Yoga Legend BKS Iyengar Dies In Pune, India

B.K.S. Iyengar, world famous yoga guru and founder of Iyengar Yoga, died at a hospital in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, early Wednesday, at the age of 96. Iyengar was admitted to the hospital last week after he complained of breathing trouble.
Iyengar, who had not been keeping well for about a month, had insisted that he be treated at home, local media reports said, citing a doctor. Iyengar was put on dialysis on Sunday due to renal failure and his condition became critical on Tuesday.


“He was put on non-invasive ventilator for a day but he refused to undergo aggressive treatment and hence, he was put off the artificial respiration,” his doctor said, according to India Today, a local news website. Iyengar had previously suffered two heart attacks.

Iyengar, who made yoga famous internationally and had many followers worldwide, was born in the southern state of Karnataka and has written many books on philosophy, yoga and its practices including “Light on Yoga” and “Light on Pranayama.” Iyengar was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, earlier this year. In 2004, Iyengar was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

“The beauty of Iyengar yoga in particular is the revelation that there is a living architecture hidden in all of us that only needs unveiling. Like any architecture, it demands diamond-like precision. In fact B.K.S. Iyengar teaches that the body should flow into a yoga posture the way light fills a well-cut diamond,” Time Magazine wrote about Iyengar at the time.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others took to Twitter early Wednesday to pay their respects.

Generations will remember Shri BKS Iyengar as a fine Guru, scholar & a stalwart who brought Yoga into the lives of many across the world.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 20, 2014

We at FOB Mourn with the family and friends of Iyengar