K. Pattabhi Jois, guru of the Astanga Yoga Research Institute, Mysore, is a strict disciplinarian with a gentle touch.

The Astanga Yoga Research Institute of Mysore was founded and is run by yoga master K Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharat.

Beginnings
Jois was an early disciple of the great hatha yoga exponent and Sanskrit scholar Krishnamacharya whose other well known disciples are BKS Iyengar, famed world-wide for the Iyengar style of yoga, and TKV Desikachar, who runs the equally renowned Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai.

After completing his training with Krishnamacharya, Jois went to study yoga philosophy in Sanskrit College, Mysore. He also taught yoga philosophy there for 36 years, from 1937 to 1973. Over 83 years old, Jois is a short, barrel-chested man with twinkling eyes and a bright smile who looks much younger than his age.

Jois' philosophy
Sweat and toil are intrinsic characteristics of the sessions with Jois. He rebukes any student who is not calm and collected. He believes that asking too many questions reflects an agitated frame of mind. Through practice alone will the mind be calmed and tamed. So, he advises you to stress more on practice and not run from place to place looking for lectures on yoga philosophy. For the same reason you should also not look for or expect too much in your courses by way of yoga meditation. "Sit still and you get monkeys in your head!" is Jois' favourite one-liner.

The routine
In the Astanga Research Institute at Mysore, you have a daily routine that consists of two or three hours of strenuous asanas practised in increasingly challenging postures which are synchronised with your breath in an unbroken and mesmerising flow. This synchronisation of breath and body movement is called 'vinyasa' in Sanskrit. It is designed to stoke the inner fires, generating intensity of fortitude in a yogi's practice or 'tapa'. This both purifies and energises the body. The maxim employed here is that even iron bends under heat.

On a more subtle level the 'vinyasa' practice propagated by Jois is said to greatly regulate and enhance the flow of 'prana' or life force energy. These practices also calm the mind through generating 'samata' and creating states of mind conducive to meditation while in action.

The 'Yoga Korunta'
Jois and Sharat teach six standardised and graded routines that range from the challenging introductory sequences to the completion sequence set, which no one has mastered as yet.

According to Jois these practices are derived from an ancient yogic text called the 'Yoga Korunta'. This manuscript, which is supposed to be over 500 hundred years old and written on palm leaves, is from an obscure Sanskrit manuscript. The verses are in archaic Sanskrit, which in itself reflects an even older origin to the practice of this ancient and esoteric practice as an art form.

Since no one has actually seen the manuscript of this ancient Sanskrit text, it is believed by some that the story surrounding this hidden text may be apocryphal. No matter what the truth of the manuscript that seems to be shrouded in a mist of antiquity, the methods suggested by Jois, when applied by his students, seem to be undeniably potent.

The influence on the West
The popularity of the Astanga Yoga Research Institute with the Western mind is indeed surprising since Pattabhi Jois is not at all fluent in English. He is also quite tight-lipped and refrains from answering too many questions or dish out information about tantra, mantra, kundalini or yoga philosophy.

Despite all of this, the popularity of the institute is rising, which is self-evident from the vast number of sites that have come up in the West, attributed to its disciples. The Astanga Yoga Institute continues to operate from a tiny concrete-floored room from Pattabhi Jois' modest Mysore home. He also continues to hold classes assisted by Sharat, six days in a week.

At times, Jois is known to push his students to the brink with his strenuous pace. But his reprimand is always lightened by his own inimitable brand of humour. Leaving the august portals of the Astanga Ashram, one can hear his voice gleefully bawling out to the rich American lady, "Bend, bend, bend, more lady. Why so fat? Pay a ten dollar fine! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

- Dipankar Khanna

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