In 2004, Iyengar was selected as one of the "World's 100 Most Influential People" by Time magazine. BBC radio described him as "the Michelangelo of yoga."
His books are sold in over 70 countries and have been translated into 13 languages. He has been entertained by such luminaries as violinist Yehudi Menuhin and author Aldous Huxley.
Maestro Iyengar's childhood in Karnataka was plagued by typhoid, malaria, influenza and tuberculosis. Doctors predicted that he would not live past the age of 20.
He owes his success to his tenacity. After Guru Iyengar was introduced to yoga at the age of 16, it took six years for the young man named Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar to regain full health.
In 1952, while visiting Bombay, Menuhin attended an Iyengar master's class, which was planned to last five minutes. It ended up lasting five hours. The violinist credited Iyengar with improving his playing and helping him cope with stage fright. Menuhin took Iyengar to Switzerland and then to London, where he became more widely known.
In 1966, the book "Light of Yoga" was published. The book listed over 200 asanas and postures. The book is now known as "The Yogi's Bible".
A living heir of the true meaning of yoga
His many innovations have become the model for today's yoga: he reshaped the way people think about alignment and expressed it with anatomical precision; he pioneered the use of aids in teaching; and he advocated teaching with a minimum of esoteric Indian rituals, without sacrificing the union of body, mind, and spirit that yoga seeks.
One of Iyengar's most outstanding contributions, however, was the use of yoga as an aid for disease. His discovery provided a strong rationale for yoga to treat different series of ailments, and his efforts have greatly enhanced the credibility of yoga in the field of scientific medicine. In addition to these externally visible great achievements, the value of Iyengar Yoga is even more evident in the baptism of the practitioner's soul. "The practice of Iyengar Yoga can ultimately cause one to fall into love." So says John Fred, the founder of Anusara Yoga. As the famous spiritual teacher Meher Baba once said.
A false "guru" may attract people's attention through appearance, such as personal charm or purely rational knowledge of spirituality. But it is not possible to do what a true guru can do, which is to evoke the highest ideals and to touch the hearts of countless people." From suffering to glory, Master Iyengar's life was incredible.
He was a miracle. From a sickly child with a malignant disease and on the verge of death, to a mentor who is physically and mentally healthy and still spreading yoga at the age of 90, his very existence is the most vivid expression of yoga. He has gone through all the sufferings and trials of an ordinary person's life, and through the darkness, he has reached the other side of freedom and liberation with the path of "the middle way". Because of his tireless teaching and promotion, yoga has been widely spread around the world. Iyengar Yoga, which bears his name, has become one of the most popular yoga systems today.
On the seventh anniversary of his death, I would like to review the life story and wisdom of B.K.S. Iyengar, so that more people can understand his life and thoughts and continue to ignite the light of Iyengar Yoga.
