Mark Griffin (spiritual teacher)

Mark Griffin
Born	August 28, 1954(1954-08-28) Tacoma, Washington, USA
Guru	Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa, Kalu Rinpoche

Mark Griffin is an American spiritual teacher in the lineage of Bhagawan Nityananda ^[1] and Muktananda Paramahamsa of Ganeshpuri and Gurumayi Chidvilasananda (this lineage is known as Siddha Yoga). Griffin is an author and authority on the philosophy and practice of Yoga Tantra ^[2] He emphasizes spiritual practice (sadhana), especially meditation. He is the founder and director of Hard Light Center of Awakening, a Los Angeles-based spiritual school that offers intensive training in meditation and other practical techniques of Enlightenment. He is also an artist.

Biography

Born Mark Edson Griffin, son of engineer Jack Griffin and Barbara Griffin. Griffin studied art and musical composition in San Francisco. In 1976, at the age of 21 he met his Guru, Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa, the disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri.

He spent 7 years studying meditation with Muktananda, mostly in Oakland, California. He subsequently spent 6 years studying meditation with Kalu Rinpoche.

In 1989 he founded the Hard Light School of Awakening of Los Angeles, California.

Teachings and Philosophy

Shaktipat Guru

Griffin says that within every person lies the dormant power of kundalini shakti, the evolutionary power of the Universe. This potential can be awakened by means of the grace of the Guru and through spiritual practice.

Yoga Tantra

Griffin’s spiritual training techniques include: flexibility of attention, breath, insight, mind-training involving concentration, discrimination, mantra and meditation.

Griffin also teaches that the human form consists of not one, but four interlinked bodies: the physical body of flesh, the subtle body of energy, the causal body of mind, and the supra-causal body of Universal Consciousness.

Sadhana

Sadhana refers to everything an aspirant does on the spiritual path in furtherance of reaching Enlightenment. The sadhana practices that Griffin teaches include meditation, repetition of the lineage mantra (Om Namah Shivaya or So-Ham), service, study, darshan, satsang, and recitation of the Guru Gita.

Service

In 2005, Griffin formed a non-profit called Third Millennium Awakening (TMA),^[3] with a sister charity in India, Shree Nityananda Education Trust (SNET).^[4] The mission of TMA and SNET is to further charitable work in Maharashtra, India. TMA and SNET have been making bio-sand water filters that are distributed free of charge to needy families in the area surrounding the Fire Mountain Retreat Center ^[5] in Nimboli. The eventual goal is to provide clean drinking water to everyone who lacks it in all of Maharashtra state.

Art

From 1976 to 1979 Griffin attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has made art continuously ever since. In 2005, Griffin raised a sculpture at Burning Man called Ladder, a functional aluminum and steel ladder 108 feet tall, that was described as "staggering" by author Jessica Bruder in her book “Burning Book, A Visual History of Burning Man”.^[6] In 2009 Griffin was invited by Kirsha Kaechele ^[7] to exhibit the Ladder sculpture at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. In 2008 Griffin was invited by Lydia Takeshita of LA Artcore, to show his large scale photographic works in both Thailand and Japan. In 2011 Lydia Takeshita staged a one-man exhibition of Mark's work, entitled: Dream Red Body, at the LA Artcore Union Center for the Arts.^{[8] [9] [10]} The city of Songkhla, Thailand commissioned Griffin to do a large-scale sculpture, and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum purchased one his works for its permanent collection.

Bibliography

Mark Griffin is the author of the following books:

• Shri Guru Gita, 108 Sutras for Awakening ^[11]"

ISBN 0-9759020-6-7

• Spiritual Power ISBN 0-9759020-9-1
• The Bardo Thodol – The Golden Opportunity ISBN 0-9759020-2-4
• Samadhi Kunda ISBN 0-9759020-1-6
• 108 Discourses On Awakening ISBN 0-9759020-0-8

Books About Griffin

• Sangha Speaks ISBN 0-9759020-1-6

References

1. ^ "Nityananda Tradition". http://www.nityanandatradition.org/. Retrieved 2010-08-15. 
2. ^ "Sitting Down with Mark Griffin, Interview with Mark Griffin and Felicia Tomasko, Managing Editor LA Yoga
3. ^ "Third Millennium Awakening". http://www.tmaseva.org. Retrieved 2010-08-15. 
4. ^ "Shree Nityananda Education Trust". http://www.shreenityanandaeducationtrust.org. Retrieved 2010-08-15. 
5. ^ "Fire Mountain Retreat Center". http://www.firemountainretreat.org. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
6. ^ The Ladder. http://utopianvision.co.uk/bollywood/videos/?v=3NgdMNY_HE0. Retrieved 2010-10-13. 
7. ^ "Ladder". http://www.lifeisartfoundation.org/art/ladder. Retrieved 2010-10-13. 
8. ^ "Dream Red Body"
9. ^ "The Big Man in the Green Dragon"
10. ^ "Coagula Weekend Bender February 5, 2011"
11. ^ "Eat, Pray, Love: Adaption of Literary Source

External links

• Hard Light Center of Awakening Home Page
• Art of Mark Griffin

Persondata
Name	Griffin, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1954-08-28
Place of birth	Tacoma, Washington, USA
Date of death
Place of death