Metaphysical Schematic: Purusa and Prakriti in the
Yogasûtra, Adyar Library Pamphlet Series, no. 55
(Chennai: Adyar Library and Research Centre, 2001);
Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, eds., Yogas: The
Indian Tradition (New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003);
James Haughton Woods, The Yoga-System of Patanjali,
Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 17 (Delhi: Motilal Banar-
sidass, 1972).
Yogendra, Sri (1897–1989) pioneer teacher of
hatha yoga
Sri Yogendra was one of the important figures in
the modern revival of HATHA YOGA, both in India
and in the UNITED STATES. He founded the Yoga
Institute and helped provide a scientific basis for
the practice of yoga.
Yogendra was born on November 18, 1897, as
Manibhai Harihai Desai in rural Gujarat, India.
As a student at St. Xavier’s College in Bombay
(Mumbai), he met his GURU, Paramahansa Madha-
vadasaji. After several years, however, he ceased to
be a disciple. Desai did not wish to lead a celibate
life; instead, he wished to find out whether there
could be a scientific underpinning for the practice
of hatha yoga. In 1918 he founded the Yoga Insti-
tute of India.
In 1919, Desai, who had by this time assumed
the name Yogendra, moved to the United States
to work with several medical doctors who shared
his interest in the yogic arts. Among the people
he met was Benedict LUST (1872–1945), founder
of the new medical system called naturopathy.
Lust saw the value of hatha yoga for his work
and studied it with Yogendra. Along with the
early experiments on yoga, Yogendra completed
his first books while in America: Light on Hatha
Yoga and a volume on Rabindranath TAGORE.
In 1922 Yogendra returned to India. He
planned a second visit to the United States in
order to continue the research, but in 1924
Congress passed new immigration laws that
prevented Asians from entering the country and
Yogendra was not allowed to visit again. Lust
was left to spread the practice of hatha yoga on
his own.
Unable to continue his work in America,
Yogendra threw himself into the task of building
his Yoga Institute. He provided his own funding
with royalties from his invention of a new type of
boot polish. He found a helpmate in the form of
Sita Devi, whom he married in 1927.
The 1930s became a time of significant expan-
sion. A magazine, the Journal of the Yoga Institute
(now Yoga and Total Health), was launched, and
Yogendra wrote several books on the basics of
hatha yoga, a practice that had largely disappeared
over the centuries in India. Yogendra continued
his efforts to present hatha yoga practice to the
United States by working with an American stu-
dent, Theos Bernard (1908–47), whose Ph.D. dis-
sertation for Columbia University was eventually
published as Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal
Experience (1943). (See BERNARD, PIERRE ARNOLD.)
Aftr the disruptions of World War II, Yogendra
purchased land in Mumbai as a permanent home
for the institute. In the 1950s, the institute began
to build a global reputation through the steady
arrival of Westerners to study there. Yogendra
continued to write, turning out a series of books.
He was active well into his eighties, but in 1985
turned over directorship of the institute to his
eldest son, Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra.Further reading: Santan Rodrigues, The Householder
Yogi: Life of Sri Yogendra (Bombay: Yoga Institute,
1982); Sri Yogendra, Hatha Yoga Simplified (Bombay:
Yoga Institute, 1958); ———, Yoga Asanas Simplified
(Bombay: Yoga Institute, 1939).Yogoda Satsang Society See YOGANANDA,
PARAMAHANSA.yoni
The yoni (vagina or womb), seen as the embodi-
ment of the great GODDESS, is worshipped inyoni 515 J