B. K. S. Iyengar Quotes (1918-2014)

“He has by far had the most profound impact on the global spread of yoga. Light on Yoga is the yoga canon of this century. It is the most detailed, systematic and precise book out there about yoga [poses and techniques].”

“I thought my heart was going to explode. I was just overjoyed. A guru puts you in a moment of happiness. There is no love like that. It is just electric.”

“B.K.S Iyengar is considered the world's greatest living yoga master. He refined and perfected the technique of doing yoga poses that is most widely taught in the United States. He began life as a frail and sickly child — but at the ripe age of 87, the yoga master can still stand on his head and hold a conversation at the same time.”

“I first met Mr Iyengar in London in the summer of 1971. That’s what we all called him then, before the name "Guruji" became fashionable. I had been learning Iyengar yoga for nearly a year, and practising every day, but when I met him that was it. I realised he was a spiritual teacher as well as a physical one.”

“In the west, where supplication to gurus is not the cultural norm, he elicits such a response from a cadre of longtime yoga practitioners. They credit him with changing their lives — and the face of yoga in the United States. In 1966, he published a landmark book explaining 216 yoga postures called "Light on Yoga" which has sold nearly 3 million copies and has been translated into 17 languages. His technique was physically challenging, unusual for Americans practicing yoga, but what truly set it apart was his therapeutic approach to the poses. He devised specific prescriptions, or sequences of poses, to help people with ailments such as backache, headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes and many more.”

“Born Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar in Karnataka’s Kolar district in 1918 and debilitated by illnesses since his childhood, he codified Patanjali’s yoga sutras in an innovatively dynamic yoga style which came to be known as Iyengar Yoga, winning millions of followers in more than 70 countries of the globe in the process. He set forth its principles in Light on Yoga (1966), which has since been regarded as the bible of yoga. The book has been translated into 19 languages and has sold more than three million copies. Most importantly, he opened the doors for his discipline, making it accessible to all regardless of class, caste and religion.”

“He was a phenomenal person, compassionate, sensitive, caring and broad-minded. He was instrumental in revitalizing an ancient art and taking it to an international level.”

“He was a one-person movement...we will strive to keep his Sadhana (legacy) alive. He has achieved eternal peace. He was open to everyone even till his last breath.”

“He was well known as one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world. He is credited with establishing and popularising modern yoga first in India and then across the world. He created a unique school of yoga popularly known as ‘Iyengar Yoga’ and authored several books on yoga practice and philosophy which are considered authoritative texts used by practitioners, young and old.”

“Generations will remember him as a fine Guru, scholar and a stalwart who brought Yoga into the lives of many across the world.”

“Mr Iyengar was credited with his own brand of yoga, and taught author Aldous Huxley and violinist Yehudi Menuhin, among other celebrities. … One of yoga's finest teachers, he practised what he called an "art and science" for more than eight decades and ran one of India's top yoga schools in Pune. He continued to practise — "practice is my feast", he once told a correspondent — in his old age and could still do the sirsasana — or the headstand — for half an hour until last year.”

“Guruji did warn me: "Relaxation doesn't mean yoga is a soft option. It's a disciplined subject — a casual attempt only gains casual results."”

“We were just coming out of the ’60s change-your-consciousness thing, and many of us were in our heads, and wanting to meditate, and reach Samadhi, or enlightenment. He was, like, ‘Stand on your feet. Feel your feet.’ He was so practical. His famous quote was, ‘How can you know God if you don’t know your big toe?’”