Yoga Life Institute N.H.

Personal Introduction by Dr. Bob Butera

In 1989, my meditation teacher in Japan recommended I study Yoga at The Yoga Institutes six-month program in Bombay, India. After some research and personal reflection, I ventured to India to spend six months at The Yoga Institute. The time in India, living at an ashram, left profound impressions in my heart. For most people who come to Yoga as a "householder" with a job and family, it may be impossible to take time away from daily life. Glimpses of this can be found at retreats that can be beneficial at showing a person the height of the Yogic experience.

The Yoga Institute Directors

Sri Yogendra, The Yoga Institute founder in 1917, met his Guru (Yoga Master) in dramatic fashion. His college roommate dragged Mani (Sri Yogendra's name at the time) to a lecture by a famous 117 year-old Yogi named Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji of Malsar, India. In the middle of this large crowd the Yogi yelled, "Mani, where have you been this past one-hundred years?" Mani was seventeen years old at the time, implying that Paramahamsa (117 years old) waited one hundred years to meet Mani. This statement was made at the Guru's first sight of the student, prior to any knowledge of his age.

Eventually Mani chose to follow the Yoga master and not continue on to be a civil servant. This decision caused Mani internal anguish; how could he follow Yoga as a monk and care for his widowed father. The tradition of following a Guru like Paramahamsa meant taking a vow of celibacy and forsaking mainstream society. Mani joined the Guru for a few weeks before Paramahamsa sent for Mani's father. The Guru respected the family bond of father and son: Mani returned to Bulsar with his father to consider his future.

The Guru, Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji, was born in 1798 to a Mukhopadhyaya family in Bengal in a small village near Shantipur in the Nadia district. Due to the early death of his parents, the plans for Paramahamsa's marriage at age thirteen were canceled. At twenty, he was an officer in the judicial department. When promoted to a higher position, Paramahamsa became frustrated due to a particular incident of corruption. At twenty-three, he decided to renounce the world and join the Order of Vaisnavism or the Path of Devotion. However, the religious rites did not fully satisfy his spirit. He traveled and learned different Yogic traditions in Assam, Tibet, the Himalayas and various places in India. He learned the technical aspects of Yoga and continually served people with his knowledge.

After sixty to seventy years of Yogic practice as a sadhu (wandering monk), a group of followers gathered around Paramahamsa. Eventually, he settled in Malsar and developed an Ashram. As a Yogic healer and sage, Paramahansa attracted visitors to be healed as well as those seeking spiritual guidance. He also directed a community of six-hundred people. While deeply immersed in Yogic practices, Paramahansa practiced each aspect of Yoga and spent the majority of his time serving others.

Paramahansa responded to lengthy letters from his devoted student, Mani, who was perplexed about how to resolve his responsibilities to his father and his deep desire to learn Yoga. Back in Balsar with his father, Mani was withdrawn. The village people thought that he lost his mind. As the traditional Guru relationship is strongly devotional, Mani felt a longing to be with his teacher and had no other desire.

Finally, Mani proposed a condition to his studies of Yoga, namely, that he would some day marry and fulfill his family obligations. At that time such a request to a Guru was unheard of as a student of Yoga took the monastic vows for life. If one chose to live as a householder, then one might follow some religious practices but not Yoga. However, a reformer himself, Paramahamsa agreed. With the aim of becoming a householder Yogi, Mani finally joined his beloved teacher.

Paramahamsa taught Mani all of his knowledge both of the spiritual life and of Yoga technology for healing. According to a book on his life, "much of the training was related to practical and pragmatic use of Yoga and the application of it in various situations of sickness and suffering. The cause of these problems had to be first studied and an intuitive skill of analysis had to be developed (Rodrigues, 1982)." After completing his training, Yogendra renounced the life of renunciation in order to care for his widowed father and be a householder Yogi.

This decision by Mani (who changed his name to Sri Yogendra), to take Yoga to lay-people, in 1918, was an innovation as Yoga was usually taught at secluded ashrams. Sri Yogendra's first Yoga classes to lay-people in Bombay swelled and soon those with various illnesses visited him for treatment. Following the desire to spread the message of Yoga, Yogendra sailed to New York. He continued to teach and heal people in America, eventually forming The Yoga Institute near Tuxedo Park, New York. Later, in order to care for his aging father, Yogendra moved The Yoga Institute home to India, settling in the suburbs of Bombay.

Sri Yogendra authored thirty books on Yoga, explaining the philosophy of this ancient science of living. He pioneered the first scientific studies in Yoga and brought Yoga from the mountains to modern society. Sri Yogendra simplified Yogic practices and kept the ethics and virtues of Yoga intact while educating thousands of students. He developed healing programs and trained hundreds of Yoga teachers. Finally, after his passing in 1989, Yoga was introduced into the Indian School system as a core subject. Sri Yogendra coined the terms "Yoga Education" (Yogendra, J., 1989) and "Yoga Therapy" (Yogendra, Sri, 1975).

Sri Yogendra's wife, Shrimati Sitadevi, is still actively writing and teaching. Besides raising two sons, Jayadeva and Vijayadeva, she has been in charge of the Women's Yoga Section since 1931. Her book, Yoga Physical Education for Women has helped women all over the world. Sitadeva's role as a leading Yoga teacher also expressed The Yoga Institute's commitment to equality between men and women. Affectionately known as Mother, she continues to care for people in her eighties.

Dr. Jayadeva and his wife Hansaji continue to enrich the work of The Yoga Institute. Dr. Jayadeva, the first son of the Yogendras, was involved in Yoga from his childhood. From the age of 17, he practiced Yoga under his father's guidance. He earned an MA in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Indian Philosophy. Called "Doctor" by all, he helps people all day long and has worked at the Institute since 1956. His countenance remains calm and cheerful as he directs programs, writes and teaches at the Institute. Doctor has edited "Yoga and Total Health," The Yoga Institute's monthly magazine, since 1961. Doctor corresponds with countless past students who teach the world over. He has an uncanny understanding of human nature and provides expert guidance.

Hansaji grew up in Bombay in an aristocratic family of Jain religious faith. Her primary education was at a school based on Gandhian principles. She excelled in sports and was especially fond of the arts. Her family was strict with their spiritual lifestyle which focused on Yoga. She read extensively and learned the Sitar for seven years. Hansaji visited Sri Yogendra due to a problem with Asthma as no remedies worked. After joining the Yoga Teacher's program, her Asthma cleared. She noticed that Sri Yogendra's eldest son, Dr. Jayadeva was unmarried at age 43. Hansaji knew that only a man such as Dr. Jayadeva lived the type of spiritual life she followed. Eventually, they married at The Yoga Institute. Hansaji brings her vibrancy to the Institute and effectively teaches the Yogic lifestyle. Her 50 episode television program on Yoga is a national hit. Her books on Yoga Therapy cover Yoga programs for pregnancy, heart disease, asthma and diabetes. Hansaji and Dr. Jayadeva have one son, Patanjali.

Sri Yogendra's second son, Vijadeva established a large Yoga Center in Australia. Vijadeva married an Australian and has three children. He developed a school and carries on similar activities to those of The Yoga Institute.

Reprinted with permission from the "Study Guide to the Classical Yoga Lifestyle", by Dr. Robert J. Butera, Ph.D