Pune :
The world renowned legendary Yoga Guru Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (96), popularly known as B.K.S. Iyengar, passed away at a private hospital here at about 3.15 am today following poor heart functioning and difficulty in breathing.
A recipient of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards, the Yoga Guru was ill for three weeks prior to hospitalisation but refused to get himself admitted and was treated at home by his family physician. He was even put on intravenous fluid at home.
His family members finally persuaded him to get admitted after his condition worsened. Though he was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 12, his condition had deteriorated a lot by that time. He was put on non-invasive ventilator for a day but he refused to undergo intensive treatment and hence, he was taken off the ventilator.
Iyengar’s heart muscles had become very weak following which there was less amount of blood being pumped by the heart, according to doctors. Last rites will be held later today.
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Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (96) was born into a poor Iyengar family at Bellur, Kolar District in Karnataka and was the 11th of 13 children of Krishnamachar, a school teacher and Sheshamma.
His father died when he was only nine-years-old. As a result, he went to live with his brother in Bangalore. His childhood was further marked by serious illnesses including malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid along with malnutrition.
At the age of 15, Iyengar moved to Mysore to live with his eldest sister and her husband T. Krishnamacharya, an accomplished yogi and Sanskrit scholar, who ran a yoga school in the Mysore Palace and introduced Iyengar to some of the basic yoga postures (asanas) as a method to improve his health.
At the beginning, Iyengar struggled from day-to-day which gradually paid off, as he mastered some of the postures and as a result, his health improved.
In 1937, after two years of study, Krishnamacharya asked Iyengar to go to Pune to teach yoga where he arrived nearly penniless, knowing no one and speaking little English. Iyengar’s only way to make a living was by teaching yoga. With limited experience and almost no theoretical knowledge, he decided to practice with determination.
In the beginning, he would train himself as many as 12 hours each day, usually surviving on only stale bread and tea. Sometimes, he would suffer great pain through incorrect technique, often having to place heavy weights on his body to relieve the aches. However, refusing to give up, he gradually developed a deep personal understanding of the techniques of each posture and their effects. More yoga students began to seek him to learn yoga.
In 1943, he married Ramamani, to whom he had been introduced by his brothers and together they raised five daughters and a son. Both his eldest daughter Geeta and his son Prashant have become internationally-known teachers in their own right. The other children of B.K.S. Iyengar are Vanita, Sunita, Suchita and Savita.
Slowly they worked their way out of poverty and gradually Iyengar’s fame as a yoga teacher spread. In 1952, world renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin became a student of yoga during a visit to India. Menuhin then arranged for Iyengar to teach in many cities in Europe and he made his first visit to the United States in 1956.
In 1975, Iyengar established the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, in memory of his departed wife, where he resided and taught yoga till his end. By that time, his eldest children, Geeta and Prashant, had also started teaching yoga under his guidance. The Institute quickly became an international centre, attracting thousands of people from all over the world.
Iyengar attracted his students by offering them just what they sought — which tended to be physical stamina and flexibility. He conducted demonstrations and later, when a scooter accident dislocated his spine, he began exploring the use of props to help disabled people practice Yoga. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014. In 2004, Iyengar was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
B.K.S. Iyengar condoled
Mysore Zoo Executive Director B.P. Ravi, who spoke to SOM, condoled the death of the Yoga Guru and said that B.K.S. Iyengar was an animal lover and he was an inspiration to many across the globe. He said that whenever Iyengar visited Mysore, he never failed to visit the Zoo. He never used to talk unnecessarily but used to speak with his eyes, he said and added that very recently his family members had come to the Zoo and had adopted two tiger cubs. With his demise, the Zoo lost a great animal lover and the world lost a legendary Yoga exponent.
Sharath Jois, grandson of K. Pattabhi Jois, who is running Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute at Gokulam in city, in his condolence message, said that an era has come to an end. Iyengar’s contribution for yoga was immense and the yoga community across the globe has lost a legend.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 20th, 2014
