Studies With Krishnamacharya

8/14/2019 Studies With Krishnamacharya

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MY STUDIES WITH

R KRISHNAMACHARYASRIVATSA RAMASWAMI

rKrishnamacharya during class at his residence in R.K. Puram. Photograph by Dr. Radhakrishnan.


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WR Ktaught me, prayer came first.Classes started with a meditativeprayer (dhyna loka) to Lord Viufor the success of the session, followedby prayers to Lord Hayagrva, therepository of all Vedic knowledge, and

to Lord Ka. Next would be a prayerappropriate to the topic at handtoPatajali if it was a yoga program, toBdaryaa for a program on BrahmaStras, to Kapila for a Skhya class,or the appropriate peace chant (ntipha) for upaniadic vidys and Vedicchanting programs. ere would alwaysbe a Prva-nti (beginning peaceinvocation), and following tradition,class would always end with a peacechant called Uttara-nti, normally

the surrender loka to Lord Nryaafound in Viu-sahasranma, and theforgiveness or kampana-stotra, if itwas Vedic chanting class. e way myguru maintained ajali-mudr whilesaying the prayer was a point of study.He said that in this mudr the palmsshould be slightly cupped while keepingthe hands together. ere should be ahollow between the palms sufficient tohold an imaginary lotus or your heartin a gesture of loving offering to thedhyeya, the object of your meditation.

e arms should be close to the bodybut not touching the body, and thefolded hands, inclined by about thirtydegrees, should be held in front of theheart or the sternum. With a straightback and head slightly bowed, rKrishnamacharya would be a dignified

picture of peace and devotion.In this article I would like to focuson what I studied with my guru, rKrishnamacharya, rather than writinga historical account of him. Enougharticles and books have been writtenabout his greatness; I think it isimportant to know what he taught. It isclear that he taught different subjects todifferent people differently at differenttimes. Here is an account of what Ilearned from him.

I studied with Pandit Krishnamacharya(as he was known in Madras at that time)from 1955 to 1988. Of course there were a few breaks, many times brief,sometimes longer, but on the whole mystudy with him was nearly continuousfor that entire time. After every breakI would go back to him and, withouthesitation, he would give me time tocontinue with the studies. Normally, Ihad two to three sessions per week, butthere were occasions when I had theprivilege of going to him twice a day

for sanapractice in the morning andfor chanting or the study of texts in theevening. I never got bored. Every classwas unique; there was always somethinginteresting, something profound.

My studies with Krishnamacharyacan be broadly classified into three

groups. ere was a longish study ofHahaYoga, following his now famousVinysa Krama, including individualand specific therapeutic applications. Ilearned several hundred vinysas builtaround very important classic poses.ere were preparatoryvinysas, thenmovements within the sanaitself, andpratikriysor counter poses. My first fewyears of study were focused on generalsanapractice. I studied in a small groupmade up of the members of my family

gathered in a large room in our house.r Krishnamacharya came to our housein the morning almost daily to teach.He taught different sanas to differentmembers of our family, depending uponthe age and condition of each individual.ere was my eight-year-old kid sister,energetic and supple. I was aboutsixteen. My brother was around twentyand, at that time, in need of particularattention. r Krishnamacharya gavehim special assistance. en there were

my thirty-five-year-old mother and myforty-five-year-old father to completethe group. While there were somesanas and movements that all of uspracticed, there were many that weredifferentparticular and appropriate toeach individual. r Krishnamacharyahad great skills of observation. He hada booming voice and a certain firmnessand authority in his instructions. It wasalways fascinating to see him teach somany people differently at the same

time, a feat in itself.My father had my upanyanam,a ceremony for initiation into Vedicstudies, performed when I was ten. At that age, I learned some sanas atschool, well-known postures such assarvgsana, padmsana, matsysana,and a few others. But on the very first dayof my study with r Krishnamacharya, Ilearned a yoga practice so different fromwhat I had been taught and how I hadseen others in India do yoga. He askedus to stand in tadsanastanding with

SrivatsaRamaswami,Chennai,January2007.


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both feet together. After some wait inthe pose, he asked us to keep our headsdown and slowly raise our arms, inhalingslowly with a rubbing sensation inthe throat. Inhaaaaaaaaaaaaale, hesaid, raise your arms slowly overhead;interlock your fingers and turn them

outward. To this day, that is how Istart mysanapractice and how I teacha class. It was the first time I had everheard someone instructing to move thelimbs with the breath. Exhaaaaaaaaale,he said, lower the arms with a hissingsound in the throat. e hands shouldtouch the sides as you complete yourexhalation. It was so new and exciting.e seeds ofVinysaKrama were sownin me on that day with that movement.

Learning the various vinysas was

a lot of fun. Because I had done sanapractice when I was even younger, thelearning was smooth. Integrating thebreath with movements and keeping themind closely following the breath madea profound impact on the practice.If yoga meant union, then the unionof mind and body was easily achievedby using the breath as the harness tounite them. In addition, this initialtraining got one comfortable with thebreath in preparation for more involved

pryma and sowed the seeds ofdhra, or meditation, with the breathspot (pra-sthna) as the focus ofattention.

In the summer of 1958 or so, I wentwith my parents to rKrishnamacharyashouse in Gopalapuram. My gurusfamily had just moved to Madras fromMysore. We met his gracious wife, hiseldest son, Srinivasan, his younger sonSribhashyam, and the last daughter,Shobha. His second son, r Desikachar,

had come for summer holidaysfrom Mysore, where he was doingundergraduate study in engineering.His father introduced me to him.

My father developed a particularliking for Srinivasan. One day, in hisfathers presence and at his request,Srinivasan showed us rsana. Hestood in the pose for well over fifteenminutes, absolutely motionless, withexceptionally slow breathing. It wasperhaps two breaths per minute forthe entire duration, instead of the

normal fifteen to sixteen breaths perminute. My father used to like talkingto Srinivasan; one day, after conversingwith him, my father mentioned that hewas a worthy son of the great yogrKrishnamacharya.

I work in electrical engineeringin 1960. By then I had been rKrishnamacharyas student for aboutfive years. I had learned many of theimportant poses such as sarvgsana,padmsana, vajrsana, and dhanursanaplus several prymamethods. But itwas time to take a job. As an electricalengineer, I got offers to work as a traineein a government-owned, lignite-basedelectric-generation company about 150

miles from Madras or in a hydroelectricplant in the hilly regions of Nilgiris,about 350 miles from where I lived.One day as my teacher was leavingfor home after teaching classes in ourhouse, I told him that I was leavingMadras to take a job. He immediatelyturned to my father and asked if hewould find a job for me in Madras itself.He indicated that his son Desikacharhad also graduated in engineering and would probably find a job in Madras.

My father, who was a founding partnerin a leading stock brokerage firm, talkedto some of his friends and arranged afew interviews for me. I took a job in amotorcycle company. But for my gurustimely intervention, I would have misseda lifetime opportunity of studying witha great soul.

r Desikachars arrival in Madrasbrought about a few momentouschanges. He soon started teaching,still working as an engineer in his

outside job. One day, in a dramaticdevelopment, r Krishnamacharya toldmy father and me that he was stoppingteaching (he was in his mid-seventiesat that time) and that we could studywith his sons. I was sent to Desikacharand my father became Sribhashyamsstudent. It was a different experiencestudying with Desikachar, who wasmore or less my own age. It soon becameapparent that he was going to becomean extraordinary teacher. Even as hestuck to the basics of Krishnamacharyas

teachingthe vinysas, the breathing,the counter poses, and rest pauseshewas more accessible and communicative.It was a great experience studying sanaswith him. Soon he added several sanas

and vinysas and prymas to mypractice.After a while, another dramatic change

took place. Desikachar asked me if I wasinterested in learning Vedic chantingfrom his father, as he was going to startstudying with him. Before meeting rKrishnamacharya, I had studied Sanskritand Vedic chanting for almost four yearswith a Vedic scholar in my house. Withthis scholar I used to learn chanting with my father almost every morning

before dawn. We learned to chant theentire Srya-namaskra, taking aboutan hour, and the Rudram Camakam, theVedic prayer to iva. And there were theSrya-namaskra, Taittirya Upaniad,and Mahnryaa Upaniad. Yes, I wasinterested in chanting with my guru,but I was surprised. How could a yogateacher teach Vedic chanting? I hadalways found that HahaYoga teachershad no background at all in chanting orold texts, but had expertise only in the

physical aspects of yoga. Anyway, I saidthat I was interested, and the next dayDesikachar told me I could join him onan auspicious day chosen by his father.Desikachar also said that henceforth I would study both chanting and yogawith his father, as r Krishnamacharyasaid that he did not want me to havetwo teachers. He himself would teachme both sanas and Vedic chanting.Desikachar and I learned chantingtogether for several years, but mysanaclasses with my guru were one-on-one.

rKrishnamacharya.

PhotographbySrivatsaRamaswami.


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T X guru was extraordinary, eventhough previously I had had considerablechanting practice. e clarity and depthhe brought to his chanting were unique. We learned chanting the traditional way. He would teach one phrase thatwas then repeated twice by the student.en on to the next phrase, and so on.is process would go on for an hour orso. Any correction required by way ofpronunciation or svaras (notes) wouldbe given right away. e same material was repeated for several days, maybe

fifteen to twenty times. en the teacherand the student would chant the entireportion several times. e next portionwas then taken up for study. It normallytook about one hundred hours oflearning and practicing to complete onehour of chanting. If the student then wanted to memorize the portion, hewould chant it another hundred times;this is how chanting is taught in Vedaphalas, or Vedic chanting schools. Ido not now remember the chronologyof the chants I learned from my guru.

One of the first chants was Srya-namaskra, or Sun Salutation. It is the

first chapter in the rayaka (forest)portion ofKa Yajur Veda. Both myteachers and our family tradition wasthe sameKa Yajur Vedaand thatcertainly helped.

Svdhyya, or, according to myguru, study of ones own Veda, is animportant ingredient of yoga. e wordsvdhyyaitself is a Vedic term. ere isa chapter called Svdhyya-prakaraainYajur Vedathat tells about the efficacyof study and chanting of the Vedas,

including the chanting of the greatGyatr-mantra. Reference to svdhyyaas a duty can be found in TaittiryaUpaniadsvdhyyt m pramdaand ca svdhyya-pravacane caindicating that one should chant andstudy the Vedas and also teach how tochant the Vedas. e most importantchant that Krishnamacharya taught was the famous Srya-namaskra, alsoknown asArua Praphaka. It consistsof 132 paragraphs in thirty-two sectionsand is said to be the longest chapter

(paragraph wise) in the Vedas. It ischanted mostly on Sundays, early in the

morning around dawn and takes aboutone hour to chant. I had the privilegeof studying and chanting with my guruon innumerable Sundays at his house.In my last class with him, in 1988, wechanted Srya-namaskra together. Hewas in bed, incapacitated after a fall, but with a booming voice he chanted theentire chapter from memory. at dayhe blessed me and wished me well. Sincethat time I have chanted these mantrasalmost regularly.

I have chanted this Vedic portion inseveral Hindu temples in the U.S. andat public places in Austin and Houston,Texas. I would chant one section, at theend of which many participants wouldphysically do one srya-namaskra,as they had learned it. One by oneevery section is chanted, followed bya namaskra. In all there are thirty-two namaskras interspersed with themantras. For health it is recommendedto turn toward the sun deity (rogyambhskart icchet) while doing the srya-

r Krishnamacharya and his wife after class at his Mandavelli residence in the late 1960s. Photograph by Srivatsa Ramaswami.


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rKrishnamacharya chanting.


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namaskra. ese mantras, when chantedaloud and with understanding, cleansethe body and the mind internally. ereare some beautiful passagespoeticand profoundin this prakaraa. efamous Gyatrand the declaration ofthe immortality of the soul (amtam

purua) are some of the mantras foundin it.

M sections of Vedic chanting:Svdhyya-prakaraa, also known asKuma-homa, extols the efficacyof Vedic mantras; Citti-sruk, a chaptercontaining a beautiful meditation onthe light, tattva; Pravargya-brhmaa,the three chapters of the TaittiryaUpaniad, followed by Mahnryaa

Upaniad. He also taught three chaptersof the Taittirya Kthaka, the source ofthe famous Kahopaniad. It would takeabout ten hours to chant it all. I thinkI have spent more than 1,500 hourslearning and chanting these mantraswith r Krishnamacharya.

I also learned to chant the YogaStras; I like to chant the Stras. Oneday I was chanting the Strasand alsoa Vedic iva chant when a Sanskritscholar told me that my chanting was

very good. I then bought my first taperecorder and taped the Stras; I usedthe recordings to make improvements.en I had a final version. A friend ofmine suggested that, since yoga wasbecoming popular, I should explore thepossibilities of making an audiocassette,and then took me to a leading recordingcompany. ey heard the tape andappeared impressed, but the marketingdepartment poured cold water on ourenthusiasm, saying that because I was an

unknown entity, marketing was goingto be a problem. ey then suggestedthat I might try to do some programsover the national radio station so thatpeople would get to know about me. Igot the opportunity to give a talk in theSanskrit program slot on YogaStras. Imentioned this to my guru and soughthis blessings. He asked me to close thedoor of his room, listened to my tapeof the Stras, and blessed me, sayingthat it was very good. e program,broadcast over the national radio station

in Madras at prime time, went well. estation then offered me more programs.In the course of the next ten years Idid almost thirty programs in Sanskrit.I would consult my guru beforeseveral programs, and he was alwaysenthusiastic and encouraging. For some

talks he would dictate a lot of material.For a program on Upaniad Kvyashedictated an entire talk in Sanskrit. Otherprograms I did included Haha YogaPradpik, Sun Salutation, weddingvows, pryma, meditation, and Sad-vidyfrom Chndogya Upaniad.

After all these efforts, a fledglingrecord company offered to producean audiocassette on the Yoga Stras which did not do well in the market.e company, however, offered to do

another recording, as they liked mychanting. ey asked me to recite LalitSahasranma, a very popular puricprayer. ere are thousands of devotees who recite this prayer every day inSouth India. Since I was not familiar with the text, I took a few months tostudy it and record it. e recording hada very good response, and from then on,for the next twenty years, I recordedall the chants I had learned frommy guru, such as Srya-namaskra,

Svdhyya Prakaraa, TaittiryaUpaniad and other prayers, includingthe sahasranmas of different deities like Viu, iva, Gaea, Subrahmaya,Durg, Gyatr, Ajaneya,Rghavendra, and Hariharaputra. I alsorecorded the complete Sundara Ka(in ten volumes!) of the Rmyaa,running close to about 3,000 lokas.In all I made about forty recordings,several of them still selling about twentyyears after they were produced. is

was all possible because of the excellentgrounding and encouragement given tome by my guru, r Krishnamacharya.

Mantra yoga was a very important andintegral part of r Krishnamacharyasyoga. Chanting, or mantra paryaa,especially of Vedic and other puricmantras, is practiced by hundreds ofthousands of Bhakti Yogs. WhenSanskrit mantra portions are recited with an understanding of theirmeaning, the mind achieves an excellentone-pointedness, called ekgrat, an

important goal of Rja Yoga. MantraJapa, or repetition of the same shortmantra such as the Gyatror Praava,the iva or Nryaa mantras, overand over again, helps to reinforcedevotional fervor and the ekgrat inthe yog. Mantra Dhyna has similar

effects. Mantra Yoga and Bhakti Yoga were very important ingredients inKrishnamacharyas yoga; every yogaschool would do well to add thisdimension to the yogc topics theyteach. Vedic chanting or svdhyyacontinues to be an important part ofyoga practice.

D , study with my guru, he seldommade any mention of his past, his

family, his studies, his experiences,or his former students. Except for arare mention of his brother-in-law, hedid not refer to any earlier students.Hence, I was completely unaware of hisbackground. ere is a saying in India,Never investigate the origin of a sage(i) or a river. I was happy simply toattend his classes, listen to him, andlearn. I did not know for a very long time what his credentials were. But when,soon after the chanting classes started,

he indicated that we should study thetexts of yoga and related subjects, Iimmediately grabbed the opportunity,not even wondering what he was goingto teach.

Coming from a smrta brahminfamily, I had a rudimentary familiarity with the Upaniads and the advaiticapproach to Vednta. So whenKrishnamacharya started teaching someof the Upaniad vidys he thought Ishould know, I was thrilled. He started

with Sad-Vidy(Study of the Reality), achapter from the Chndogya Upaniadof Sma Veda, and navigated throughthe entire text. It is about the source ofeverything, knowing which everythingbecomes known. It is Brahman, theultimate, non-changing principle andhence the only reality. e vidy alsoemphasizes that the individual Self andthe Brahman are one and the same (TatTvam Asi). Of course, being an exponentofViidvaita, his interpretation of theMahvkyathe Great Sayingwas


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somewhat different from the advaiticinterpretation, but that there is one andonly one ultimate reality is an assertioncommon to both interpretations, incontrast to the dualism of Yoga andSkhya.

Subsequently, other Upaniads were

taught. Mkya Upaniad of the Atharva Vedawas taught in detail. efour stages of individual consciousnessas the manifestations of the only Selfwas emphasized, and the four aspects ofPraavathe a, u, m and finally thefourth stage, the stage of immortalityrepresented symbolically by the mantraOmwere explained. e terms usedin the textvaivnara, taijasa, prjaand the turyawere consideredidentical with Aniruddha, Pradyumna,

Sakaraaand finallyParavsudeva, theultimate reality, following the Bhgavataor Vaiavite approach. I learned a lotcomparing theAdvaiticandViidvaiticinterpretations, seeing their similaritiesand the differences between them.

Similarly, when he taught the TaittiryaUpaniad, the difference in interpretationofnandamayawas very interesting.

He also taught me the first eight strasofBrahma Stra. One day he mentionedthat he would teach the whole Vedntafrom the advaitic point of view if I

wanted, but added that, while the advaiticview might be intellectually challenging, itcould never be satisfying. He taught PranaUpaniad, Mudaka Upaniad, vsyaUpaniad, and certain important vidysfrom Chndogya and BhadrayakaUpaniads, such as Pacgni Vidy, PraVidy, Bhma Vidy, Dahara Vidy,ilya Vidy, Pratardana Vidy andseveral others. He covered several chaptersfrom the Bhagavad Gt, vetvataraUpaniad, and Kautaki Brhmaa

Upaniad. All these studies took severalyears. My guru said that to understandVednta, one should study several of theUpaniadvidys, as they answer differentquestions that arise about the sameultimate reality.

R K of us to study yoga texts inconsiderable depth as well. e YogaStrasof Patajali was the centerpieceof our yoga studies. Anything said orpracticed that is inconsistent with theteachings of the Yoga Stras should

be rejected, he said. He first taught usto chant the Strascorrectly and thenwent on to teach them, word by word,giving the meaning and nuance of each word, its derivation, the generic andthe contextual meaning, and then theconcept behind each of the stras. istook a considerable amount of time. Hesaid that the Yoga Strasaddress threedifferent levels ofyogs: the highest, themid-level, and the beginner.

e first chapter is for the most

evolved yog, someone on the level ofa Yogrha of the Bhagavad Gt, ayog who can get into samdhiby dintof the yoga sdhanas of his previousbirth. Such a yog is in the final stagesof his yogic journey, riding on the back

rKrishnamacharya being honored by Srivatsa Ramaswamis father at his house on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.


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of the yogic horse on the royal path toultimate salvation.

e beginning-level yog, the mandaadhikr, would do well to start withPatajalis Kriy Yogaas explained in thebeginning of the second chapter. is KriyYoga by itself does not lead to kaivalya

true freedombut prepares the yog tobe able to get into samdhi, the conditionnecessary for yogc achievement. He can becompared to a beginning rider who wantsto mount a horsehere the horse of yoga.Such a person is described as yogruruku,one who is desirous of doing yoga.

e intermediate-level yog does themore involvedAga Yoga, the morecomprehensive eight-limbed yoga. Aga Yoganot only prepares theyog but also leads him through the

various siddhis, up to and including upto the understanding of the Self, themother of all siddhis.

rKrishnamacharya would point outthat, in Kali Yuga, the main or the onlymeans of spiritual salvation is surrenderto the Lord, or varapraidhna. Heremarked that varapraidhna ismentioned in all the three levels ofyoga, viz., Nirodha Yoga of the firstchapter; and Kriy Yoga and AgaYoga of the second and the third

chapters. Surrender to the Lord, or theappropriate varrdhana(worship ofthe Lord), such as pjin KriyYoga,doing Aga Yogawith a sense oftotal surrender to the Lord, or constantmeditation on vara with a sense ofdevotion for the highest leveleachforms a complete varapraidhnapractice in yoga.

As a BhaktiYog, my guru was notparticularly in favor of some of thesamdhis, such as asamprajtasamdhi

(samdhi without qualities). Whatis there in asamprajtasamdhi? hewould ask. He implied that the idea ofsalvation during ones lifetime, like theadvaita vedntinsjvanmukta stage orthe similar asamprajta stage of theyog, were not goals that would interesta yog like himself. Rather what wasmeaningful was to meditate on the Lord(Bhagavad-dhyna) all ones life, so thatthe yog, when he passes away, reachesVaikuha, the abode of the Lord, andtranscends the cycle ofsasra.

It was his opinion that in Kali Yuga themost importantyamawas brahmacrya.However, here the interpretation ofbrahmacrya is not complete celibacy,but sex within the bounds of marriage,as propounded in several texts like StaSahit of Skanda Mah-Pura. For

a brahmacr, or one in the studentstage of life, complete celibacy shouldbe practiced. But there are many yogapractitioners who wish to be celibate alltheir lives, but it is just thata wish.ey are attracted by the ultimate goalof yoga like Kaivalya and, following theyoga theory ofPatajali, would like to betotal celibates all their lives. But a merewish is not sufficient grounds to remainwithout marriage, according to my guru,quoting the Dharma stras. Everyone

should marry after the student life.Only one who is spiritually evolved andis a naihika brahmacra completecelibatecan to take to sannysa, thecelibate life of a renunciate. A naiikabrahmacr is one who is a celibatein thought, speech, and deed. usmere abstinence is not sufficient causeto remain unmarried. Several religionsinduct many youngsters into celibateorders. Even though, through strictpractice and discipline, many manage

to practice abstinence all their lives, theycannot be called naihikabrahmacrs,a prerequisite for sannysalifelongcelibacy. Only a person who does noteven dream of sex can qualify for acelibate life. According to my guru, thisis almost impossible in Kali Yuga, so allyogbhyssyoga practitionersshouldget married and live within the boundsof a wedded life.

ere is an interesting story aboutnaihika brahmacrya. Sage uka, the

son ofVysa and a Brahmajnin, was walking along the banks of a river. At abathing ghat, several women were in theriver. ukapassed by. A few moments laterVysawas passing by and immediately allthe women rushed to grab their clothesto cover themselves. Vysa stopped andasked them why they were unconcernedwhen the young man ukapassed by, butnot so when the older man passed. ewomen replied that they knewukawasan absolute naihika brahmacr andnever had any thought of sex.

My guru thought that the practice ofinducting young men into the celibateorders in monasteries and mutts wasfraught with dangers and is unworkablein Kali Yuga. According to Dharmastras, only the kramasannysa pro-gressionbrahmacrya; then ghastha

(family life), then vnaprastha (retiredlife), and finallysannysa, if one is reallyevolvedis practical in this Kali Yuga.

After completing the Stra study,r Krishnamacharya began it again,covering the entire text of the Yoga Strasalong with the commentary ofVysa,which took over two years to complete.Yoga Strais a profound text, logicallycomposed, dense with information.Every yoga student, and especially everyyoga teacher, should study the Stras.

ere now seems to be more interestamong yogs in studying it.

A , range of studies and scholarship was not confined to yoga. He wantedto equip his student with adequateknowledge of other sibling philosophies.He taught Skhya Krik, said to beone of the best-composed philosophicaltexts. Its author, varaka, isconsidered to have been an incarnation

of the famous Sanskrit poet Klidsa.Profound and succinct, this text hasbecome the standard work on Skhya(one of the six schools of classicalHindu philosophy). My teacher taughtthe entire Skhya Krik, along withthe commentary of Gauapda andalso occasionally that of VcaspatiMira. Actually, the theoretical basisof yoga is Skhya. e BhagavadGt starts with the discussion of theSkhya philosophy. It is the first

Vedic philosophy that talked about theSelf as the observer and hence distinctfrom everything experienced. It is theconstant observer, non-changing, henceeternal and immortal.

Another philosophy he was keen toteach was Nyyaand the later version,Tarka. He started teaching TarkaSagraha, a compact text on Vedic logic.With Tarka/Nyya, Skhya, Yogaand Vednta, r Krishnamacharya gavehis student a well-rounded education indifferent Vedic daranas.


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He was keen to impart knowledgecontained in HahaYoga texts. He taughtHaha Yoga Pradpik in detail, exceptportions of the last chapter and someof the third, which he said containedobnoxious practices inconsistent withthe teachings of sttvika yoga and the

Yoga Stras. He said this text containedconsiderable technical detail but very littletattva, or philosophical consideration. Ithought he indicated that some claims ofthis text were exaggerated. For a particularprocedure, the author Svtmrmaclaimed immortality (chirajvitva) asthe benefit. My guru then asked, Whereis Svtmrma now? indicating thatsome of these claims should be takenwith a grain of salt. He also taught YogaYjavalkya in detail. It contains some

wonderful insights into the practiceof HahaYoga and gives the definitionof yoga as the union of the individualsoul (jvtm) and the Supreme Being

(paramtm). Some of the other textsthat he referred to and taught in portionsincluded Ghera Sahit and ivaSahit. When I was studying withhim, Nhamunis Yoga Rahasya wasnot published, but he frequently quotedfrom the text and after a while taught a

few chapters from it. He quoted portionsabout sanas that are helpful duringpregnancy and yogic procedures helpfulfor contraception and family planning(mitha santana). Several of these lokaswere found in the version ofYoga Rahasyapublished later, but many of the lokashe quoted in class were missing from thefinal published version.

I thought that, since yoga is an ancientsubject, the nuances of the system couldbe understood by studying the old texts.

Nowadays yoga students seem to spendvery little time studying the texts; theyappear to be reinventing yoga by drawinginspiration from other physical training

systems, such as gymnastics, martialarts, or even performing arts. Some ofthe basic tenets, like slow breathing andmind focus, are being put aside. Peoplebreathe heavily, sweat profusely, do nobreath work at all, and call it modernyoga, sometimes even under the banner

of Krishnamacharyas yoga.

S ,Maharshi Mahesh Yog came toMadras, before his TM became popular inthe West, and gave a talk about TM. erewas a large gathering, and I attended theprogram with my father. My guru came toknow of my attendance. When I went tohis class the next day, r Krishnamacharyatold me at the outset that he believed he hadenough resources to teach me and take care

of me. He said that I needed to cooperate with him. If I went out and listened todifferent versions and interpretations of thestras, I was more likely to be confused

rKrishnamacharya being introduced by a young Srivatsa Ramaswami at a public lecture.


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and perplexed than better informed. Andit would then be more difficult for him toremove my doubts. I stopped shoppingaround then and there.

r Desikachar founded the nowfamous Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiramsometime in the 1970s, I think, with the

blessings of his father. Since it was foundedas a charitable trust, it required threetrustees. A close friend of Desikacharsand I joined as trustees, with Desikachartaking the chair as the managing trustee.After few months, once the organizationwas in place, I left the trust. During myshort tenure, there was a request from ahundred-year-old English magazine calledIndia Review to write a series of articleson yoga. e magazine was strugglingfinancially, and some philanthropists

were trying to revive it in considerationof its great role during the Independencemovement. I was asked to write articles forit, so I began writing one article a month,as a trustee of the Mandiram. I wrote onone sequence ofsanas every month basedon my studies with my teacher. I would write the article, then get photographsof me doing the poses. I would give thearticles and the photographs to my gurufor approval. With Desikachar he wouldgo through the article and approve it. It

was then forwarded to the magazine.Even after I left the Mandiram, Icontinued to write for the magazine,submitting about forty articles in all. Severalsequences were covered, with the correctbreathing for each and everyvinysa.

By that timeafter twenty years ofstudying with my guruI was teachingyoga at Kalakshetra, a well-known Indianarts college, teaching South IndianBharatanatyam dance and Carnaticmusic, boutique painting, dance,

drama, etc. e students were young, intheir teens and early twenties. ey werehighly talented, and a challenging groupto teach. Each student was required tostudy yoga twice a week for two years.In about six months I realized that Ihad taught them virtually everything Ihad learned, some 200 to 300 vinysasand several breathing exercises! Iturned to my teacher and explained mypredicament to him. Is there anythingmore I can teach? I had read in his bookYoga Makaraa that he had learned

about 700 sanas. With infectiousenthusiasm he started teaching me morevinysas and sanas. Have you taughtthis sana, thisvinysa? he would ask.Over a long period thereafter, he taughtme more and more vinysas. I wouldpractice them, then go and teach them

in the class. It was wonderful to learnand teach at the same time. In thecourse of the next few years I learnedabout 700 vinysas in about ten majorsequences. is formed the basis of myteachingVinysaKrama.

My personal life required that I stay inMadras, so it was convenient for me to domy work, study with my guru, and teachat Kalakshetra. I taught at other places inMadras, the public health center, the yogabrotherhood, and so on, teaching patients

and medical personnel, middle-agedand older people. By teaching differentpopulations, I was able to adapt theVinysaKrama to meet the requirementsof people of different ages and conditions.But I had no idea what was happening inthe outside yoga world.

I stopped teaching at Kalakshetra by1995. I had started coming to the U.S.for brief periods to visit my sons, whowere working here. I did a few workshopshere and there, teachingVinysaKrama.

Many liked it, but since they were short-term programs without an establishedprocedure to follow, it did not stick. By2000 I submitted a manuscript titled,Yoga: An Art, A erapy, A Philosophyto give as much coverage as possibleto what I had studied with my guru. Ifollowed the thought process containedin Patajala Yoga Stra, explaining theSamdhi Pda, then the Aga Yoga.In the sana section, I included about200 vinysas very similar to what I

had published through India Review.It contained considerable informationabout yoga as therapy as well. When thebook was published with the title Yoga for the Tree Stages of Life, many felt it was rather dense and heavy, and sincemany were not familiar withvinysaas Iportrayed it in the book, there were notmany buyers. I also found that peoplewere not interested in myvinysaprogramof Krishnamacharya because the system was well known through other famousstudents of my guru. But I found that

there were significant differences betweenwhat I had learned from him and otherestablished teachings. I thought I mightnever get the Vinysa Krama across,even though my teacher had becomea legend in the yoga world. I decidedto write another book, giving all the

vinysas I had learned from my guru andtheir sequencing, along with the equallyimportant breathing aspect of each andevery vinysa. Once I had the bookready, with about 1,100 color pictures,it was difficult to find a publisher. Myagent told me that there was a generalperception that there were enough ofrKrishnamacharyas well-known studentsteaching his complete system. He askedme to write a page about how what Itaught was different, why it was unique,

and how it might be a better system. SoI wrote a page explaining the uniquefeatures of the Vinysa Krama systemas I had learned it from my guru. ebook was published by Marlowe andCompany, titled Te Complete Book ofVinysaYoga.

S VINYSAKrama that I teach, based on theteachings of my guru?1. Do sanas with a number ofvinysas,

or variations, in succession. It is the artform of yoga practice. Vinysameansart, and it involves aesthetic variationswithin the specified parameters.2. e basic parameters used inVinysaKrama are steadiness of the posture, acalm mind, synchronizing the breathwith slow movements of the limbs, and,while in the postures, having the mindclosely following the breath.

B , I

is an ancient system, where are thereferences to these ideas in the old texts? Where did r Krishnamacharya findthese methods? Dont sayYoga Kurunta;we know about it. Where else can youfind references to these concepts?

VinysaKrama was the mainstay ofKrishnamacharyas teaching of Haha Yoga. e wordvinysa is used toindicate an art form of practice. is word is used in several arts, especiallyin South Indian Carnatic music, a fullyevolved classical music system. Vinysa


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Krama indicates doing sana withmultiple aesthetic variations withinthe prescribed parameters. Yoga wasconsidered one of sixty-four ancientarts. Hence if you approach yoga sanapractice as an art, that methodology isVinysaKrama. e beauty and efficacy

of yoga is eloquently brought out byVinysaKrama.

What about breath synchronization,another important ingredient ofKrishnamacharyas Vinysa Krama?What about mental focus on the breath while doing sana practice, central tovinysayoga? None of the yoga schoolsteaches yoga in this manner and noclassic HahaYoga texts mention breathsynchronization in sana practice.Where can one find references to these?

is was one of the few questions Iasked my guru: IsVinysaKrama an old,traditional practice?rKrishnamacharyaquoted a verse indicating that referenceto this practice can be found in a textcalled Vddha Stpataand also in theYoga Strasof Patajali. ere was nopoint in looking for an obscure text likeVddha Stpata, but Yoga Strawas athand. But where is the reference? ereare hardly two Stras explaining sana,and there is no reference to breath in

themor is there?Going back to my notes on YogaStra classes with my guru, I founda very interesting interpretationof the stra, Prayatna-aithilyaanantasampattibhym. e wordprayatna, very commonly used inIndia, basically means effort. aithilyaindicates softness. So Prayatna-aithilyacould mean mild effort; henceyou find that many writers on the YogaStras declare that the way to achieve

perfection in a yoga posture is to easeinto the posture effortlessly. is iseasier said than done. ere are hundredsof practitioners who cannot relax enoughto be able to easily get into a posturelike the Lotus, for example. So we haveto investigate the meaning of the wordprayatna as used by the daranakrasin those days. Prayatna according toNyya, a sibling philosophy to yoga, isa bit involved. Nyya explains prayatnaof three kinds ( prayatna trividhaproktam). Two of them are the effort put

in for happiness (pravtti) and the effortto remove unhappiness (nivtti). Everybeing does this all the time. One setof our efforts is always directed towardachieving happiness and the other towarderadicating unhappiness. But the thirdtype of effort relevant here is the effort

of life (jvana-prayatna). What is effortof life? It is the breath or breathing. Now we can say that prayatna-aithilyais tomake the breath smooth. us in sanapractice according to Vinysa Krama,the breath should be smooth and byimplication long (drgha).

e other part of the stra refers tosampatti, or mental focus. Where or onwhat should the mental focus be? It is tobe on ananta(ananta-sampatti). Now we have to investigate the contextual

meaning of the word ananta, translatedas endless or limitless, which many writers equate with infinity. So someschools tend to say that while practicingsanas, one should focus the attentionon infinity, which is inappropriateand impossible, at least for the vastmajority ofyogs. Ananta also refers tothe serpent,diea, whose incarnationPatajali is believed to be. So someschools suggest that one should focus ona mental image ofdieaor Patajali. It

may be possible, but it is uncomfortableto think that Patajali would write thatone should focus on his form for thesuccess ofsanapractice. So what mightananta symbolically signify? e wordanantacan be considered to be derivedfrom the root, anato breathe (anavse). We are all familiar with the groupof words pra, apna, vyna, etc.,names of the five pras derived fromthe root ana. So in the stra, anantacould mean breath; ananta-sampatti

is then translated as focusing the mindon the breath. In fact Ananta, or theserpent king, is associated with air.Mythologically the cobra is associatedwith air; there is a common mythologicalbelief that cobras live on air. If you lookat the icon of Naarja (the dancingiva), you will find all five elements ofthe universe (earth, water, air, fire, andspace) represented symbolically in iva.e matted red hair represents fire, theGagin his tresses, the water element;the air element is said to be represented

by the snake around the lords neck. Soananta-sampatti would mean focusingthe attention on the breath or pra.

us this stra means that whilepracticing sana, one should do smoothinhalations and exhalations and focusthe attention on the breath. Since

VinysaKrama involves several aestheticmovements into and within yogapostures, to achieve the coordinationof movement, breath, and mind, oneshould synchronize the breath with themovement with the help of the focusedmind. By such practice, slowly but surely,the union of mind and body takes place,with the breath acting as the harness.

But why dont other texts talkabout it? ere is a saying, Anuktamanyato grhyam. If some details are

missing from one text, they should begathered from other complementarytexts. Haha-yoga-pradpik explains anumber ofsanas but does not mentionbreath synchronization and other basicparameters. But Haha-yoga-pradpikproclaims that its instructions arelike a prerequisite for the Rja Yogapractice of Patajali. ese two textsare therefore compatible. us we canconclude that Patajali gives the basicparameters ofsanapractice (and also of

the other agaslike Pryma), but fordetails we have to refer to compatibletexts like Haha-yoga-pradpik, Yoga-Yjavalkyaand others.

M R K like a many-faceted diamond,each side brilliant in its way. Differentindividuals saw different sides of himin different ways and took whateverappealed to him or her. I was fascinatedby whatever he thought I should know

and therefore taught me, and I foundthat in sana practice, the VinysaKrama method was most beneficial andsatisfying. I am sure a few others also findit so. With his deep scholarship, immensewisdom, and abundant compassion, rKrishnamacharya reveled in making theancient benevolent teachings accessibleto ordinary mortals like us.

Documents

Studies With Krishnamacharya