YOGĀCĀRYA UDGĪTHANANDA
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What does Udgīthananda mean?
Udgītha (उद्गीथ)
A Vedic term referring to AUM when sung, or upward song, traditionally the hymn of praise in the Sāmaveda.
Its component parts, based on established meanings:
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Ud (उद्)—ascending; upward movement; vital force; the mental field
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Gi (गी)—song; speech; the voice of praise; voiced aspiration
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Tha / Thah (थ / थः)—embodied being; physical form; earth/soil; that which is grounded
Ānanda (आनन्द)
Bliss; delight; joy expressed through life.
Udgīthananda
The highest bliss arising from a living being who gives into the impulse to sing aloud songs of praise.
Yogācārya
A person who teaches the principles and practices of an established Yoga tradition, with emphasis on discernment, ethical living, concentration, dedication, or a blending of paths.
My name is Michael Cumpian—Udgīthananda. I am an actor, singer, songwriter, cannabis consultant, movement instructor, and Yoga therapist. My lifelong study of the Yoga tradition began in 1996 and eventually led me to the path of Kriya Yoga. In 2005, I became a Self-Realization Fellowship student and later joined the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose, California—a Kriya Yoga meditation center whose lineage traces back to Lahiri Mahasaya and his successors.
Alongside my Yoga training, I have worked with various entheogenic plant medicines for more than a decade. My search for healing and truth brought me into the spiritual traditions of the Brazilian rainforest, where—after a period of cleansing, direct experience, and mentorship—I received initiation into the Santo Daime tradition in 2016.
Today, I represent and teach from within The Pure Teaching: The Six Steps of the Universal Religion and The Shanti Gita: Four Paths of Peace.
Before Yoga, A Yearning to Restore Inner Peace Existed
When I was a toddler, I experienced frequent, expansive states of inner peace and a felt sense of loving connection. I felt one with everything. As the years went by and traumatic events unfolded, that innate peace diminished. I felt locked outside the door of a place I once lived inside.
At fourteen, in 1995, I longed to restore that felt sense of unitive peace and was ready to search for whatever could open the way. One afternoon, at a local bookstore, I discovered the first edition of The Sivananda Companion to Yoga (1983). This generous book became my first Yoga bible—my portable yoga preceptor. Wherever I could find quiet, I would study its teachings and apply them as best I could.
In 1996, I committed myself to lifelong study with the intention of eventually teaching the Yoga tradition.
How Yoga Changed My Life
As my teenage years unfolded, I continued studying world religions while weaving Yogic teachings into my daily routine. Working with Hatha Yoga stretching sequences and breathing techniques filled my body and nervous system with heightened awareness. After each session of concentration training, an interior tranquility naturally emerged, strengthening my determination to learn more.
Living in alignment with ethical principles softened my reactions. Hostile encounters became opportunities for compassion rather than fear—clear signs that Yoga was harmonizing my inner and outer life.
Grace: The Place Where Teacher and Student Meet
By December of 2004, at age twenty-two, I felt I had gone as far as self-study could take me. I needed a spiritual friend—a teacher.
A chance conversation in Hollywood led me to a man whose introduction connected me with a spiritual teacher in San Jose. His students called him Tony. Devotional, passionate, eccentric, and in his mid-60s, he carried the spiritual name Ambassador of God.
After several conversations and a visit to his home, I moved from Los Angeles to San Jose to study with him. Tony emphasized group study, chant, dance, community service, and daily concentration practice as taught in the Hatha Yoga tradition. He once told me:
“Studying with me, while learning from the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, and continuing to study with other Kriya Yoga teachers, will help you decide how to further your personal growth—and ultimately decide your chosen way to spiritually serve others; but you’re not there, yet.”
Tony made his transition on April 29th, 2013. In the months that followed, my spiritual pilgrimage deepened. I returned more fully into community life at The Center for Spiritual Enlightenment to further my education and continue my journey.
Living Yoga, Awakened Life
My background in performance art—music, storytelling, guitar, and drumming—has always intertwined with my spiritual path. Leading musical experiences requires clarity, focus, energy, devotion, and intentionality. Yoga supports all of it.
When singing, playing, or offering stories, I meet an ever-available joy. Devotion rises naturally, musical expression becomes worship, and every action becomes an offering.
The grace of Kriya Yoga continues to shape my life. I am deeply grateful for:
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Paramahansa Yogananda and the successors of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, California
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Roy Eugene Davis and the Center for Spiritual Awareness in Lakemont, Georgia
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Ellen Grace O’Brian and the faculty at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose, California
These three Kriya Yoga communities form a single unbreakable strand—an anchor of devotion, understanding, and practice. My gratitude for the education I have received from the teachers of Kriya Yoga transcends time and words.
“Flowing through the milieu of twentieth century global society, unnoticed or ignored by many people, a current of beneficent, evolutional influence has been bringing about gradual, definite changes. It is this divine current, God’s grace expressed through evolutionary forces, which is responsible for timely innovations and emergence of constructive unfoldment for the welfare of the planetary family.”
—Roy Eugene Davis, from the book Surrendered Love, Redeeming Grace, Chapter Seven
In Holy Friendship and Remembrance
Michael