 Yogendra in his early years, sitting inSiddhasana | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Manibhai Haribhai Desai (1897-11-18)18 November 1897[1] |
| Died | 24 September 1989(1989-09-24) (aged 91) |
| Spouse | Sita Devi (m.1927) |
| Children | 2, includingJayadeva Yogendra |
| Alma mater | Amalsad English School, nearSurat St. Xavier's College, Mumbai |
| Known for | Pioneeringmodern yoga |
| Pen name | Mastamani |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Founder of | The Yoga Institute (1918) |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Paramahamsa Madhavdasji |
Manibhai Haribhai Desai (1897–1989), known as(Shri) Yogendra was an Indianyoga guru,[2] author, poet, researcher[3] and was one of the important figures in themodern revival and transformation ofhatha yoga, both inIndia andUnited States. He was the founder ofThe Yoga Institute, the oldest organized yoga centre in the world, established in 1918.[4][5] He is often referred as theFather of Modern Yoga Renaissance.[6][7] He was one of the figures responsible for reviving the practice of asanas and making yoga accessible to people other than renunciates.[8]
Yogendra innovated modern methods to teach yoga, initiating research in yoga, particularly in the field ofyoga therapy. He authored several books on yoga and started the journalYoga in 1933. He was also a poet, writing under thepen name 'Mastamani'. He translatedRabindranath Tagore'sGitanjali intoGujarati.[3]
Yogendra was born as Manibhai Desai in anAnavil Brahmin family on 18 November 1897 in a village nearSurat,Gujarat. He was affectionately calledMogha ("priceless one") in his childhood.[9] His father Haribhai Jivanji Desai was a school teacher. His mother died when he was three years old.[citation needed]
At the age of eighteen in 1916, after distinguishing himself in the Amalsad English School, Yogendra attendedSt. Xavier's College inBombay. He felt homesick and fell into depression and lost his interest in studies. At the urging of his roommate, On 26 August 1916, Yogendra visited the Dharamshala of Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji at Madhav Baug, regardless of his robust suspicion ofsannyasis andsadhus. However, inParamahamsa ni Prasadi (1917),[10] he wrote that his misgivings disappeared "as our eyes met" and as it turns out, Madhavadasaji was equally struck by Yogendra's qualities as a capable disciple.[3]
After a period of courtship through letters, Yogendra left his college and went toMadhavadasaji's Ashram inMalsar, nearVadodara in late 1916. He received special attention and it was clear that he was being educated and groomed to be Madhavadasaji's successor. Yogendra learned Yoga, much of the teaching being on the practical and pragmatic use of Yoga and its application in sickness and suffering. His training in the Ashram was centered around yogic 'natural health cures' administered to patients in the ashram's sick ward. Yogendra left the Ashram after more than two years.[3]
On 25 November 1918, Yogendra establishedThe Yoga Institute at the residence ofDadabhai Naoroji atVersova Beach inBombay (nowMumbai). A year later in 1919, Yogendra left forEurope and theUnited States, with the aim of popularizing Yoga and set up a branch of the institute, The Yoga Institute of America atHarriman inNew York.[11] His system ofasanas, which helped to create themodern yoga movement, was influenced by thephysical culture of Europeans such asMax Müller, author of the 1891 bookPhysical Religion.[12] Yogendra began the process of "domesticating" hatha yoga, seeking scientific evidence for yoga's health benefits. This helped to undo the negative image of yoga and asana practice.[13]
In US, among the people Yogendra met wasBenedict Lust, one of the founders ofnaturopathic medicine. Benedict Lust saw the value ofHatha Yoga for his work and studied it with him. Yogendra stayed there working with a number ofAvant-garde doctors such asJohn Harvey Kellogg andBenedict Lust. Along with the early experiments on yoga, he finished his first books while in US,Light on Hatha Yoga and a volume onRabindranath Tagore.[14]
He went back to India less than 5 years later; he tried to return to the USA, but was thwarted by therestrictive immigration legislation of 1924.[15][16]
Shri Yogendra was a new type of Asian teacher. Neither an ancient chanter of texts nor a renunciate hidden away for years inHimalayan hills, likeVivekananda, he was already partially a Westerner before he ever came to theUnited States. Growing up in British India, matriculating — before he met his guru — atSt. Xavier's College inBombay, translating the Yogic message into a specificargot, linking his religion-philosophical views to those ofPlotinus andHenri Bergson, Shri Yogendra was a blended product of East and West.
— Jeffrey J. Kripal andGlenn Shuck wrote in his bookOn the Edge of the Future[17]
The yoga researcherElliott Goldberg described Yogendra's system of asanas as "safer, more comprehensive, and more effective than Müller's system",[18] and commented that Yogendra "helped strip hatha yoga of .. what he called 'mysticism and inertia'", enabling people to think about asanas "unencumbered by traditional ideology".[19]
In 1921, Yogendra conducted X-Ray studies on Sutra Neti kriyas, a yogic technique to clean the nasal cavity.[20] He conducted research onPrana withSurendranath Dasgupta, an orientalist and philosopher in 1924.[21] In 1930, manuscript 'Yoga Personal Hygiene', authored by Yogendra, is the first book on intricate Yoga processes listing research on the yoga breathing techniquesUddiyana bandha andPranayama.[citation needed]
Yogendra's first book,Prabhubhakti ("Devotion to the Lord"), was published by Diamond Jubilee Printing Press inAhmadabad. His second book wasHrudayapushpanjali ("Prayer from the Heart"), a collection of his poetry composed in 1917.[22]
Principal A. B. Yagnik, aGujarati critic wrote in an article,Poetic Versatility of Shri Yogendra, published in 1979,[22]
We here enter the poet's esthetic world and are delighted with his exquisite reflections. At this stage he might as well have been on the road to Yoga, but not reached there.
— "Poetic Versatility of Shri Yogendra",Journal of The Yoga Institute, November 1979
He was inspired and influenced by theworks of Rabindranath Tagore. He translatedRavindranath Tagore'sGitanjali fromBengali toGujarati; it was published in 1918, with Tagore's permission.The country was full ofIndian nationalism, and his 1919 poetry collectionRashtriyagita, speaks of the homeland, the citizens and the struggle for freedom. Other books of his poetry collection includesPranay Bansi,Sangita Dhvani (2017) andUrmi (2014).[22]
Yogendra published many books on yoga, and they have often been reprinted.[23]
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He married Sita Devi in 1927. The couple had two sons, named Jayadeva Yogendra and Vijayadev Yogendra.[24]
Yogendra died on 25 September 1989 at the age of 91 inMumbai.[25][24]
In 1994, TheBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation renamed the TPS 5 Prabhat Colony as Yogendra Marg (Yogendra Way) after Yogendra.
AChowk namedShri Yogendra Chowk located inSantacruz, Mumbai, is named after him, was inaugurated bySuresh Prabhu, theMinister of Railways,Govt. of India in April 2017.[26]
His son Vijayadev Yogendra (1930–2005) immigrated to Australia and continued his father's work through the establishment of the Total Health and Education Foundation inMelbourne and The School of Total Education inWarwick,Queensland.[27]
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