A Tribute to Dr Jayadeva Yogendra

An exceptional Yogi

- Smt. Geetu Kalani

Read wisely and practice continuously. There are many books on yoga today, do not take all claims at face value." - Dr Jayadeva Yogendra, Editorial, Yoga and Total Heath, July 2008 Dr. Jayadeva or Dr. Sahab, as he was fondly referred to by all Sadhakas of The Yoga Institute, was a true visionary yoga teacher.

He wrote these words in an article way back in 2008.

The Yoga Institute is in its 107th year. And, today we are bombarded with information on yoga through the internet, modern communication platforms like Facebook, Instagram, You Tube and so on.

About sixteen years back, he warned us about wrong trends in yoga and published literature not only in India, but worldwide as the yoga movement had gained momentum in the West by that time.

Books have been source of learning in India and worldwide, since the times scriptures became available in written form. Be it the Guru Sishya Parampara as is mentioned in the story of Ganesha, the one-toothed God, for he wrote the Mahabharata for Ved Vyasa! Or be it books on moral values written by western masters like Socrates or Epictetus. Many translations are available, in many languages - books have been a source of learning as reading is faculty of human mind.

The noble teacher, Dr. Sahab, warned us about how self-styled Gurus can mislead us through the source of our learning and perhaps land us in trouble. In his article he has advised us to be wise in our choices of yoga books and once chosen, practice continuously to get proper benefits.

He taught us to keep away from occult yoga.