Brahmavidya's Prakash Yoga Centre — Pune, India

Breathing and meditation courses of Brahmavidya, taught in Pune

In Pune, Brahmavidya Sadhak Sangh keeps an office at Dixit Baug Apartments in Navi Peth, open Monday to Saturday in the morning and late afternoon. It is one point in a wider network. Classes of Prakash Yoga of Brahmavidya run at over 200 centres across Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Indore and Ratnagiri, in Marathi, English, Gujarati and Hindi, both online and offline. The pages trace the teaching back about 1,200 years to Guru Padmasambhava, who headed the Department of Yoga and Philosophy at ancient Nalanda University. Foreseeing its destruction, he migrated to Tibet with a few advanced students, and the teachings were handed down through selected disciples. In the early twentieth century an Englishman, Edwin John Dingle, known as Ding Le Mei, studied in Tibet and carried them west. His disciple Guru Jyotirmayananda began Brahmavidya classes in Mumbai in 1977. The Sadhak Sangh followed in 1997, founded as a registered charitable trust under the guidance of Guru Jayant Divekar, an IIT and IIM Bangalore alumnus with a corporate career. He began learning Brahmavidya in 1983 and teaching in 1989. Over six years he translated the three-level syllabus, around 1,500 pages, into Marathi, on the view that knowledge born in India is better learned in an Indian language. Teachers and volunteers serve without remuneration. The organisation says more than 200,000 students have taken its courses in 26 years. The curriculum covers the Noble Eightfold Path and other spiritual laws, pranayama and spiritual breathing exercises practised each morning, and graduated lessons in meditation (Dhyana) for night or early morning. Courses include the Initiate and Basic courses for adults, a Children's Course and a Residential Camp. The site also lists free sessions.

Traditions: Brahmavidya (Mentalphysics), Prakash Yoga, Pranayama, Spiritual Breathing, Meditation (Dhyana), Noble Eightfold Path

Programs: Initiate Course for Adults, Basic Course for Adults, Children's Course, Residential Camp, Free introductory sessions, Online classes, Pranayama and Spiritual Breathing Exercises, Graduated lessons in Meditation (Dhyana)