140. Stuart Perrin

Stuart PerrinStuart Perrin, an American spiritual master of Kundalini Yoga who has been quietly teaching small groups of students around the world for the last thirty-nine years, and is a direct disciple of Swami Rudrananda, more commonly known as Rudi. Stuart studied six years with Rudi. In 1973, Rudi died in an airplane crash and Stuart was one of three survivors.

Stuart Perrin was born August 10, 1942 in the Bronx, New York. The first child and only son of Sylvia and Michael Perrin, he began his spiritual quest at the age of sixteen. Sitting at his father’s deathbed, he was shocked and awakened to a simple reality. “Why,” he asked himself, “is it the first time I’ve seen my father in such a profound state of inner peace? Why did he have to wait till the last moments of his life to be filled with so much love and serenity?”

Stuart realized he’d have to find someone to train him in deep meditation practice. His search for a spiritual teacher took him to Europe, Africa, Mexico and all over the United States. Stuart spent nine years looking for a master only to find him in his hometown, where he met Rudi, who trained Stuart in the fine art of deep inner work and Kundalini Yoga. “What did you see when we first met?” Stuart once asked Rudi. Rudi answered, “I saw my spiritual son lost in the universe. I pulled you in the door of my shop.”

Stuart’s training with Rudi was filled with profound and ancient teachings, “streetwise yoga”, humor, and more than a few swordstrokes to the ego. “See that weed in the sidewalk crack. It’s got more life in it than you,” Rudi once said to him while they were walking on a Manhattan street when Stuart complained to Rudi about his living situation. After four years of intense training Stuart became a teacher in Rudi’s lineage. Besides the formal technique of deep inner work, a technique that uses the mind and breath to strengthen the chakra system and build a link between the spiritual practitioner and Higher Creative Energy in the Universe, Rudi taught Stuart the necessity of using spiritual work in everyday life. “We must live here and there at the same time,” Rudi told him. “If we don’t master day to day living, we never work out our karma. We are never free.”

Stuart taught meditation at Rudi’s New York City center for two years. Then Rudi asked him to teach at a newly-formed meditation center in Denton, Texas. While in Texas, Stuart started meditation programs for hungry and homeless people, for people in prison and ex-offenders, addicts and ex-addicts, the elderly, high school students, and other people in all walks of life. He also initiated devoted disciples into the mysteries of inner work, and he, in turn, created new teachers of meditation.

In February 1973, Stuart and Rudi were in a plane crash in the Catskill Mountains, a plane crash that took Rudi’s life. “I never feel he is gone,” Stuart wrote of his guru. “When I wish to be with him, to learn from him, I just open my heart. He is there, sitting, smiling, sharing his teachings. The moment he died, I felt his soul pass into me.”

Stuart moved back to New York City in 1980 and continued his work as a spiritual teacher. He continues to train many more people, and has meditation centers in the U. S., Israel, and Brazil.

A well-known and respected author, Stuart has published The Mystical Ferryboat (1983), Leah (1988), A Deeper Surrender: Notes on a Spiritual Life (2001), Moving On: Finding Happiness in a Changed World (2004), an essay for Kundalini Rising (2009), and most recently Rudi: The Final Moments (2011)

Interview recorded 9/29/2012

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 – Introduction and Background of Stuart Perrin
  • 00:03:27 – A Transformative Experience
  • 00:06:19 – The Rigorous Training for Spiritual Enlightenment
  • 00:09:44 – The Need for a Spiritual Life
  • 00:11:46 – The Will to Have a Spiritual Life
  • 00:14:04 – Using the Mind and Breath in Meditation
  • 00:16:26 – Wisdom and Compassion in Tibetan Buddhist Teachings
  • 00:18:21 – The Fire of Compassion
  • 00:20:18 – Spiritual Teachings and Ego
  • 00:22:03 – Awakening and Consciousness
  • 00:23:55 – Building Consciousness in Ourselves
  • 00:25:38 – Learning to Get Out of the Way
  • 00:27:31 – Buddha and Shankara’s Enlightenment
  • 00:29:31 – The Twinkle in Their Eyes
  • 00:31:23 – Transformation at Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram
  • 00:33:07 – A Life of Spiritual Experiences
  • 00:34:33 – Meeting Rinpoche in Texas
  • 00:36:01 – The Discipline of Tummo and the Teachings of Kala Rinpoche
  • 00:38:00 – The Universe Sending Teachers
  • 00:40:08 – The Need for Avatars and Teachers
  • 00:42:21 – Individual Consideration and Practical Teaching
  • 00:44:34 – Absorbing the teachings
  • 00:47:49 – Rudi’s Journey to Nityananda and Muktananda
  • 00:50:36 – Profound Influence and Root Guru
  • 00:53:05 – The Significance of Sexuality in Spirituality
  • 00:55:50 – Mastering Energy and Meditation
  • 00:57:57 – Cannibalism and Consuming Energy
  • 01:00:23 – The Transformation of Suffering
  • 01:02:23 – Finding Joy and Flow in Life
  • 01:04:38 – A Conversation with Stuart Perrin
  • 01:06:11 – Ways to Stay Connected to the Interview Series on batgap.com