People gather for Sri Mooji's satsang at at International Yoga Festival organised by Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh.

Anthony Paul Moo-Young was born on 29 January, 1954 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. In 1969, he moved to England and lived in Brixton in the south of London. Known as Tony Moo in the artistic community, he worked in London’s West End as a street portrait artist, then as a painter and stained glass artist, and later as a teacher at Brixton College. He is now affectionately known as Mooji by the many seekers who visit him from all parts of the world in search of the direct experience of truth.

Mooji is a direct disciple of the renowned Advaita master Sri Harilal Poonja, or Papaji as his followers call him. In 1987, a chance meeting with a Christian mystic was to be a life-changing encounter for Mooji. It brought him, through prayer, into the direct experience of the Divine Self. Within a short period he experienced a radical shift in consciousness so profound that outwardly he seemed to have become an entirely different person. As his spiritual consciousness deepened, an inner transformation began, which unfolded in the form of many miraculous experiences and mystical insights. He felt a strong wind of change blowing through his life which brought with it a deep urge to surrender completely to the divine will. Shortly after, he stopped teaching at the local college, left his home and began a life of quiet simplicity and surrender to the will of God as it manifested spontaneously within him. A great peace entered his being, and has remained ever since.

Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India organizes the annual International Yoga Festival.

The International Yoga Festival was originally a creation of Uttar Pradesh Tourism, in the days when Rishikesh was still part of Uttar Pradesh. Held at Hotel Ganga Kinare in the first week of February, the Festival ran for many years and attracted a small number of participants. In 1999, the Government of Ut