Influential Yoga Guru:T. Krishnamacharya

Shri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
Photo Courtesy :en.wikipedia.org

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya was a legendary and one of the most influential Yoga Guru of the modern era and is thus regarded as the “Father of Modern Yoga”. He is credited for reviving Yoga in the early half of the 20^th century and making it a life style of a large number of people. Krishnamacharya is regarded as a revolutionary innovator who developed and adapted Yoga practices that offers health, mental clarity and spiritual growth to any individual in the modern-day world, by preserving ancient wisdom and reviving lost teachings.

Krishnamacharya was born in the year 1888 in the remote village of Muchukundapuram, in the Chitradurga district in the southern state of Karnataka in an orthodox Iyengar Brahmin family. He learned Yoga-asans & Pranayam initially through his father. After the death of his father when he was 10, Krishnamacharya along with his family moved to Mysore, where he received his formal education. His youth period was spent by him travelling across the nation learning the 6 different Vedic philosophies in different cities like Varanasi, Patna, and Mysore. During this time period, he also learned Yoga through many Gurus.

Krishnamacharya at the Yogashala in Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore (1934)
Photo Courtesy :Krishnamacharya.net

It is said that Krishnamacharya learned Yoga for 7 years through Yogeshwara Ramamohana Brahmachari, who lived in a cave in Himalayan ranges near Manasa Sarovar in Tibet.  During this period, he received teaching on all aspects of Yoga and learned many yogic texts by heart, including one important text called the Yoga Korunta, which integrates the philosophical teachings of Maharishi Patanjali with instruction on Pranayama & asana practice including instruction on the use of vinyasa (breathing system), drishti (gazing point) and bandhas (energetic locks).

At the end of his studies with Mohan Brahmachari, Krishnamacharya as his Guru Dakshina promised to get married, raise children and teach Yoga to the world. Thus, though he was asked several times to take up prestigious positions at various temples, Krishnamacharya honoured his agreement.

In 1924, when Krishnamacharya returned to Mysore, he cured the ill Maharaja of Mysore using Yoga and in return was offered a wing of one of the Mysore palaces to teach Yoga classes.

Photo Courtesy :www.yogaonmaui.com

He integrated the ancient teachings of Yoga and Indian philosophy with modern-day requirements, Krishnamacharya created Yoga practices that are as accurate and powerful as they are practical and relevant. For Krishnamacharya, each & every student was absolutely unique, in the belief that the most important aspect of teaching Yoga was that the student should be taught according to his/her individual capacity at any given time. For Krishnamacharya, this meant that the path of Yoga would mean different things for different people and that each person should be taught in a manner that he or she understand clearly.

Krishnamacharya travelled across India for giving demonstrations & lectures on Yoga. Impressive unique techniques were used by him such as stopping his heartbeat or giving lectures while standing on top of one of his students performing a yogic posture in order to win his audience over.

Krishnamacharya was not only a great Yogi, but he was also a master of Ayurveda & Vedic philosophy. He held degrees in philosophy, logic, divinity, philology, and music, and was thus regarded as scholar. He lived for almost 100 years and took his final breadth in Madras (now Chennai) in the year 1989.

In an article entitled, “The Legacy of Krishnamacharya," in the Yoga Journal, in the year 2001, Fernando Pages Ruiz stated that "You may have never have heard of him, but Tirumalai Krishnamacharya influenced or perhaps even invented your yoga. Whether you practice the dynamic series of Pattabhi Jois, the refined alignments of BKS Iyengar, the classical postures of Indra Devi, or the customized Vinyasa of Desikachar, your practice stems from one source: a five-foot, two-inch Brahmin born more than one hundred years ago in a small south Indian Village".