temple was decorated with erotic sculpture resem-
bling that at KHAJURAHO. Its tower appears to have
fallen but is said to have been 200 feet high.
Further reading: A. Boner, S. R. Sarma, and R. P. Das,
New Light on the Sun Temple of Konarka: Four Unpub-
lished Manuscripts Relating to the Construction History
and Ritual of the Temple (Varanasi: Chowkhambha San-
skrit Series Office, 1972).
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
See DESAI, AMRIT.
Kripalu Yoga
Kripalu Yoga is a form of HATHA YOGA originally
developed by Amrit DESAI (b. 1932) in the United
States. The Indian-born Desai had been teach-
ing yoga in the United States through the 1960s.
However, in 1970, a significant development
occurred in his work. Immediately after a visit to
his teacher, Swami KRIPALVANANDA (1913–81), and
while engaged in his regular practice, he experi-
enced a spontaneous flow of yoga postures. He
attributed this occurrence to the intelligence of
the life force, which performed the postures with-
out willful direction. He studied his experience
and discovered the means of leading others into
the same experience. As he began to teach this
technique to others, he named it in honor of his
guru, Sri Kripalvananda.
Kripalu Yoga begins with the eight aspects of
Ashtanga Yoga derived from Patanjali’s YOGA SUTRA.
The postures (ASANAS) are learned in a three-step
progress. One first learns the asanas consciously
and practices them until some mastery of the
positions is gained. In the second stage, as the
practitioner holds each position, she or he with-
draws attention from the outward world (in this
case, the posture) and focuses attention inward on
the accompanying body sensations. At this stage,
one generally encounters a variety of psychologi-
cal barriers and works to release all blockages on
physical, mental, and spiritual levels. In the third
stage, one learns to participate in “meditation
in motion,” allowing the wisdom of the body to
move itself into the postures apart from any con-
scious willing. Though simply described in three
stages, each stage requires a significant amount of
both physical and psychological work.
Desai began teaching his new variation on
yoga in 1972 through the Kripalu Yoga Fellow-
ship, in Somneytown, Pennsylvania, which he
founded. The fellowship trained and commis-
sioned many teachers of Kripalu Yoga. In 1994,
after the discovery that Desai had had sexual
relations with several of his students, the board of
the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox,
Massachusetts, the showcase center of the fellow-
ship, asked him to leave. Subsequently, the fellow-
ship became organized as an educational institute
without a focus on one teacher.
The Kripalu Center hosts a variety of pro-
grams, including yoga retreats, healing arts train-
ing, leadership instruction, and yoga teacher
certification.Further reading: Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for
the True Self (New York: Bantam, 2000); Amrit Desai,
Kripalu Yoga: Meditation in Motion (Lenox, Mass.: Kri-
palu Yoga Fellowship, 1981); Richard Faulds, Kripalu
Yoga: A Guide to Practice on and off the Mat (New York:
Bantam, 2005); Deva Parnell, “Kripalu Yoga: Theory
and Practice.” Available online. URL: http://www.
discoveryyoga.com/KYTheory.htm. Accessed August
17, 2005.Kripalvananda, Swami Sri (1913–1981)
Popular Gujarati yogi and inspiration for kriya yoga
His Holiness Swami Sri Kripalvananda, whose
teachings inspired the popular form of HATHA
YOGA known as KRIPALU YOGA, was born in 1913 in
Gujarat, India. His childhood was marked by sev-
eral attempts to commit suicide, but after his last
attempt, he met his GURU, known affectionately as
Dadaji, in a visionary experience. He later learnedKripalvananda, Swami Sri 237 J