Rajarshi Raghabananda Nayak

Rajarshi Raghabananda Nayak (28 August 1938 – 31 October 2016) was an Indian writer and lecturer who studied Kriya Yoga in the lineage of Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Paramahansa Hariharananda.

Early life and education Ratnakar Nayak was born in Fatehpur village, located in the Bhadrak district of Odisha. He earned a Master of Arts in Odia from Visva-Bharati University, followed by a PhD in literature from Utkal University. In 1960 he became a lecturer at Visva-Bharati. He later transitioned to Gangadhar Meher College (Autonomous) in Sambalpur, where he served as the Head of the Department of Odia until his retirement in 1996.

Initiation into Kriya Yoga In early 1964, Nayak met Paramahansa Hariharananda, from whom he learned Kriya Yoga.

Menninger Foundation Nayak participated in a study by the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, United States, where researchers measured his physiological responses during meditation, including brain alpha-wave activity. Results from this work were published in Biofeedback: Yoga for the West and Beyond Biofeedback by Elmer and Alice Green.