Yogacharya scoffs at death

PUNE, Nov 23: At 80, he is `young' and restless and for him life is ``still so fresh in every fibre, every muscle and every cell of my body'...

PUNE, Nov 23: At 80, he is `young’ and restless and for him life is “still so fresh in every fibre, every muscle and every cell of my body”.

BKS Iyengar, the yoga expert, was in commendable form as he spoke about life at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, named in the memory of his departed wife, today.

The yogacharya reiterated that there was no looking back for him. “Positively I think I will live longer. The idea of death has so far not seeped into my mind,” remarked the yoga expert whose list of pupil includes Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, J Krishnamurthy, Jayaparakash Narayan and Emma Freud.

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“Yoga has been the great boon to me in not only beating all my own illness but at the same time treating the incurable disorders of thousands of people around the world besides earning me global recognition.”

Emphasising on the personal fitness, Yogacharya said, “there is no use of aiming for national security. Consider each body as a nation in itself with its organs as states. Unless all states are alright the integration of the nation cannot be achieved.”

“To make strong India we must have strong Indians. This physical, mental, spiritual and intellectual health can be attained through yoga.”

About his future plans, he said, “I have no programmes as such. I will not push myself for specific missions as I did during last 50 years of my life.”

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Speaking about the use of yoga in treating HIV positive cases, he said in certain cases the blood quality of the infected persons was found to have improved by 300 percent. “Yoga tremendously enhances the penetration quality of the blood and revitalises every organ of the body,” he said. He dismissed the general belief that the obese people should not perform yoga. “The weight of the body has little bearing on individual’s capacity to perform yoga,” he observed.

On his 80th birthday, the Light on Yoga Research Trust, Mumbai will hold the “Iyengar yoga festival 1998” to commemorate the life and work of the internationally acclaimed yoga expert. It will be held at Ambrosia Resort in Mulshi from December 2 to 14.

The festival will be one of the largest yoga conventions hosted in India with 800 participants from almost 25 countries. The festival includes asana and pranayama classes, which will be conducted by yogacharya, his daughter Geeta and son Prashant who are also yoga experts. The celebrations will conclude with a felicitation function of the yogacharya at the Shivshankar Mangal Karyalaya in Maharishi Nagar on December 14.