Modern Day Yogi

T I R U M A L A I K R I S H N A M A C H A R Y A

WRITTEN BY : SNEHAL KULKARNI

Modern age of Yoga started around 1890 AD. During this period many Yogis have emerged and presented yoga to the world in different forms. They helped us find answers to questions about Yoga and its roots in Vedas and Upanishads.

T Krishnamacharya is considered as the pioneer for modern day yoga among all Yoga gurus. He was born on 18 November 1888 in Muchkundpura in Chitradurga, Karnataka, in a religious Iyengar brahmin family. His mother tongue was Telugu, his father Sri Tirumalai Srinivasa Tatacharya, was a well-known teacher of Vedas. Krishnamacharya was the eldest of six children. His father died when he was 10 years old. His family moved to Mysore, where his grandfather, H. H. Sri Srinivasa Parakala Swami was the head of Parakala Math. He started studying Sanskrit from books like 'Amarkosh' from his childhood.

Most of Krishnammachari's youth was spent traveling all over India for education. In 1906 he entered Banaras University to study Tarkashastra (logic) and Sanskrit Mimamsa, In the year 1914, he had already obtained several academic certificates at Queen's College. He survived without any financial support from his family by scholarships. He eventually moved to Patna University in in Bihar to study Ayurveda. Later he studied the Yoga Sutras of Maharshi Patanjali from Yogi Ram Mohan Brahmachari in the Himalayas at Manas Sarovar.

After 1920, he started to travel across India to offer lectures and demonstrations on Yoga. In Varanasi, he held many demonstrations about yoga and its therapeutic methods. These included suspending his pulse, stopping cars with his bare hands, performing difficult asanas, and lifting heavy objects with his teeth.

In 1931, he delivered a speech on Upanishads in the town hall of Masur. Impressed by his demonstrations and knowledge, Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar invited him to come to Mysore where he started teaching at the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Mysore. Later, the maharaja asked Krishnamacharya to open a yoga school under his patronage. The Yogashala was opened in 1933 at The Jagmohan Palace.

In 1934, his first book ‘Yoga Makarand’ was published by Mysore University. After the death of Raja Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1940, the financial support received for Yogashala was withdrawn. After independence in 1947, then Chief Minister KC Reddy also issued an order to close Yogashala.

This prompted Krishnamacharya to relocate to Madras in 1952 where he joined as a lecturer in Vivekananda College. There he acquired yoga students from diverse backgrounds and in various physical conditions. According to Krishnamachaya, it is necessary to continuously study, discover and experiment in yoga. He believed that Yoga should be taught to each student by knowing their needs. This individualized method was called ‘Viniyoga’.

Krishnamachayrya is often referred as “father of modern-day yoga” as well as Ayurvedacharya. He gave a new life to Hatha Yoga. He graduated in Indian Shatdarshanas and wrote many essays and poems on Yoga, including books like Yogarahasya, Yogavalli and Yoga Makarand.

At the age of 98, when he had lumbar fracture, he refused surgery, and cured himself. In that process, he developed a new yoga method that could be done lying in bed. At the age of 100, he went into a coma and attained Samadhi in 1989 at the age of 101. According to him, yoga was India's greatest gift to the world.

His disciples, Indradevi, K Pattibhi Jois, B K S Iyengar, TKV Desikachar, AG Mohan later became very famous yoga teachers.

Snehal Kulkarni

Shakha: Hanuman Shakha – Colorado Springs - Colorado Hobbies: Teaching Yoga, Cooking, Hiking