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but say openly that I now sit on this throne and that to offer peace had been my desire."
Fired by this desire to spread the message of peace "from door to door and shore to shore", Swami Satyananda Saraswati founded the International Yoga Fellowship Movement with a view of creating a global frater- nity of yoga. The Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) came into existence the same year, though on a modest scale. Apparently, Swamiji built the original institution singlehanded.
But as Swamiji began to spread within and outside the country, and more and more devotees began to flock to Munger, it became a pressing necessity to create a larger in stitution. A lot of his disciples pooled the resources and made a bid to acquire the hilly terrain which had supposedly housed Mir Qusim, whose value and stiff resistance to the British forces is part of the folklore in the region.
No wonder some people, instigated by the then Member of Parliament from the area, strongly opposed the move. Their apparent contention was that the historical monument must not be allowed to be tampered with. Many also made insinuations that the foreigners might be Christian missionaries on the sly. Some even pointed accusing fingers at them as spies and drug peddlars.
It was not surprising that such accusations were hurled; after all, it was a cultural shock
for the people of the crime-infested town of Munger, where the modern civilization was yet to find a toe hold, to witness scores of white-skinned men and women descending on the place and living in a blissful world of their own. The vested interests had their axe to grind by whipping up a frenzy against a pardeshisanyasi.
But Swami Satyananda Saraswati, visionary that he was, did not fall for the bait. He not only desisted from criticizing those opposing his efforts, but also refused to say anything in defence of his own position. The press tried its best to draw him out to explain his side of the story, but was met with a stoic silence.
As the years rolled by and Swamiji's social and spiritual message began to make a visible impact in the neighboring villages, popular resistance turned into popular approbation. That paved the way for the building of new premises for the yoga. school, known as Ganga Darshan.
The Ganga river is supposed to have distinct identity in the Munger region because it is Uttara Vahini (northward fiowing) whereas in other stretches, the Ganga' tends to flow from north to south. One can have the privilege of a panoramic view of the sacred Ganga, which abuts the Munger town from three sides, from any part of the Ganga Darshan building.
But what adds to the scenic
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