BKS Iyengar leaves behind a truly glorious legacy

BKS Iyengar, who died on Wednesday, was truly a noble soul. Many know him as the founder of one school of yoga. This does less than justice to Iyengar’s contribution to popularising yoga around the world as a practice that explores the intricate possibilities of using the body itself to condition, cure, restore and improve both the body and the mind. He was, indeed, true to the original yoga text, Patanjali’s “Yoga Sutra”. But that would be incomplete. By analysing the intended effect of particular postures and identifying the precise muscle alignment required to achieve that effect, he built a grammar of yoga all his own. By devising a range of props to facilitate gradual mastery of complex postures, he brought access to yoga to the level of ordinary people.

Fame and recognition followed him, but he never chased glory. While a master of bodily restoration, he never posed as a miraculous alternative to modern medicine. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people and China issued a postage stamp in his honour. But he led a simple life in Pune, training and inspiring people. There are many contortionists around who claim to be yoga gurus and mislead the unwary. Real homage to Iyengar would be to use his teaching to separate grain from the chaff in all that goes in the name of yoga, for the benefit of humanity as a whole.