Swami Krpalvananda
The Man behind Kripalu Yoga
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v4i1.67Keywords:
divine body, khecarīmudrā, Pāśupata, prāṇotthāna, śaktipāta, yogaAbstract
This paper examines the life and teachings of Swami Krpalvananda (1913–1981) with specific reference to Mark Singleton and Richard Smith’s (2008) notion of the ‘circular construction of authority’. Within the transnational practice of modern yoga, Kripalu’s life serves as an authoritative voice and sets the standard by which all yoga experience is measured within his monastic and lay community. Thus the details of Krpalvananda’s life including biography, autobiography and hagiography are analysed and three key elements, namely pranotthana via saktipata initiation, prana-yoga, and divine body (divya deha) are highlighted as features not typically seen in other modern approaches.
References
Sanskrit Texts
Khecarividya of Adinatha: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of and Early Text of Hathagyoga. Sanskrit with English. Trans. James Mallinson. London: Routledge, 2007.
Gheranda Samhita. Sanskrit with English. Trans. S. C. Vasu, 1914–15. Reprint, Delhi: Oriental Books, 1980.
Gheranda Samhita. Sanskrit with English. Trans. James Mallinson. Woodstock: Yogavidya.com, 2009.
The Hathayogapradipika of Svatmarama with the Commentary Jyotsna of Brahmananda and English Translation. Sanskrit text, commentary and English translation, by S. Iyangar. Madras: Adyar Library and Research Centre, 1994.
Pasupata Sutram with Pañchartha Bhasya of Kaundinya, ed. Haripada Charkraborti. Calcutta: Academic Publishers, 1970.
Siva Purana. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988.
Siva Samhita. Sanskrit and English. Trans. James Mallinson. Woodstock: Yogavidya.com, 2007.
Siva Samhita. Sanskrit with English. Trans. S. C. Vasu, 1914–15. Reprint, New Delhi: Oriental Books, 1979.
Other Sources
Agarwala, R. C. 1965. ‘Two Standing Lakulisa Sculptures from Rajasthan.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute Baroda 14: 388–91.
Alter, Joseph S. 2004. Yoga in Modern India: The Body between Science and Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bhagavan, Manu. 2001. ‘Demystifying the “Ideal Progressive”: Resistance through Mimicked Modernity in Princely Baroda, 1900–1913.’ Modern Asian Studies 35(2): 385–409. doi:10.1017/S0026749X01002049
Bhandkarkar, R. G. 1904–1907. ‘An Eklinga Stone Inscription and the Origin and History of the Lakulisa Sect.’ Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 22: 151–65.
Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1997. ‘Introduction: The Experience of Perfected Yogis.’ In Douglas Renfrew Brooks, et al., Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage, ed. Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Swami Durgananda, Paul E. Muller-Ortega, William K. Mahony, Constantina Rhodes Bailly and S. P. Sabharathnam: xix–xlix. New Delhi: Muktabodha Indological Research Institute.
Dasgupta, Surendranath. [1922] 1988. A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 5: The Southern Schools of Saivism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
De Michelis, Elizabeth. 2005. A History of Modern Yoga: Patañjali and Western Esotericism. London: Continuum.
Eliade, Mircea. 1969. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Fields, Gregory P. 2001. Religious Therapeutics: Body and Health in Yoga, Ayurveda, and Tantra. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Goldberg, Ellen. 2002. The Lord who is Half Woman: Ardhanarisvara in Indian and Feminist Perspective. Albany: State University of New York Press.
— 2009. ‘Medieval Hathayoga Sadhana: An Indigenous Bio-therapeutic Model for Health, Healing and Longevity.’ Acta Orientalia 70: 90–101.
Heelas, Paul. 2008. Spiritualities of Life: New Age Romanticism and Consumptive Capitalism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Krpalvananada, Swami. 1974. Hathayogapradipika. Sanskrit and Hindi. Pransali: Krpalu Muni Mandal Trust.
— 1977. Science of Meditation. Summneytown: Kripalu Yoga Ashram.
Lorenzen, David N. 1972. The Kapalikas and Kalamukhas: Two Lost Saivite Sects. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Mallinson, James. 2007. The Khecarividya of Adinatha: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of an Early Text of Hathayoga. London: Routledge.
McDaniel, June. 2009. ‘Spiritual Biography/Autobiography: Response.’ American Academy of Religion Meeting in Montreal, 10 November.
Muller-Ortega, Paul E. 1997. ‘Shaktipat: The Initiatory Descent of Power.’ In Douglas Renfrew Brooks, et al., Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage, ed. Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Swami Durgananda, Paul E. Muller-Ortega, William K. Mahony, Constantina Rhodes Bailly and S. P. Sabharathnam: 407–44. New Delhi: Muktabodha Indological Research Institute.
Prospectus. 1974. Kayavarohan: Shri Lakulish Institute of Yoga.
Rajarshi Muni. 1974. Light from Guru to Disciple. Summneytown: Kripalu Yoga Ashram.
— 2002. Infinite Grace: The Story of My Spiritual Lineage. Vadodara, Gujarat: Life Mission Publications.
Reddy, Venkata M. 1982. Hatharatnavali of Srinivasabhatta Mahayogindra. Sanskrit and English. Arthamuru: Ramakrishna Reddy.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2008. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sarbacker, Stuart. 2006 Samadhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Singleton, Mark. 2008. ‘The Classical Reveries of Modern Yoga: Patañjali and Constructive Orientalism.’ In Singleton and Byrne 2008: 77–100.
— 2010. Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Singleton, Mark, and Jean Byrne (eds). 2008. Yoga and the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives. London: Routledge.
Smith, Benjamin Richard. 2008. ‘ “With Heat Even Iron Will Bend”: Discipline and Authority in Ashtanga Yoga.’ In Singleton and Byrne 2008: 140–61.
Strauss, Sarah. 2005. Positioning Yoga: Balancing Acts across Cultures. Oxford: Berg.
White, David Gordon. 1996. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
— 2003. Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
— 2011. Yoga in Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
