Equanimity just looks on and observes, while calmly settled in composed neutrality. It is manifested as the quieting of both resentment and approval. - Gautham Buddha
The past few days have been some of the most difficult for many of us who were the initial cohorts at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) with our teacher Sri Desikachar (who passed on in the early hours of Monday, August 8). The common refrain as we shared our grief at his passing on was “this loss is much deeper than the passing of our parents.”
“Vadiyar,” as we fondly referred to him, was such a vital and subtle part of our lives that the grief being felt by us is like the welling up of sadness from an unknown depth. Memories keep bubbling up unbidden, small acts of compassion, the ease of the interface, everyday transactions, working together on KYM offerings, as well as moments of intense and profound teaching.
We came to Desikachar when we were searching for meaning, seeking deep healing or facing despair. While the initial interface was through a one-hour Asana class, soon the relationship bloomed into a deep and abiding apprenticeship. Our journey with Vadiyar is inextricably linked with the growth of KYM. In its early days KYM operated from a few rooms that Desikachar had made with bamboo and thatch on the roof of his modest home. I still think the atmosphere of that setting captured the essence of KYM more exactly than the modern space that now houses it.
A typical day in the Mandiram comprised of individual classes for us, classes for small groups learning the Yoga Sutras, group chanting interspersed with classes for teaching other students. What drew us to Vadiyar and his teaching was his simplicity. This was not a typical guru that we were dealing with, here was a person who imparted a profound tradition, but was at other times a friend, a mentor or even a companion. He was an engineer who had worked in L&T for a few years; he understood the reality and the angst of our generation, a generation that was not fully rooted in our tradition, but was also critical of the mindless modernity that was taking over our lives.
In Vadiyar we found a person who was rooted in the depth and the rigour of his father Yogacharya T Krishnamacharya’s teaching, but was also at home with the emerging world. Here was a teacher who straddled with ease the realms of J. Krishnamurti and the Upanishads.
Desikachar’s teaching and what he evolved in KYM was a transparent reflection of his being. We learnt the grammar of Krishnamacharya's Yoga, we improvised the application based on what the individual student needed and discussed our teaching with him (at KYM we rarely taught Asana and Pranayama to large groups, it was always one on one teaching; The Yogacharya also taught in this way).
We learnt the basics of Ayurveda. Allopathic doctors like Dr. Arjun Rajagopal and researchers like Dr T.M. Srinivasan participated in a project where we looked at the ailments people came to us with from a modern perspective, compared it with Ayurvedic principles and analysed the ways a KYM teacher could apply these perspectives anchored on the grammar of Yoga that his father had taught. We were encouraged to appreciate all the perspectives, but were taught to remain grounded in our tradition.
Desikachar’s ability to observe a person who came to learn yoga especially for therapy was awesome. In the brief time it took for the person to walk into his consulting room, have Desikachar study his pulse and exchange a few words was enough for him to have a good grasp of the person and his condition. Desikachar would indicate the basic framework of the teaching and we had to use the principles for designing appropriate asana courses to teach the person that was followed by a process of review and learning.
The key principles were: teach a whole course, ensure that there is deep attention given to the body through the breath, help the person become sensitive and discover themselves from within. The course that was taught was an integral unit comprising of a progression of asana and pranayama with appropriate periods of rest. These were conveyed through stick figures, and minimal use of words. (Desikachar drew these elegantly and they conveyed a sense of repose too). The entire process was internalised by us through this cycle: being sensitive to the students needs and reality, offering them a practice, discussing the practice with peers/Desikachar, seeing how the student has responded to it and offering the next step.
Desikachar taught a very wide range of people, including many prominent people from the world of art, and shared with us how one needs to be very sensitive to the individual temperament of artists. He taught many politicians and taught us to look for the human being behind the façade. He taught atheists to pray to Vishnu and accept Bhakti to a larger power to help them let go! He taught the pious how to be more grounded and discriminating. He taught powerful businessmen how to act without becoming obsessed with results.
He initiated work with the mentally challenged, and encouraged us to engage with people from all walks of life through his example without ever speaking about it. He shared what he learnt from his long association with Krishnaji, and what he learnt from engaging with simple people. In all this, he never let go of his rootedness to the tradition. To us this was a living evocation to practice the essential dharma of Yoga, “my roots are in my Father’s teaching, its fruits can reach everyone who needs it, and in the form they need it”.
In one of our classes with him Krishnamacharya shared with us about a time when a local Imam needed to be treated for a chronic illness. Krishnamacharya had to go to the priest’s home through the back door, the Imam was afraid his reputation would suffer if a Brahmin was seen visiting him! Krishnamacharya spoke about his joy in not only treating the priest but also having long dialogue on Islam with him. Krishnamacharya was a polymath and well read in Islam too.
At KYM the teaching always started from where the student was, both in health and in their belief. When we taught Muslims or Christians, they were encouraged to show Bhakti and devotion to their “Ishta devata” (personal God). However, I don't remember a single class on the shastras that did not begin with a chant to Pathanjali and Hayagreeva!
The passing on of our revered teacher has left a huge vacuum not only in us, his students, but also in the world of Yoga. Desikachar studied with his father for all his life, except a small period when he was in Mysore and Krishnamacharya moved to Chennai. His translation of the teaching and transmission of it in a modern idiom has created hundreds of teachers all over the world who carry forward the flame his father restored. The openness, subtlety and profundity of the heritage are what the thousands of people, rich and poor, famous and ordinary, teachers and students who have benefited from Desikachar will remember.
(The author studied Yoga with Sri Desikachar, and taught at KYM for more than a decade. He holds degrees in B.Tech and M.S. From IIT, Madras and is a Behavioural Scientist specialising in "Inner-work through Yoga." He can be contacted at raghuananthanarayanan. com.)
