
years of touring of the United States.
Among his students and those he strongly influ-
enced can be counted Michael Murphy, cofounder
of Esalen Institute, and Michael Toms, founder
of New Dimensions radio, both in California. Dr.
Chaudhuri also kept up an active correspondence
with his Asian friend U Thant, secretary-general
of the United Nations in the 1960s.Further reading: Haridas Chaudhuri, Integral Yoga: The
Concept of Harmonious and Creative Living (Wheaton,
Ill. The Theosophical Publishing House, 1965); ———,
Modern Man’s Religion (Santa Barbara, Calif.: J. F. Rowny
Press, 1966).Chetanananda, Swami (1949– ) teacher of
Kashmir Shaivism and Trika Yoga
Swami Chetanananda is an American teacher in
the tradition of Swami RUDRANANDA. At his two
institutes, he propounds a SHAIVISM that generally
downplays asceticism and withdrawal from life
and draws on Tibetan and Kashmiri practice.
J. Michael Shoemaker was born in Kentucky
the son of a pharmacist and a nurse, both devout
Catholics, and he was raised in the Catholic
faith. He attended school in Connersville, Indi-
ana, where he was a football player and swim-
mer. He attended but dropped out of Indiana
University.
Shoemaker studied with Swami Rudrananda
and lived in his ashram in Big Indian, New
York, until 1973, the year of Rudrananda’s death.
In 1971 he founded the Nityananda Institute
upon instructions from Rudrananda in Bloom-
ington, Indiana, to foster Shaivite teachings. After
Rudrananda’s death, he traveled to India and was
initiated into SANNYAS (renunciation) by Swami
MUKTANANDA in Ganeshpuri, India, in 1978 and
given the name Chetanananda (the bliss of pure
awareness). He was also initiated into the ancient
Tibetan Buddhist ritual practices of Phowa and
Chod, and others from the Longchen Nyingthing
and Padampa Sangye Shi-je tradition.
After Rudrananda’s sudden death, Chetanan-
anda read the Shiva Sutras, a text in the Trika
school of Kashmir Shaivism; he discerned a close
connection with the teachings of Rudrananda.K 106 Chetanananda, Swami