Soon after the United Nations recognised the benefits of yoga in December 2014 and called for its wider spread across the world, it adopted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal to declare June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’. Much before Modi’s efforts to popularise India’s 5000-year-old connection with yoga, other Indian gurus helped spread the word about yoga. Here’s a look at some of the most popular gurus through the ages. Note: We haven’t included popular names like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev and Bikram Choudhury among others as we feel most of you already know about them. 1. Adi Shankaracharya Adi Shankaracharya was born in a small village called Kaladi in Kerala in 788 AD. At a time when the Vedas had lost their hold on the common man, Adi Shankarachrya revived them and led to the advocacy of Advaita Vedanta and travelled across the country to propagate his teachings. He believed that the purity of mind achieved through yoga could help to gain moksha knowledge. 2. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya T Krishnamacharya is often called as the father of modern Indian yoga. He is also credited with reviving Hatha Yoga and developing Vinyasa. Krishnamacharya was known to mix his knowledge of yoga as well as Ayurveda to heal those who came to his help. He spread yoga across India under the patronage of Mysore’s Maharaja. 3. B. K. S. Iyengar B. K. S. Iyengar was one of the most renowned Indian practitioners and one of the foremost exponents of yoga in the world. His school of yoga, called Iyengar Yoga, is credited with bringing yoga to the masses as well as popularising it among sceptics. Named one of the top 100 influential people in the world in 2004 by Time magazine, B. K. S. Iyengar redefined Patanjali’s yoga sutras to create Iyengar Yoga. He is adored by millions of followers and his book ‘Light on Yoga’ is often referred to as the Bible of Yoga. 4. Dhirendra Brahmachari One of the most well known and controversial yoga gurus of modern India, Dhirendra Brahmachari is best known for being Indira Gandhi’s yoga teacher. He was also responsible for promoting yoga on state-channel Doordarshan and also introduced yoga as a subject in Delhi administered schools and owned Vishwayatan Yogashram in Delhi. He also wrote books in English and Hindi to spread yoga and had a lavish ashram in Mantalai in Jammu complete with a private airstrip and a zoo. 5. Swami Sivananda Saraswati Swami Sivananda Saraswati is the author of over 200 books on yoga, Vedanta and other topics and spent a lifetime teaching yoga through his Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. He was a doctor in Malaysia before renouncing his work to becoming a monk. Sivananda Saraswati spent his life doing intense sadhana, learning the scriptures and teaching yoga. Calling his yoga as the Yoga of Synthesis, Sivananda Saraswati combined karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga and raja yoga and spread it across the world. 6. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is world renowned for teaching Transcendental Meditation Technique to Indians and the world. Well known as the guru of The Beatles, Beach Boys and other celebrities, Mahesh Yogi’s fame spread throughout the world along with his teachings. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a disciple of Mahesh Yogi. 7. Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda is best known for his book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ that introduced millions of Westerners to meditation and Kriya Yoga. Yogananda was the first major teacher of yoga who spent a major part of his life in the US, paving the way for others to follow him. 8. Jaggi Vasudev Born into a Telugu family in 1957, Jaggi Vasudev is one of the most well-known Indian practitioners of yoga alive today. His non-religious, non-profit organisation Isha Foundation is well known for teaching yoga across the world and is run entirely by volunteers. From life-term prisoners to corporate gurus, Jaggi Vasudev and his form of yoga have touched many people across India and the world. 9. Swami Chidananda Saraswati Swami Chidananda Saraswati who took on a life of renunciation at the age of 20 after receiving his BA degree from the prestigious Loyola College in Chennai. He was initiated into monastic life by Sivananda Saraswati where he joined the Sivananda Ashram and was later appointed as the President of Divine Life Society in Rishikesh. Chidananda was instrumental in setting up the Yoga Musuem in 1947 that housed the entire Vedanta philosophy and depicted yoga sadhana through pictures and illustrations. 10. Swami Rama Swami Rama is best known as the first yogi to have been studied by Western scientists as he claimed he could control his body processes like blood pressure, heartbeat and body temperature. Born in Garhwal, Swami Rama founded the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy after becoming the holder of the Sankhya Yoga tradition. While his life was rocketed by claims of abuse later on, his institutes with branches in Europe and India and headquarters in USA live on through his teachings of yoga.
