The Global Ambassadors of Yoga

YOGA HAS BEEN at the fore­front of the fitness revolution in the modern world. Also, over the years, yoga has become India’s finest cultural export. From Hollywood stars to Indian film actors, and Silicon Valley CEOs to housewives in search of wellness, everyone seems to swear by yoga practice as the password to fitness and longevity. As the various forms of yoga practices have come to be popu­larised, such as Ashtanga Yoga, Power Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Isha Yoga or even Hot Yoga, the contemporary world seems to be overwhelmed by fancy jargon while the root of Indian yoga is close to being forgotten. Still, serious practitioners are often inquisitive about how it all started and eventually conquered the world. Some of the pioneers who left indelible marks are faintly remembered for their legacy carried forward by their students. Behind the contribution of the global practitioners of today, lies the silent tradition of sacrifice and hard work of the predecessors who showed the path of popularisation.

The need was long felt to simplify and propagate the ancient knowledge of yoga captured in classic books such as Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Gheranda Samhita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika. It called for the rewriting of yoga texts, especially the ‘asanas’ and the ‘pranayamas’ in simpler and jargon-less forms by competent practitioners and the starting of yoga schools that provided personalised training. Basics of meditation were also to be covered, though more intricate practices like Kundalini Awakening and Attaining of Samadhi were kept for the more advanced learners. For too long, yoga had been the territory of ‘Sadhus’ and ‘Sannyasins’ and was not encour­aged among the common man bound by family. But the endeavours of several stalwarts took yoga out of this confine­ment and brought it to the masses in the first half of the 20th century.

Swami Kuvalayananda and Shri Yogendra, the two well-known disciples of Paramahansa Madhavdasji, a Bengali Yogi, established the practice of yoga in their own rights near the city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Swami Kuvalayananda came to be known for his pioneering research in the scientific practice of yoga. He went on to publish the first journal specifically devoted to the study of yoga, called Yoga Mimamsa, in 1924. The Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Centre at Lonavala was the citadel of his yoga research and teaching, which he founded in 1924. He redefined yoga as a holistic exercise and became a pioneer of a new style of yoga.

The uniqueness of Iyengar’s tradition lies in the meticulousness with which he approached and documented yoga practice. His other contribution has been in customising Yoga for the common man and using various props for Yoga practice to help the beginner proceed from the preliminary to an advanced stage

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Shri Yogendra, the other renowned disciple of Paramahansa Madhavdasji, carved his niche in the modern revival of Hatha Yoga, both in India and the US. Of­ten referred to as the ‘Father of Modern Yoga Renaissance’, he was responsible for reviving the practice of asanas and making yoga accessible to people. He was the founder of The Yoga Institute, now the oldest organised yoga centre in the world, established in 1918 at Versova in Bombay. Yogendra innovated mod­ern methods to teach yoga, initiating research in yoga, particularly in the field of yoga therapy. He authored several books on yoga and started the journal Yoga in 1933. In 1919, Yogendra left for Europe and the US, to popularise yoga and set up a branch of the institute, The Yoga Institute of America at Harriman in New York. His system of asanas, which helped to create the modern yoga movement, was influenced by the physical culture of Europeans such as JP Müller.

Meanwhile, in Mysore, the tradition of yoga practice was gaining ground slowly under the guidance of Sri Tiru­malai Krishnamacharya, who took care of his illustrious student BKS Iyengar who would take over his mission. Hav­ing struggled with various diseases and general malnutrition throughout his childhood that debilitated his immuni­ty, BKS Iyengar took up the practice of yoga in 1934, under his brother-in-law, the yogi Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacha­rya, in an endeavour to improve his health conditions. Soon observing health benefits, he dived deep into the practice and developed the expertise to qualify as a yoga teacher within a few years. Propagating yoga through his centre Iyengar Yogashala, first in India and then around the world, he created a legacy unmatched by any other stalwarts.

In the eastern part of the country, Bengali culture was also having a tryst with yoga practice that was encour­aged by the setting up of Ghosh’s Yoga College in 1923 by Bishnu Charan Ghosh, a physical culture enthusiast who had cap­tured the imagination of the city dwellers with his excel­lent demonstrations of physical strength and muscle control. Ghosh understood the importance of yoga and its scope for popularity apart from strength training and incorporated it into his physical demonstrations and the institute’s curriculum. Close on his heels, a prominent student of his called Buddha Bose excelled in yoga practice and got many prominent citizens as pupils whom he personally trained.

THE EARLY MASTERS who thought of popularising yoga studied the ancient texts in detail for the usefulness of asanas and pranayamas for curing various illnesses and came to realise the scope of yoga as a curative practice. Texts written in simpler forms to cater to the masses underlined these benefits. In the yoga schools newly set up, apart from regular yoga training, special care was taken to attend to pa­tients with various illnesses to be cured through yoga. The curative capacity of yoga soon gave it an advantage over exercise with weights and other forms of exercise. Proper prescriptions with yoga asanas were given to patients who were monitored from time to time.

Swami Kuvalayananda’s Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center in Lonavala, Maha­rashtra, established a rich tradition of the scientific study of yoga and experiments on its curative benefits. These experiments impressed some Western researchers who came to Kaivalyadhama to learn more. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were said to be ardent followers of Swami Kuvalayananda and visited his ashram several times.

In the south, BKS Iyengar held the torchlight of yoga practice through Iyengar Yogasha­la. Set up across India and the US these centres specialise in cu­rative yoga that was refined by Iyengar’s years of dedicated practice and experience. The uniqueness of Iyengar’s tradition lies in the details and the meticulousness with which he approached and documented yoga practice. His other contribution has been in customising yoga for the common man and using various props for yoga practice to help the beginner proceed from the preliminary to an advanced stage.

Calcutta, the home of Bengalis, had been a cradle of yoga practice from the pre-independence era. The city has prominently featured in the yoga map of the world as a good number of compe­tent yoga teachers have left a dominant legacy with scores of students and followers. In the wake of the independ­ence struggle, several radical groups such as Anushilan Samiti had been set up in Calcutta that advocated regular physical exercise for the youth to gain strength and confidence. Apart from the popular akhara culture of wrestling and weightlifting, various forms of martial arts and yoga were part of their curricu­lum to train the youth. The youth of that era were highly motivated by the monk Swami Vivekananda’s words which emphasised physical strength along with the training of the mind.

THE POPULARITY OF Indian yoga started to reach outside India in the early twentieth century. Parama­hansa Yogananda, formerly Mukunda Lal Ghosh, who happened to be Bishnu Charan Ghosh’s elder brother, travelled to the US in 1920 to preach Kriya Yoga, a form of yoga where light exercise is com­bined with mental training to progress towards self-realisation. It was in his ashram in Ranchi that Bishnu Charan Ghosh had been initiated into Hatha Yoga practic­es. Though Kriya Yoga, as preached by Yogananda, did not incorporate the advanced forms of Hatha Yoga, Yoganan­da often held discourses on the advanced practices of yoga. When Bishnu Charan Ghosh and his foremost disciple, Buddha Bose travelled to the US in 1939 to hold demonstrations on yoga, they gained enormous popularity as experts. Bishnu and Buddha had already been training foreigners in Calcutta and finding new contacts abroad through them was easy. Along with it, there was the towering figure of Paramahansa Yogananda whose Yogoda Satsanga Society had started functioning in full force in the US. Those who were so far used to the simpler yoga practices as part of Kriya Yoga were now introduced to the intricacies of Hatha Yoga asanas and many of them devoted themselves to practice under Bishnu and Buddha’s guidance.

Shri Yogendra carved his niche in the modern revival of Hatha Yoga, both in India and the US. Often referred to as the ‘Father of Modern Yoga Renaissance’, he was responsible for reviving the practice of asanas and making Yoga accessible to people

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The visits abroad by Bishnu and Buddha paved the foundation of the Hatha Yoga practice among foreign­ers, which was later taken up by their student Bikram Choudhury. Starting his training under Bishnu Charan Ghosh in Calcutta, Bikram later went to Tokyo to look after yoga centres under the aegis of Ghosh’s Yoga College. In 1971 he shifted to the US and created a market for his yoga, which he customised for popular use. Though his art lacks authenticity and has faced criticism from many experts, there is no doubt that Bikram Choudhury has made a fortune for himself by popularising yoga in the US.

It was much later, in 1956, that BKS Iyengar flew to the US to showcase his art. He taught at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and gave several lecture-demonstrations. In 1952, Iyengar befriended the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin through the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was his student. With the encourage­ment of Menuhin, Iyengar embarked on a journey to enthral his Western audience and established himself as an international yoga guru.

THE LEGACY of the masters has been carried forward by their students. The foundation that Bishnu Charan Ghosh and his foremost disciple Buddha Bose laid in Calcutta through Ghosh’s Yoga College extended its reach through several experts who had been trained under them. Notable among them are the two brothers, Prem Sundar Das and Dibya Sundar Das who have trained thousands at their World Yoga Society, Mukul Dutta who runs his Pearl Yoga Clinic in Kolkata, while in the US, and Bikram Choudhury has created a huge fan base cashing on the teachings of Ghosh.

The journey of Indian yoga to the Western world indeed makes a capti­vating story which is yet to be fully un­folded by researchers. Well-researched works in recent times like Calcutta Yoga by Jerome Armstrong aroused much interest that will set the path of inquiry for many yoga enthusiasts. The quest for physical and mental emancipation that was nurtured in the circles of a few has grown into a many-branched tree that has borne excellent fruits for the rich as well as the poor of the society. Indian yoga will continue to dominate the fitness world as the enthusiasm of the youth seems to only rise.

About The Author

Ananda Mukherjee

Ananda Mukherjee is a writer based in Santiniketan, West Bengal