On August 20, 2014, the celebrated icon of Indian science of yoga departed to his heavenly abode at the ripe age of 95. With that, a long and fruitful period of almost a century of yoga practices preached by him has come to an end. But his disciples all over the world will keep the torch of this science burning and millions of human beings will continue with their love and association with the art of yoga.
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, briefly known and BKS Iyengar was born in a humble family in Bellur, near Kolar in Karnataka in 1918. He lost his father when he was only 9 years old and then the family shifted to Bangalore. At the age of 14, Iyengar went to an ashram in Mysore run by his brother-in-law T. Krishnamacharya. The ashram was supported by the Maharaja of Mysore.
Iyengar’s early initiation shaped in this ashram under his brother -in-law, who, in turn, had learned the science of yoga from a Tibetan guru somewhere in the Himalayan recesses. Iyengar went through rigorous training and circumstances but he had determined to persevere and know the secrets of this great science that was considered useful to body and to mind.
In his book Light on Life, BKS Iyengar gives the story of his yogic and spiritual travel. After going through the rigours of the exercise in the ashram of his guru and guardian, he was asked to move to Pune and begin teaching yoga to the people there. A man totally stranger to a city in all respects, Iyengar did not lose hope nor felt discouraged and took up the task of introducing yoga to the people who gradually developed interest in the science. At this stage he was not still versed in the philosophy of yoga, its ancient texts, and about one of its most important aspects, pranayama, or breathing techniques. All that he knew about was the knowledge of asnas. Now he began a search for the philosophy and knowledge, an enterprise he began on his own. This was the period of self teaching. “My body became my first instrument to know what yoga is. The slow process of refinement started then and continues in my practice to this day. In the process yogasana brought tremendous physical benefits,” he wrote. He realized that yoga could have benefits not only for the head but also for heart.
As days passed by, Iyengar refined his knowledge and practice of yogasana as the great secret of balancing body and mind. People began to know about him and came to him for lessons which he imparted with great pleasure and dedication. He was a disciplinarian and believed in persistent adherence to the secrets of yoga. His fame travelled far and wide and he did not know that he had stirred the people in all the five continents with his experience with the new science of yoga so well known to India’s great rishis and saints but so little known to the world outside. Once travelling in China, he was met by a yoga enthusiast who asked him a question. “I’ve been practicing for seven years, but feel I can’t improve”. The yoga guru’s reply was a succinct summing up of his belief that the discipline of bringing mind and body together was a constant journey. “I’ve been practicing yoga for 76 years,” he told her. “And I’m still learning.” To his great surprise, he was told that there were more than 30,000 Chinese who were following his practice of yoga.
The Pune Iyengar School of Yoga attracted students not only from different parts of the country but also from abroad and in large numbers. Thus with due passage of time, the Iyengar School of Yoga became an institute of international repute and students flocked to it desirous of learning the great science of yoga that balances mind and body so as to create the equilibrium in human beings. Such was the name and fame of Iyengar School of yoga that Oxford dictionary under the entry “Iyengar” entered as this: 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.”
Iyengar became extraordinarily popular with seekers of physical and spiritual equilibrium in most of the western countries and the phrase India’s Soft Power was coined by an American Professor to denote that branch of science which India had brought to the world and was named yoga. Iyengar was the pioneer of that movement. His style of wearing long locks and briefs became popular in western capitals. 1950s he was introduced to the U.S. by Yehudi Menuhin the violin maestro. But the most often told story is about how Menuhin himself became Iyengar’s disciple after meeting him during a concert tour of India in 1951. The violin maestro already knew some yoga, but a meeting with Iyengar convinced him that here was the teacher he had been waiting for. Later, Menuhin would say that Iyengar was his “best violin teacher” because he had helped him become aware of the “mechanics” of playing the instrument such that his aches and pains disappeared forever.
Today, the science of yoga has reached each and every country in the world and in each and every house. Man has been in search of balance and equilibrium in his body and mind for a long time. But Indian saints and seers right from the times of Atharva Veda have been practicing yoga because Atharva Veda has strongly recommended it as the an instrument of creating balance. The curious thing which Iyengar discovered and brought to light was that age was no bar to yoga and it was a continuous process. Yoga was not meant to believe that death could be averted. That is a universal truth and death and birth are two great secrets never known to man. Yoga means channelizing life in a system that helps in balancing all the stress that we have either in body or in mind. The Atharva Veda strongly advocates that body and mind need to be balanced if spiritual journey is desired to be made.
We pay homage to this great guru of a unique science he brought not only to his countrymen but to mankind as a whole. He was a person who dedicated his life to help mankind walk along a path that would bring them peace and tranquility in mind and normal health to the body. This teaching transcends all barriers of physical world. Iyengar was a citizen of the world and he will be remembered as one who worked all his life of 95 years to lead human beings in their pursuit of inner peace and physical stability. India is proud of such sons of the soil.
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