Pattabhi Jois Passes Away

Yoga guru Pattabhi Jois dies at 93

Memorial planned in London for influential teacher of ashtanga yoga

Thousands of devotees of ashtanga yoga will perform their primary series with a heavy heart today after learning of the death at 93 of the influential teacher in the movement, Krishna Pattabhi Jois.

The yoga expert, credited with popularising the ancient system of ashtanga, died at his home in Mysore, India, on Monday. He was responsible for bringing the physically challenging form of yoga to the west, and counted among his followers Madonna, who included the traditional ashtanga chant on her Ray of Light album, and the actor Gwyneth Paltrow.

Ashtanga practitioners perform a series of yoga postures, known as asanas, daily and in strict sequential order. Beginners carry out the primary series, moving on to the secondary series. There are six series altogether, but only a handful of students in the UK are known to have passed the third stage.

Although the yoga positions are believed to be thousands of years old, it was Pattabhi Jois who became the most famous teacher of the Astanga Vinyasa system in the west. He left his native India in 1975 to teach classes in California, and has visited the UK several times, teaching up to 300 students at a time.

In north London, the Triyoga centre in Primrose Hill issued a statement saying: "Guruji was much loved for his heart, his smile, his humour and his devotion – both to his family and to ashtanga vinyasa yoga."

The centre is organising a memorial event on Sunday week, with a sequence of 108 sun salutations in his honour. All are welcome, the centre says, adding kindly: "Come and sit if you prefer."

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City's 'Yoga Guru' Pattabhi Jois passes away

Mysore, May 19 (BRS)- Renowned Yoga Guru Pattabhi Jois passed away at his residence here yesterday afternoon. His end came at about 2.30 pm.

He was 94. Pattabhi Jois, who was ailing for the past few days, was active teaching yoga till the end. He is survived by son Manju Jois, daughter Saraswathi and grandson Sharath, apart from a large number of relatives and disciples.

Profile
Pattabhi Jois was born in 1915 to K. Krishna Jois-Subbamma couple in a small village of Koushika, Hassan District.

He began learning yoga at the age of 12 and later under the guidance of T. Krishnamacharya between 1927 and 1945. Subsequently, he enrolled in the Sanskrit Mahapatashala, Mysore and learnt Sahitya Veda and Advaita Vedanta from 1930 to 1956.

He studied ancient yogic texts such as Patanjali Yoga Dar-shana, Hatayoga Pradeepika, all Upanishads and others. He set up a school of yoga called Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, training hundreds of students in various nuances of yoga. He gained name and fame by his lucid exposition of the curative and medical benefits of practising yoga.

Jois, reverentially addressed as Guruji, was honoured by the title 'Yogasana Visharada' by Sri Shankaracharya of Puri in 1945. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Yoga at Maharaja's Sanskrit College from 1937 to 1973. He has toured extensively across the world, guiding innumerable yoga workshops in the USA, England and France. A number of Hollywood stars and other VIPs are among his students.

His book titled Yoga Mala in Kannada is considered authoritative on the subject and has been translated into English and published by well-known publishing house of the USA namely Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG).

Very recently, the Union Tourism Minister honoured him for fostering tourism in Mysore by way of attracting foreigners to the city in large numbers to learn yoga.

Last rites
The last rites of Pattabhi Jois were performed last evening at Chirashanthidhama in Gokulam.