Swami Kuvalayananda

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Swami Kuvalayananda
Lonavla, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Scientific Researcher, Teacher, Yogi

Swami Kuvalayananda (born Jagannatha Ganesa Gune, 30 August 1883 – 18 April 1966) was a

Lonavla which he founded in 1924. He has had a profound influence on the development of yoga as exercise.[2]

Early life

Swami Kuvalayananda was born Jagannatha Ganesa Gune in a traditional Karhade Brahmin family in the village Dhaboi in

Baroda College where he graduated in 1910.[3]

During his student days, he was influenced by political leaders like

Indian Home Rule Movement. His national idealism and patriotic fervour prompted him to devote his life to the service of humanity. During this time, he took up a vow of lifelong celibacy.[4]

Coming into contact with the Indian masses, many of whom were

superstitious, he realized the value of education, and this influenced him to help organize the Khandesh Education Society at Amalner, where ultimately he became the Principal of the National College, in 1916. The National College was closed down by the British Government in 1920 due to the spirit of Indian nationalism
prevalent at the institution. From 1916 to 1923, he taught Indian culture studies to high school and college students.

Yoga education

Paramahamsa Madhavdas

Kuvalayananda's first

Physical Education which Kuvalayananda advocated throughout his life.[5]

In 1919, he met the

Yogic discipline, under Madhavdasji's guidance, greatly affected Kuvalayananda's career.[6] He became a pioneer of a new style of yoga influenced by physical culture.[7]

Though Kuvalayananda was spiritually inclined and idealistic, he was, at the same time, a strict

Baroda.[8] His subjective experience, coupled with the results of these scientific experiments, convinced him that the ancient system of Yoga, if understood through the modern scientific experimental system, could help society. The idea of discovering the scientific basis behind these yogic processes became his life's work.[8]

As early as the 1930s, Kuvalayananda trained large groups of yoga teachers as a way to spread physical education in India.[5]

Medical research on yoga at Kaivalyadhama

oxygen consumption in yogic practice at his Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center, Lonavla[9]
Further information: Science of yoga

In 1924, Kuvalayananda founded the

bandhas), resulted in a detailed study of the physiology involved during each such practice.[10] So, for example, Kaivalyadhama measured the consumption of oxygen of yogins seated cross-legged and practising pranayama; Kuvalayananda explained that while "the westerner" saw deep breathing as useful for providing oxygen, "With us the oxygen value of pranayama is subordinate. We prize it more for its usefulness in nerve culture."[11]

Alter notes that although these experiments ranged over a wide variety of types of measurement—including

stomach acidity—all of these were "regarded as epiphenomenal in their relationship to the real object of study—the phenomenal meta-material power inherent in Yoga."[12]

These experiments impressed some Western researchers who came to the Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center to learn more. Dr. Josephine Rathbone, a professor of health and physical education, visited from Columbia University in 1937 to 1938. K. T. Behanan, a doctoral candidate from Yale University, wrote his dissertation on yoga after visiting in late 1931, and staying for a year. Behanan went on to publish Yoga: A Scientific Evaluation in 1937.[13][14]} In 1957, the physicians Wenger, from the University of California, and Bagchi, from the University of Michigan, spent a month and a half working there.[15] Research and collaboration continues to this day.

Yoga Mimamsa

At the same time as founding his research institute at Lonavla, Kuvalayananda started the first journal devoted to scientific investigation into yoga, Yoga Mimamsa.

EBSCO in 2012. It has covered experiments on the effects of asanas, kriyas, bandhas, and pranayama on humans.[17]

Later years

Swami Kuvalayananda on a 2019 stamp of India

Besides his yoga research, Swami Kuvalayananda was a tireless promoter of his causes, and he spent much of his later years opening up new branches of

Lonavla.[15]

In 1932, he opened the Mumbai branch of Kaivalyadhama at

Alibaug, a Kaivalyadhama Spiritual Center in Colaba
was opened.

In 1943, he opened another branch of Kaivalyadhama in Rajkot, Saurashtra, with spiritual practices as its main focus.

The Gordhandas Seksaria College of Yoga and Cultural Synthesis was established in 1951 at Lonavla to prepare young people spiritually and intellectually for selfless service to humanity.

In 1961, he opened the Srimati Amolak Devi Tirathram Gupta Yogic Hospital for the treatment of chronic functional disorders with the help of Yogic techniques.

Some of his pupils, like the Padma Shri awardee, S. P. Nimbalkar, became known yoga teachers in their own rights.[18]

Books

  • Asanas, Kaivalyadhama; 1993 [1931].
    ISBN 8189485040
    .
  • Pranayama, Kaivalyadhama; 2005 [1931].
    ISBN 8190280368
    .
  • Goraksa-Satakam (translation), Kaivalyadhama; 2006 [1954].
    ISBN 818948544X
    .
  • Vashishtha Samhita (translation), Kaivalyadhama; 1969.
    OCLC 237126083
  • Vision and Wisdom (letters), Kaivalyadhama; 1999.
    ISBN 8189485288
    .

References

  1. ^ Chetan, Mahesh (5 March 2017). "10 Most Inspiring Yoga Gurus of India". Indian Yoga Association. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. ^ Alter 2004, p. 31.
  3. ^ Goldberg 2016, pp. 80–81.
  4. ^ Broad 2012, p. 25.
  5. ^ a b Alter 2004, p. 9.
  6. ^ Goldberg 2016, pp. 82–83.
  7. ^ Singleton 2010, p. 104.
  8. ^ a b c d Alter 2004, p. 83.
  9. ^ a b Alter 2004, pp. 81–100.
  10. ^ Alter 2004, p. 92.
  11. ^ Alter 2004, pp. 91–92, citing Yoga Mimamsa, vol. 3.
  12. ^ Alter 2004, p. 95.
  13. ^ Behanan 1937.
  14. ^ Broad 2012, pp. 83–84.
  15. ^ a b Alter 2004, p. 87.
  16. ^ "Yoga Mimamsa". Kaivalyadhama. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  17. ^ Alter 2004, p. 34.
  18. ^ "In Conversation With Dr. Nimbalkar". Lokvani. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

Sources

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