Additional information
by Swami Yogananda (Author)
Acharya Matilal Thakur (Matilal Mukhopadhyay) was born in the sacred land of Chatra, a serene neighborhood in Serampore, nestled within the divine embrace of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Revered Matilal Mukhopadhyay Thakur, graced this earthly realm with his divine presence on December 30, 1866, as per the English calendar. Having fulfilled his sacred journey, he renounced his mortal form and ascended to the heavenly abode on October 10, 1945
Acharya Matilal Thakur was the foremost disciple of Swami Sriyukteswarji. He dedicated his life to his Guru and assisted him in every possible way. Once an incident occurred which changed his life completely. He used to commute by train from Serampore to Khidiripur where he worked in an office. One day as he was going to the Serampore station to catch a train, he heard screams of distress and approached the person who was in pain and suffering. His heart was filled with compassion, and forgetting all about his office he took the man in his lap and attended him. He felt a great change within him as if he heard someone whispering to him, "serving poor and needy means serving to God, and it is your duty for the rest of your life".
So profound was the effect of this incident on him that he gave up his job at the office and his worldly life and became a new person, always at the service of needy and distressed people. Though he was still a householder with wife and children he surrendered everything at the feet of his master and dedicated his life to service.
With the help of some noble people he set-up a treatment center called "Bhaktashram" in Chatara, a small village on the banks of the holy Ganga near Serampore. Serving the poor and needy enhanced his spiritual progress and by totally surrendering at the feet of the Lord he somehow managed to support his family by the grace of God and gurus.
Practice of Kriya Yoga techniques helped his spiritual evolution day by day. One day his beloved master visited him and was very pleased to perceive the divinity and the spiritual advancement of his disciple. As a result he was blessed and empowered by his Guru to initiate others into Kriya Yoga. Thus, Matilal became an acharya, a spiritual teacher. He often humbly called himself 'Satchidananda', a servant. His loving devotees started calling him Satchidananda Swami.
Attracted to his divine personality, many seekers came to be initiated by him. The stream of Kriya Yoga was flowing far and wide under his leadership. He built himself a small hut near "Bhaktashram" and started living there and guided aspirants of the Kriya path. Later the small hut became famous as 'Gurudham'.
Swami Sriyukteshwarji and Acharya Matilal Thakur established many 'Satsanga Sabha-s' in many parts of Medinipur District of Bengal. They travelled into the interior remote areas and preached Kriya Yoga to the simple innocent people in a very lucid manner giving scientific background.
Their teachings were very highly appreciated by the rural population whose orthodox, blind beliefs were slowly transformed to modern reasonable thinking. People were made aware of their own divinity as a result of the teaching and inspired by this mission many libraries, hospitals and schools were established in many villages. Many Ashrams were also set up in villages like Handol, Ghatal, Ezmael Chuk, gobardhanpur, Bhasuliya, Sabang, Khukurdah, Shriyukteshwar visited each place atleast once a year and blessed the people solving many of their spiritual as well as worldly problems and giving them a new outlook on life.
