Mark S. G. Dyczkowski

Mark Dyczkowski was born in London on 29 August 1951 to a Polish father & Italian mother. He discovered the East & India at a very young age & was deeply influenced by their cultures & religion.[4] Dyczkowski at 14 read Vivekananda, Yogananda, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, the Bhagavad Gita, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, among others; and started playing the sitar, which became a constant companion.[5] When he read Walter Evans-Wentz's books The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, he found them to be too complex to understand & realised the need for a Guru.

After finishing school at 17, Dyczkowski, now 18, traveled to India. He visited Guru Maharaj Ji's (Rawat Singh - then 12 years old) ashram in Delhi recommended by 2 fellow hotel guests, where he stayed for 6 months. Dyczkoswki went to London to assist Maharaj in his sermons, and stayed there until the Guru suggested he go to college in India.[4] He enrolled in the Banaras Hindu University in 1970 at the age of 19, where his professor was Acharya Rameshwar Jha and a fellow student was K.D. Tripathi. Dyczkowski met Pandit Hemant Chakravarti in Varanasi in 1971 (a student of Gopinath Kaviraj, who in turn was a student of Vishuddhananda Paramahansa & Anandamayi Ma). He studied Sanskrit, philosophy and Tantra under his guidance, while simultaneously learning the sitar from Budhaditya Mukherjee.[4] Dyczkowski also studied with Vrajvallabh Dwivedi & Pandit Vagish Shastri (who taught him Sanskrit grammar).[6]

By 1974 Dyczkowski had obtained a BA & MA in Indian Philosophy & Religion with distinction from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He returned to England & was admitted to University of Oxford to conduct doctoral research into Kashmir Trika Shaivism. His doctoral advisor was Alexis Sanderson, one of the few scholars in the West who knew of its existence. His supervisor was Richard Gombrich.[7] In 1976 Dyczkowski traveled to Kashmir & was formally initiated into Kashmiri Shaivism by Swami Lakshman Joo, who became his guru & who he would stay with for 6 months every year to attend his lectures.[8]

Dyczkowski returned to India in late 1979 after receiving his PhD. He worked towards a second Doctorate at the Banaras Hindu University, where he studied as a Commonwealth Scholar. In 1985 he enrolled at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya for the Vachaspati (DLitt) degree.[7] He started learning the sitar & Indian classical music from Dr. Gangrade (the head of the music faculty at BHU) & Omir Bhattacharya, and learnt vocals from Pashupatinath Mishra. Dyczkowski published his doctoral dissertation, The Doctrine of Vibration as his first book, which introduced many people to Kashmir Shaivism & was reprinted multiple times.[7][9]

Prof. Sanderson gifted two books to Dyczkowski on his wedding. One of these was the Kubjikamata, which sparked his curiosity & led him to research the Kubjika tradition in Nepal which he would visit once or twice a year. His path breaking research was the first ever exposition of such a secret Tantric tradition & led to multiple other such efforts.[10] Dyczkowski primarily focuses on the Trika, Kaula, Krama, Bhairava and Siddhaanta schools of Tantra, among others.[11] He is also notable for digitizing many previously inaccessible Sanskrit manuscripts & scriptures in association with the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute.[12]