Editing Lakshman Joo (section)

== Biography ==
Lakshman Joo was born in a [[Kashmiri Hindu]] [[Brahmin]] family in the city of [[Srinagar]] in [[Kashmir]]. He was the fifth child in a household of four boys and five girls. 

His mother's name was Arnyamali Raina.

At the age of five he was introduced to the path of spirituality by his elder brother Maheshvaranath. Up to the age of eight his spiritual progress in the lineage of [[Kashmir Shaivism|Kashmiri Shaivam]] was monitored by his family priest, [[Pandit]] Swami Ram Joo (1854-1915), and later by his chief disciple Swami Mehatab Kak (1870?-1942). At the age of 19, it is said, he experienced a clear taste of [[Self-realisation]]. Shortly afterwards he left home, as he wrote, "in search of the Supreme" and moved to the famous [[ashram]] of Sadhamalyun (Sadhuganga) in [[Handwara]]. Persuaded by his father to return to Srinagar, he continued to study [[Sanskrit]] and [[Shaiva philosophy]] under the guidance of a scholar named Maheshwar Razdan.

From 1934 to 1935, Lakshman Joo moved to an isolated place above the village of Gupta Ganga near [[Nishat]] suburb of [[Srinagar]] where his parents built him a house. This was where [[Abhinavagupta]] had lived nine centuries ago. In 1962 he moved down the hill to a place closer to the famous [[Dal Lake]] a few hundred metres from the [[Nishat Gardens]]. Around the age of 30 Lakshman Joo traveled in India, spending time on a [[Mumbai]] beach and a short time with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] at [[Sevagram]] and then with [[Sri Aurobindo]] at [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]]. From there he found his way to [[Tiruvannamalai]] to meet [[Ramana Maharshi]]. There he spent some weeks and later commented; "I felt those golden days were indeed divine".

Little was known about the Swami for almost three decades (1930-1960), as it was his habit to spend the winter months in silence and seclusion. Still, in the summer he had occasional visits from both scholars and saints. The Indian Spiritual Master [[Meher Baba]] visited his ashram in 1944. In 1948 [[Lilian Silburn]] from the [[National Centre for Scientific Research]], Paris, visited the Swami. She would return regularly for the next ten years, during which time she studied the major texts of Kashmir Shaiva philosophy, all of which were published in French. It was through Silburn that [[André Padoux]], another prolific scholar of Kashmir Shaivism came to meet the Swami. [[Paul Reps]], the American artist, author and poet stumbled across the Ashram in 1957. With Swami Lakshmanjoo he studied the ancient text of ''[[Vijnana Bhairava Tantra]]'', and later published the 112 practices of transcending in the fourth chapter of his book ''[[Zen Flesh, Zen Bones]]''. This teaching also influenced [[Rajneesh|Osho]], and formed the basis of ''The Book of Secrets''.

It was a few years later, in 1965, after attending a Sanskrit conference in [[Varanasi]], chaired by the renowned Sanskrit Tantra scholar [[Gopinath Kaviraj]], that the word quickly spread that the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism was alive and well, and fully embodied in the person of Swami Lakshman Joo. [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] visited the Swami each summer from 1966 to 1969. The two saints formed a lasting relationship. Baba [[Muktananda]], of [[Siddha Yoga]] also visited on two occasions. Until his death in 1991, Swami Lakshmanjoo freely taught, giving weekly lectures on the mystical and philosophical texts of Kashmir Shaivism.  Many of these lectures were audio recorded by John Hughes and later published. Lakshman Joo's interpretation of Kashmir Shavism attracted the attention of both Indian and western [[Indologist]]s. The Swami has correspondence with Professor [[Giuseppe Tucci]] of the [[University of Rome La Sapienza]], and his regular visitors included scholars, such as, [[Jaideva Singh]], [[Professor Nilkanth Gurtoo]], [[Acharya Rameshwar Jha]], [[Jankinath Kaul|Jankinath Kaul "Kamal"]], [[Raniero Gnoli]], [[Alexis Sanderson]] and [[Mark Dyczkowski]].

In 1991 the Swami traveled to the United States and established the Universal Shaiva Fellowship where he designated John Hughes and his wife Denise to continue publishing his teachings of Kashmir Shaivism. In India the teachings of Lakshman Joo are carried on by Ishwar Ashram Trust, an organisation founded shortly after his death.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Osto|first=Douglas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE7VDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT95|title=An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Śaivism|publisher=Routledge|year=2020|isbn=978-1-000-04929-9|pages=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oneindia.com/2006/10/27/swami-lakshmanjoos-birth-centenary-celebtns-to-commence-from-to-tom-1161959813.html |title=Swami Lakshmanjoo's birth centenary |publisher=One India |date=27 October 2006 |access-date=3 February 2017}}</ref>