Lahiri Mahasaya's Home
Garudeswar Mohulla, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
The family home in the lanes of old Varanasi where Lahiri Mahasaya lived as a householder, received disciples in a small front room, and left his body in 1895, as described in Autobiography of a Yogi.
What the texts say
- Lineage text
After his father died, Lahiri Mahasaya took on the care of the whole family and bought a quiet house for them in the Garudeswar Mohulla neighbourhood of Benares.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 32
- Lineage text
Swami Kebalananda, Yogananda's Sanskrit tutor, spent ten years close to Lahiri Mahasaya and describes visiting the Benares house every night. The master sat cross-legged on a plain wooden seat in a small front room on the first floor, with disciples around him, and spoke little.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 4
- Lineage text
Yogananda visits Kashi Moni, Lahiri Mahasaya's wife, at the old family house in Garudeswar Mohulla. She takes him upstairs to the small room the couple once shared, and tells him stories from her life with the master.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 31
- Lineage text
Yogananda records his mother's account of carrying him as an infant to her guru's home in Benares, where Lahiri Mahasaya sat in meditation among a crowd of disciples.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 2
- Lineage text
Swami Keshabananda's account of Lahiri Mahasaya's last day in 1895: disciples gathered at the guru's home in Benares, he spoke on the Gita for hours, and then left his body. A footnote (page 261) says disciples later placed a statue of him in the little parlour of the house.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 36
What you will find today
- Getting there
- This is a private family home. We do not publish directions to it, arrange visits, or contact the family, and we ask readers not to seek the house out.
Last checked via Sadhana Saarthi editorial policy for private homes. Conditions change; confirm before you travel.
A practice for this place
Honour the house by leaving it in peace. Wherever you are in Kashi, or at home, sit for ten to fifteen minutes with your spine upright and your eyes closed, and watch the breath. If you have been initiated into Kriya Yoga by a teacher, practise as you were taught; otherwise keep to plain breath awareness. Lahiri Mahasaya taught from an ordinary home, so an ordinary room is a fitting place to practise.