Born in 1925 in Uttar Pradesh to a learned Brahmin family, Swami Rama was raised from early childhood by a great yogi and saint of Bengal who lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. In his youth he practiced the various disciplines of yoga science and philosophy in the traditional monasteries of the Himalayas and studied closely with many spiritual adepts, including Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, and Rabindranath Tagore. He also traveled to Tibet to study with his grandmaster.