Yogacharya BKS Iyengar, the last of the legendary yoga gurus, passed into the ages on August 20, 2014. He would have turned 96 on December 14.
In an interview he had granted Rediff.comin September 2000, he had said, "The practice of yoga fulfils the need for enjoyment just as it provides enlightenment."
We reproduce his interview here.
For Yogacharya B K S Iyengar, winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Priyadarshini Awards ceremony for service rendered to humanity in the field of yoga, is just another accolade in a rich lifetime. Born in a poor family in Bellur, Karnataka, in 1918, he has come a long way from being a weak and sickly child to becoming one of India's greatest yoga teachers.
He has received many prestigious awards like the Rajyotsava Award, 1988; the Patanjali Award, 1990; the Padma Shri in 1991; the Punya Bhushan Award, 1995; Health Care for 1996 Award; Swami Vivekanand Puraskar, 1999; and the Best Citizen of India Award, 2000, to name a few. Many international awards have come his way too, like the Man of the Year 1998, awarded by the American Biographical Institute; the International Man of the Year, 1998, awarded by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge; and the Twentieth Century Award for Achievement.
His name has been included in many national, Asian and international lists of Who's Who, men of achievement and prominent personalities of India. Titles like Yogi Ratna and Yoganga Shikshaka Chakravarti have also been conferred upon him.
The Film and Television Institute of India produced a film on Iyengar called Samadhi, which won the Silver Lotus Award. He was invited in 1985 to the Festival of India in France, where the film Guruji depicted his heroic struggle from poverty to prosperity.
The master spoke to Ronjita Das.
You have won the Lifetime Achievement Award for service rendered to humanity in the field of yoga. How do you rate this achievement?
Yoga was a very dry subject 40 years ago. There were hardly three or four people learning yoga then, but now there are millions of people who learn yoga. The subject was not treated with respect in the early years, but I changed the whole scene. I brought life into yoga. I made it very lively.
How did yoga become an important part of your life?
I was suffering from tuberculosis, malaria and typhoid as a child. In those days, there was no treatment for these ailments. So I turned to yoga.
How do you account for its popularity today?
It spread by word of mouth. I have not made any conscious effort to promote yoga. No newspaper in Pune has ever given publicity to either my institute or to what is taught there. It became popular because of my dedication. When I was in England, I used to walk from Highgate to Hampstead, a distance of six miles, because I could not afford the bus. I used to send all the money I earned to my family in India. But I did not want to give up learning yoga. I was so dedicated!
How receptive is the West to yoga?
There are 180 Iyengar institutes in the world. There are 5,000 teachers abroad. In 1968, the educational department in London asked me if I could teach yoga in London without using Sanskrit words. I trained some teachers for 15 to 20 days before I too started teaching in London.
Is your wife interested in yoga as well?
Yes, very much. She used to teach yoga to women. In the early days, we were not really well off. But my wife encouraged me to learn yoga despite the financial hardships we were facing. Which is why I have named the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune after her. My children also teach yoga. And now I have started training my grandchildren too.
Is it an expensive way of keeping fit?
Not at all. The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute charges Rs 50 for four classes.
You have devised several props with the help of which even a disabled person can perform various yoga postures. What made you think of this?
Disabled people cannot perform yoga without help. So I had to think of a support system with which I could help such people do yoga. It is with this in mind that I devised some props. There are now 600 asanas which can be performed with props.
Do you follow any special diet?
No. I eat like any ordinary, middle-class Hindu man.
Muscle vs meditation. Gymnasiums vs yoga. What are your views on these forms of exercise?
The practice of yoga fulfills the need for enjoyment just as it provides enlightenment. A person should not be caught in the pursuit of enjoyment alone, he should experience enlightenment too. I mean, there should be action and motion. We must enjoy the action, not the motion.
Petition: Why B K S Iyengar deserves the Nobel Peace Prize!
Sign the petition to award the Nobel Peace Prize to renowned yogacharya B K S Iyengar!
It's that time of the year when recommendations are sent to Oslo for the Nobel Prize, an exercise which closes on February 1.
So far, in the 113 years that the Prizes have been awarded, only a handful of Indians have been so honoured.
Rabindranath Tagore. C V Raman. Hargobind Khorana. Mother Teresa. Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar. Amartya Sen. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan.
Just one Indian -- someone who was born in Albania, but later became a naturalised Indian -- has won the Nobel Peace Prize, ironical considering that India gave the world the concept of Shanti (universal peace) and Ahimsa (non-violence).
By the way, the Apostle of Ahimsa, the man who brought a mighty empire to its knees by his message of non-violence, was overlooked by the Nobel Committee.
It is time to rectify this omission.
As with every other nation, in India too there will be many, many, claimants.
Well-known and lesser-known peace activists.
Politicians with claims to nurturing amity.
NGOs.
Spiritual leaders.
Towering over them is the most famous living exponent of India's biggest soft-power export to the world.
The country's most well-known yoga guru alive.
B K S Iyengar.
He turned 95 in December, and it is a tribute to both his personal practice and the amazing power of yoga that at his age when lesser men would be contemplating the hereafter, he not only keeps a punishing schedule of teaching, but also ensures that his own personal practice is unhindered, including the king of all yoga asanas, the Sirsana.
Two years ago when B K S Iyengar traveled to China to set up a yoga school there, he was given a rock star welcome. In his own country, home to the ancient science that has wowed modern times, he remains less feted, although an icon to the legion of believers.
To this day, B K S Iyengar's books on yoga remain the definitive treatise on the subject for those on the path, ranking alongside the ancient Yoga Sutras by Patanjali.
Whatever be the lure of yoga to its practitioners -- from washboard abs to good living, it could be anything -- at its core lie the principles of Shanti and Ahimsa.
It is an ideal to be pursued, as B K S Iyengar has shown us through his long and illustrious life.
Surely, there can be none more qualified to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize than such a great man.
Please do sign the petition to the Nobel Prize Committee to grant B K S Iyengar the Nobel Peace Prize.
We will ensure our collective plea reaches the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo by February 1.
Yoga guru B K S Iyengar passes away in Pune
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, arguably the greatest Yogacharya of our time, passes into the ages.
B K S Iyengar, the world-renowned yoga guru and founder of the Iyengar School of Yoga, passed away early on Wednesday morning. He would have been 96 on December 14.
Iyengar, who had been ailing for some time, was admitted to a hospital in Pune a week ago. He was put on dialysis after his condition worsened two days ago. He breathed his last at 3.15 am.
Iyengar, honoured with Padma Vibhushan, is survived by a son and daughter.
The legendary yoga guru was admitted to hospital on August 12 following complaints of acute breathlessness and palpitation, Dr Deepali Mande, who attended on him, said. "He did not want to be admitted to hospital even though he was unwell at home for almost three weeks. Iyengar had a cardiac (ailment) history. His condition subsequently worsened, leading to renal failure after which he was put on dialysis," Dr Mande said.
Iyengar, considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world, wrote many books on yoga and philosophy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death, saying, 'I am deeply saddened to know about Yogacharya B K S Iyengar's demise and offer my condolences to his followers all over the world.'
'Generations will remember Shri B K S Iyengar as a fine guru, scholar and a stalwart who brought yoga into the lives of many across the world,' Modi, who does yoga every morning, added.
Iyengar was credited with spreading yoga to about 60 countries. The Yogacharya, who was active till the end through his Iyengar Institute of Yoga, had a huge following of disciples within and outside India.
Born on December 14, 1918 at Bellur in Karnataka, he came to Pune in Maharashtra in 1937 and after spreading the knowledge of yoga, set up the Yogavidya institute in 1975.
Among those whom he introduced to yoga were Socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan, philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti and the renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Always full of life and energy that betrayed his advanced age, Iyengar evinced keen interest in art, dance and theatre as also in cricket. All branches of the Iyengar Yoga Institute in the city were closed on Wednesday following the news of his demise.
compiler
Ln.P.K. Agrawal
