Yogi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Yogi (disambiguation)
A yogi or yogin (in Sanskrit yogini is used as a feminine alternative) is a term for one who practices yoga. These designations are mostly reserved for advanced practitioners. The word "yoga" itself - from the Sanskrit root yuj ("to yoke") - is generally translated as "union" or "integration" and may be understood as union with the Divine, or integration of body, mind, and spirit.
In the Fourth Way teaching of Gurdjieff the word yogi is used to denote the specifically mental path of development, compared with the word fakir (which Gurdjieff used for a path of physical development) and monk (which he used for the path of emotional development).
[edit] Notable yogis
- Mata Amritanandamayi Guru revered by her followers throughout her lifetime as the Divine Mother whose mere glance taught, blessed, comforted, understood, and enlightened from a Samadhi-consciousness and existence within her human form as a part of God. Centuries ago, such individuals included Mirabai from the Bhakti tradition.
- Shankaracharya from the Jnana Yoga tradition, and Patanjali, who formalized the system of Raja Yoga.
- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sarada Devi (1836-1886), a Bhakti Yogi, brought about a rebirth of yoga in India. A devotee of Mother Kali and a teacher of Advaita Vedanta, he preached that "all religions lead to the same goal." His wife, Sarada Devi, was regarded as the incarnation of the Divine Mother and worshipped by him and his disciples as such.
- Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Ramakrishna's disciple, is well known for introducing Yoga philosophy to many in the west, as well as reinvigorating Hinduism in a modern setting during India's freedom struggle.
- Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (1872-1950) translated and interpreted Yogic scriptures, such as the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita. His epic poem Savitri is a treasure of Hindu Yogic literature, among the longest poems ever written in English. He also founded an Ashram in Pondicherry, which continues to propagate the practice of Integral Yoga, which is Aurobindo's synthesis of the four main Yogas (Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and Raja).
- Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of the Divine Life Society lived most of his life in Rishikesh, India, after serving as a physician in Malaysia. He felt that the illness was after all really in people's spirit and saw the cure in the practice of Yoga. He wrote 300 books on various aspects of Yoga, religions, philosophy, spirituality, Hinduism, moral ethics, hygiene and health. He was a pioneering Yogi in bringing Yoga to the west and throughout the world. His motto was: "Serve. Love. Give. Meditate. Purify. Realise." One of his disciples in the West was Swami Satchidananda.
- Neem Karoli Baba (????-1973) Saint from Northern India known in the West for being the guru of a number of Americans who travelled to India in the 1960s and 1970s, who were responsible for the proliferation of his name in the West upon their return. These disciples include the author Ram Dass, yogis Bhagavan Das and Baba Hari Dass, and the musicians Jai Uttal and Krishna Das. Was a life-long adept of bhakti yoga, and encouraged service to others (seva) as the highest form of unconditional devotion to God.
- Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002), founder of the Integral Yoga Institute International was from a devout and privileged South Indian background. From early life practiced Yoga and applied practical problem-solving in his work and service. He installed the first electrical system, water pump and photo shop at Rishikesh at his Guru Sri Swami Sivananda's Ashram. Plucked from obscurity to the West by Conrad Rooks and Peter Max, he landed in New York to Flower Power disciples in 1966, expanding his service to a worldwide interfaith movement.
- Swami Sivananada Radha Western disciple of Sri Swami Sivananda based in Canada, celebrating beauty and author of Hatha Yoga tome and whose disciples embody peaceful and loving manners.
- Indra Devi Former Russian royalty, raised in the West, studying in India under Krishnamacharya only after orders from the reigning Maharaja admitted her into the class. Krishnamacharyaji was very harsh on her "So she would leave sooner." This per her dialogue in Virginia in 1991. She was an early Hollywood celebrity Guru and was teaching actively practically until her death in her adopted Argentina.
- Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), taught at Mysore Palace from 1924 until 1957, and then in Chennai until his death in 1989. He is known as the teacher of four of the most influential yogi gurus who have subsequently spread yoga knowledge throughout the world: Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (1915-present), B.K.S. Iyengar (1918-present), Indra Devi (1899-2002) and his own son T.K.V. Desikachar. The lesser-known Srivatsa Ramaswami ia his longest-serving student outside his family. See Krishnamacharya's yoga.
- Yogiraj Swami Bua (1888?-Present), founded the Indo-American Yoga Vedanta Society in 1969. He received the titles of "Yogiraj" and "Maharaja of Hatha Yoga" from Swami Sivananda.
- Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), a practitioner of Kriya Yoga, taught yoga as the underlying truth behind Hinduism and Christianity. He moved from India to the U.S. in 1920, where he spent the rest of his life. Yogananda founded the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, in 1925. His book Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946, continues to be one of the best-selling books on yoga. It was instrumental in introducing yoga and meditation to the West.
- A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) popularised Bhakti Yoga in many countries through his movement, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, (popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement) which he founded in 1966. His followers, known for enthusiastic chanting in public places, brought Bhakti Yoga to the attention of many westerners. It may dismay many to learn the movement does not give women any spiritual authority to teach their scriptural versions, nor do they allow women to become ordained monastics, men hold a patriarchal hold upon all the higher echelons of this organization.
- Gopi Krishna (1903-1984) was a Kashmiri office worker and spiritual seeker who wrote best-selling autobiographical[1] accounts of his spiritual experiences. He wrote frequently about the nature of kundalini and was important in introducing this concept to a wider western audience.
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917-present) is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, which came to great public knowledge when the Beatles studied it for a short time in the mid-1960s, and still has many followers today. Although not a traditional yoga, it is clearly following that tradition and its goals.
- P.R. Sarkar also known as Baba (1921-1990), founded the socio-spiritual organization Ananda Marga (the path of bliss) in 1955. Based on tantric yoga, his teaching emphasizes social service in the context of a political, economic and cultural theory; or "self-realization and service to all."
- Swami Vishnu-devananda (1927-1993) Founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, Swami Vishnu-devananda, was a world authority on Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. He originated the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in 1969 - a certification now common in Yoga practice in the West. Swamiji was also known as the "Flying Swami" for the different peace missions he accomplished around the world.
