Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
Indian yoga teacher, scholar, Ayurvedic healer, and the man widely called 'the father of modern yoga' — the source teacher whose three best-known students (B. K. S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi) carried his synthesis of asana, breath, and Sanskrit scripture to virtually every corner of the postural-yoga world. Born 1888 in Karnataka into a long Sri Vaishnava lineage tracing to the saint Nathamuni, Krishnamacharya was a polymath: he held seven degrees, mastered six Indian darśanas, was fluent in Sanskrit and several Indian languages, was a celebrated Vedic chanter, and a deeply trained Ayurvedic practitioner. From 1933 to 1955 he served as yoga teacher in residence at the Mysore Palace, where he developed the dynamic vinyasa-based asana practice that became the seed of modern yoga. After 1955 he taught privately in Madras (Chennai) until his death in 1989 at age 100, transmitting an increasingly therapeutic, individualized form of yoga to his son T. K. V. Desikachar and other students.
quotes in library
Quotes by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
110 quotes“Yoga is a living tradition.”
“It must respond to changing conditions.”
“What was right in the forest may not be right in the city.”
“What was right for a sage in 500 BCE may not be right for a householder in 1950.”
“Adapt the tradition to the time. Do not abandon it.”
“Sanskrit chanting is part of yoga.”
“The vibrations of Sanskrit prepare the body and mind for meditation.”
“Begin practice with chant. End practice with chant.”
“This is the traditional way.”
“Yoga is a science, not a religion.”
“It is the science of the inner life.”
“You can be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or none of these — and still practice yoga.”
“Yoga belongs to humanity.”
“It does not belong to India alone.”
“Each generation must rediscover yoga for itself.”
“What I taught Iyengar was right for Iyengar.”
“What I taught Pattabhi Jois was right for him.”
“What I taught my son Desikachar was right for him.”
“Each carried a different lineage forward.”
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