रहस्योपदेशादि

व्यक्तिगतोपदेशाः।

भवान्, योगिनी-हृदय-ग्रन्थस्य स्वाध्यायं करोतु।
वैष्णवा अपि प्राक्काले शाक्ताः श्रीविद्योपासकाः लक्ष्मी-धरादयः।
वैष्णवागमानां पाञ्चरात्राणां पुनरुद्धारः कार्यः,
यतः सर्वेऽपि साम्प्रदायिका इदानीन्तना आगमवार्त्तां न जानन्ति।

Prem Chetan Brahmacāri was born in Baglung district of Nepal. He studied in the gurukula of his guru, after whom he is named, located in Chisa Kola. Under the elder Premacaitanya (himself a disciple of the Jyotirmāṭh Śaṅkarācārya and Śrīvidyā siddha, Svāmī Brahmānanda Sarasvatī) he learned sādhanā, until when the guru passed on and the gurukula ceased to be active. He then went to do sādhanā in Baglung Kālikā Bhagavatī Temple for years.

He finally came to Kathmandu, staying in a place just adjacent to Paśupatināth temple, where he came under his guru Vidyāraṇya Svāmī (who was known after the way he playfully called himself, as Mūrkhāraṇya), one of the greatest tantrics in all of the XXth Century (one of whose tantric teachers was Sarvāmnāya Master Dhana Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana). Under those and other teachers Prem Chetan was taught the full structure of Sarvāmnāya Tantra, which he went on to teach his disciple, Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina, in the course of 14 years of training.

A vegetarian (did not matter who cooked, where he ate), did not drink.

Never ate grains - just fruits and milk. Slept on kusha grass mat. Maintained silence, long mantra-japas. Source: TW

Śaṅkara Caitanya Bhāratī was born in Kashmir, where he joined his guru in Śāradā Māṭha. He eventually moved to Varanasi, where he became known by many as Varanasi’s greatest knower of Vedānta and Trika philosophies. He used to visit Nepal frequently and was a fully-consecrated ācārya of the Sarvāmnāya Tantra. After Prem Chetan’s passing, he became Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina’s dīkṣa guru and completed his training in the tradition, granting him, as culmination, his ācārya abhīṣeka (consecration as ācārya).

Śaṅkara Caitanya Bhāratī is named after his own Kashmiri guru, who is the well-known author of two of the greatest works of Indian Philosophy of the XXth Century: Darśana Sarvasva and the Śāradā Vyākhya commentary on Khaṇḍana Khaṇḍa Khāḍya. He was considered by his contemporaries as a Bhairavarūpa: an embodiment of Yoga, Jñāna and Vairagya. 

Strict dietary rules.

A Vedic pandita and devoted śaivite coming within a long lineage of Kālī priests, Tanka Prasad Timalsina ran a Vedic gurukula where his son, Sthaneshwar, was raised and taught the Śukla Yajurveda practised in their lineage. He was also Sthaneshwar’s first Tantric guru, having given him his first śaiva initiation, as well as practices of Kālī (reflecting traces of the ancient Krama tradition) and Pañcamukha Hanuman.

Khaptad Baba was a Kashmiri saint who traveled along the Himalayan mountains and settled in Nepal, where he lived for over 40 years as a hermit. He taught Ācārya Sthaneshwar the Yoga Sūtras, Maṇḍūkya Kārikās and Vijñānabhairava Tantra.

Rāmānanda Giri was a disciple of the great Maheśānanda Giri from Śaṅkara Māṭha in Mount Abu, India. Ācārya Sthaneshwar met him in Kathmandu and from that same day started learning Vedānta, Nyāya and Mīmāṁsā from him, which training continued in a daily basis for full 12 years. Ācārya Sthaneshwar also studied the Upaniṣads with paramguru Maheśānanda in Varanasi. Rāmanānda later became the founder of one of the best centers of traditional learning in the whole of Nepal, the Mahesh Sanskrit Gurukula in Devghat.

श्यामचेतन बाबा अस्ति। यदाहं वेदन्तं पठामिस्म रामानन्देन सह, श्यामचेतनः सर्वान्चायपानं ददातिस्म। अहमचिन्तयम्, एष खलु कश्चन चायवाला बाबा भवेदिति, चायं नाहं पिबामिस्म।
यदा रामानन्दोऽजानत्, तद्दत्तं चायं न पिबामि, सोऽवदत्, अहन्तु पुस्तकानि पाठयामि वेदान्तस्य, यदि साक्षात्कारमिच्छसि.
तस्य चायं पिब। स खलु अपरो महासिद्धः।
इति स्थानेश्वरः।

Ācārya Rāmaji Mālavīya was an initiate from Datia’s Pītāmbara Bhagalamukhi Śaktipīṭha, as well as a Sarvāmnāya initiate under his guru Śaṁkara Caitanya Bhāratī. He was also the dean of the Sampurnananda Sanskrit University of Varanasi, a school which seeks to institutionalize and preserve the pandita tradition of Varanasi. Ācārya Rāmaji Mālavīya taught Ācārya Sthaneshwar the commentatorial texts of the Siddhānta and Trika tradition, especially the works of Abhinavagupta.

Vidyānāth Upādhyāya Bhaṭṭa is an important contemporary Sarvāmnāya Tantra master in the lineage of Lambarkana Bhaṭṭa - one of the most renowned masters of the Kālīkrama lineage in Nepal. He is the author of several important works on Tantra. He was also taught by great pandita, Padma Prasad Bhattarai, twice winner of the All-India śāstrārtha. He taught Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina Nyāya and Navya-Nyāya for many years.

Pandits Vraja Vallabha Dvivedi and Hemendra Nath Chakravarty, both disciples of the great Gopinath Kaviraj and professors at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, taught several Tantric śāstras to Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina during his years at Varanasi.