When you meet the internationally acclaimed Yogacharya Bellur Krishnamac­har Sundararaja Iyengar at his small office at Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Shivaji Nagar in Pune, you are stunned by his simplicity and earthiness. It is 4 pm when I meet him and on the desk between us is his seminal book Light on Yoga first published in 1966 which took him seven years to write. With over 602 photographs minutely illustrating each asana, the book is referred as the Bible of yoga. The photographs placed in the relevant part of the text, enable the reader to practice a posture without a teacher. An appendix directs the reader to specific exercises for a wide variety of ailments and for the serious student there is a long yoga course of over 300 weeks.

At first look, the 92-year-old yogi appears fresh and sprightly. What is the secret of your bubbly life, I ask. “One hour of pranayama in the morning and three hours of yoga practice before midday,” smiles BKS. His daily diet? He has only one cup of coffee in the morning, and vegetables, rice and curds for lunch at 1 pm and chappatis, vegetables and milk for supper at 8.30 pm. Did you ever drink whisky, smoke a cigarette in your life? “I came from a poor, under nourished family of six brothers and four sisters (three siblings had died earlier) and there was no question of indulging in such luxury,” says BKS.

His spartan open office, a part of his library without any enclosure, is an indication of the unbelievable humble origin of the man who conquered his own body and showed healthy path of living for both the street man and the stressed out corporate executive globally. With his growing popularity worldwide, it is not surprising that ‘Iyengar’ was made a noun by the Oxford English Dictionary by the Oxford University Press way back in 2003. It says Iyengar, a noun (mass noun) a type of Hatha Yoga focusing on the correct alignment of the body, making use of straps, wooden blocks and other objects as aids to achieving the correct postures. It further says that the origin is named after BKS Iyengar (born 1918), the Indian yoga teacher who devised this method.

But when you listen to the yoga story from the master himself, it makes your hair stand on end. The man who did not have enough to eat, and suffered diseases rose to be the king of his own body, healed it and took a long time to gain public acceptance. True to his simplicity and humility, the yoga teacher par excellence is not after making money unlike other yoga gurus of the world. Thousands of yoga institutes that have mushroomed all over the world, including India run independently imparting the Iyengar Yoga by thousands of his ardent disciples. Iyengar does not want to commercialise yoga. Therefore, the parent institute in Pune does not charge any royalty or receive any fees from these centres. Most of the disciples come to Pune to practice and learn Iyengar Yoga for weeks, year after year trying to perfect the ancient art.

“Yoga for me is not merely a physical practice but a sadhana. I come here every year for three months to the headquarters to try to perfect the art of Iyengar Yoga under the watchful eyes of my revered Guruji,” says Liselotte Prakash from Switzerland, taking a break from her daily practice in Pune. She married an Indian and opened Iyengar Yoga centre in Hrishikesh 12 years ago, where she teaches Yoga to both foreign and Indian students. “I get about 50 students daily who are taught yoga daily from 6-8 pm,” Prakash, who practices yoga herself for three hours daily. “I just can’t do without yoga as it refreshes and rejuvenates me,” she smiles. She had a terrible car accident in Switzerland 12 years ago and about 20 surgeries later, she was not able to walk. “I came to Pune in a wheel chair. After practising yoga with the guidance of Guruji, which stretched from one to three hours daily, I was completely cured and I got hooked on to Iyengar Yoga,” Prakash says.

The Iyengar Yoga practice stresses body alignment to obtain the maximum benefits of any pose and avoid injury. It emphasises holding poses or asanas over long periods as against quick movement of the asanas. It also makes use of props such as yoga blankets, cushions, blocks, sand bags and straps in order to bring the body into alignment. Undoubtedly, these props used under the watchful supervision of the teachers are great help for beginners to practice the art of asanas with little difficulty and exhaustion. Some Iyengar Yoga practioners say if one is suffering from any physical ailment this yoga would help, besides making ones limbs stronger, increase vitality, improve circulation, coordination and balance in the body.

“Only Guruji’s yoga saved me and brought me back to life,” affirms Harry David, a senior sports journalist based in Pune. A few years ago, his one damaged kidney was removed and he was also operated upon his prostate glands. “The doctor who operated told me it was one of the worst damaged glands he had seen,” says David, who had already become physically weak and mentally depressed. He went to BKS, who after examining him began giving him exercises. “Within six weeks, I was hale and hearty and regained my health,” he says, practicing yoga thrice a week. David said he had personally known former Indian cricket team captains like Mohammed Azuruddin and Rahul Dravid, wicket keeper Kiran More and former chairman of the selection committee of Board of Control for Cricket in India being personally taught yoga to maintain physical fitness and stamina. “Guruji even conducted one-day yoga workshop a couple of years ago in Bangalore for the Indian cricket team under the captainship of Rahul Dravid before the triangular series of matches between Indian and Ireland and Scotland teams and one-day match with England,” David said.

“I just can’t believe the one-man show has now gathered millions of followers worldwide and growing,” says BKS, with a flowing flock of silver hair and bushy arched snow white eyebrows. “Yoga is a timeless pragmatic science evolved over thousands of years dealing with the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of man,” he says. The first book to systematise this practice was the classic treatise the Yoga Sutras (or aphorisms) of Patanjali dating from 200 BC. “My book Light on Yoga which is in its 39th impression describes as simply as possible the asanas (postures), and pranayamas (breathing techniques) in the new light of our own era and its needs,” Iyengar says. Instructions on asana and pranayama are given in great detail which are based on his experience for over 27 years in many parts of the world.

Significantly, Iyengar is a largely self taught yogi overcoming many hurdles on the way, including poverty staring at his face. Born in Bellur, Kolar district in Karnataka in a large and poor family, he lost his father, a school teacher, when BKS was barely eight and a puny weakling. With the death of his farther, who earned Rs 4 a month as salary, BKS had to earn to support the large impoverished family which owned no land in the village.

When his mother was pregnant with him, she was seriously ill. Nobody thought she would survive. “Fortunately, we both survived but I was born weak. During my childhood I was afflicted with malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis and often came near death,” BKS recalled. “But yoga restored my health and gave vitality,” he affirms.

In 1934, when he turned 14, BKS left his village and went to Mysore to be with his elder sister who was married to T Krishnamacharya, a great yogi, patronised by the Maharaja of Mysore, who wanted to popularise yoga. Initially, because of his poor health, his brother-in-law was not keen to teach yoga to BKS. “When he tried to teach me yoga, I could not even bend and touch my toes. So, for months, he never trained but I used to practice on my own, observing him.” But luck came his way when Krishnamacharya’s one good student, who was to give a demonstration before the Maharaja, suddenly left town.

So he taught BKS some back bends which were very painful. With rigorous practice he excelled in the asanas and the Maharaja was impressed with BKS. In 1935, he received a diploma in yoga from his guru Krishnamacharya. A year later in 1936, BKS, who could not complete his matriculation exam, began giving demonstrations in schools and colleges in Hubli-Dharwar belt in Karnataka and earned four-five annas for each session.

How did he land up in Pune?

In 1937, Dr VB Gokhale, a civil surgeon and a yoga enthusiast whom he met in Belgaum, arranged for him to come to Pune and join the Deccan Gymkhana as a yoga teacher. “I taught 10 students each from 10 schools at different sessions at their school premises and worked like a labourer,” says BKS. His six months contract was extended to three years but later the schools dropped out as senior yoga masters in the city spread the rumour that yoga could not be taught for masses. Deccan Gymkhana also discontinued his service saying they had no funds to pay him. He soon shifted from his rented room for Rs 8 a month given by the Deccan Gymkhana to Rastha Peth to a boarding and lodging facility. He started teaching yoga privately to ensure his next meal but it did not improve his financial position. “But when I cured Dinkar Balwant Deodhar, famous cricketer, who had a serious knee problem, through yoga over a period of time and Dr Gokhale certified that there was no need for an operation, I became famous in the city,” BKS says.

The yogi went international only after the celebrated violinist Yehudi Menuhin was cured of his health problems in March 1952. “He had come to Mumbai to give a concert in aid of famine relief. In 1952, I had started giving week-end classes in Mumbai and many high society people were my students. Menuhin, who had a nervous breakdown, could not even hold his violin properly. Zubin Mehta’s father had recommended him to me. I did the shanmukhi mudra, closing his eyes with my fingers in shavasan (a posture imitating death). I sat for 45 minutes as Menuhin slept. And top people like scientists Homi Bhabha and Raja Maharaj Singh, the governor and others gestured me to wake him up but I politely refused. After 45 minutes his eyelids moved and I took off my hand. I taught him three days non-stop. After that he was able to perform at the Regal Theatre in Mumbai,” BKS says. After this he came back to BKS for yoga classes before his Chennai, Calcutta and Delhi tours. “There is something in you that heals me,” Menuhin told BKS and became his ardent disciple. He invited BKS to Switzerland in 1954 to teach him yoga as he could not play the violin once again. “For two months I taught him yoga morning and evening and then he was able to perform a concert in Zurich on September 29, 1954,” BKS says. Menuhin began practising yoga daily and introduced BKS to the West.

In 1960, when he met Belgium’s Queen Mother, she asked BKS if she could stand on her head. “She was already 84 and a Queen at that and therefore, I was hesitant,” BKS recalled. He started her class one morning but did not teach her shirsasan (standing on the head posture). When she insisted, BKS lifted her up and turned her upside down and she fainted. “After turning her upside down, I placed her head between my two feet. And after some time when her head moved, I realised she was regaining her consciousness,” BKS says. He also taught her various asanas that helped the blood seep into the brain before teaching her shirsasana.

BKS has also taught yoga for many top notch industrialists in the country but the list is long so he requests not to print their names.

“Today I get the fifth generation of students who want to learn yoga from all over the world,” says BSK. “It has spread from Argentina to Tokyo and from New Zealand to Alaska,” he adds.

His son Prashant and unmarried daughter Geeta are directors of Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. “There are more than 20 Iyengar yoga associations and over 500 Iyengar yoga institutes worldwide who use our logo to promote yoga but all are run independently,” says Prashant. He says on an average about 200 foreigners and 1,500 Indians enrol at the Pune centre to learn yoga every month.

Has he mastered yoga? “I am still a student of yoga,” BKS smiles. zz

michaelgonsalves

@mydigitalfc.com