Indra Devi, Mother of Western Yoga
Indra Devi was not only a female pioneer in the field of yoga; she helped spread the ancient discipline to Western civilization. Yoga was the domain of men from its inception. The earliest visual evidence of yoga comes from about 2500 BC. Men were the teachers and practitioners of yoga from that point until the early 20th C. And then, it took a persistent and assertive woman to break the barrier.
Indra Devi不仅是瑜伽领域的女性先驱；她帮助传播西方文明古老的学科。瑜伽从诞生之日起就是男人的领域。瑜伽最早的视觉证据来自公元前2500年。从那一刻起直到二十世纪初，男人一直是瑜伽老师和实践者，然后，一个坚持的、有主见的女人打破了规则。
When she was fifteen, she came across a book “Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism” by Yogi Ramacharaka née William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932).
Ramacharaka was an American attorney who left his practice to join the religious New Thought movement at the turn of the century. She also read a book by the poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. she became so excited reading these books; she vowed to go to India someday.
她十五岁时，通过瑜伽练习者Ramacharaka née William Walker Atkinson读到了一本《瑜珈哲学与东方神秘学十四课》。
Ramacharaka是一位在世纪之初中止练习加入宗教新思想运动的美国律师。她还读了一本由诗人哲学家Rabindranath Tagore创作的书。阅读这些书使她变得很兴奋，她发誓有天一定要去印度。
In 1926, she learned there was an upcoming congress of Annie Besant’s Theosophical Society in Ommen, Holland and decided to go there. One evening at the congress, she heard the renowned yoga master, poet and philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti chanting in ancient Sanskrit. She was instantly moved. She was to say later her time at the congress changed her life.
1926，她了解到在荷兰奥门有即将举行的国会关于Annie Besant的神智学会并决定去那里。在国会的一个晚上，她听到了著名的瑜伽大师、诗人、哲学家吉杜·克里希那穆提用古梵文吟唱。她立刻被感动了。她后来说，她在国会的时间改变了她的生活。
In 1927, Hermann Bolm, a wealthy banker asked her to marry him. She agreed if with the caveat that he pay for a trip to India for her before they were married. He agreed and she spent three months in India. When she came back, she returned the engagement ring, telling Bolm her place was in India. She sold what jewels and furs she had and returned to India. Under the stage name of Indra Devi, she became a rising star as a dancer and actress in Indian films. During a social gathering, she met Jan Strakaty, the commercial attaché to the Czechoslovak Consulate in Bombay. They were married in 1930. Through him she met the Maharaja and Maharini of Mysore, who maintained a yoga school in their palace where Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya taught.
1927、Hermann Bolm，一个富有的银行家向她求婚。她的条件是他在结婚前会送她去印度旅行。他同意了，她在印度呆了三个月。当她回来的时候，她把订婚戒指还给了他，告诉他她的心在印度。她卖掉了自己的珠宝和皮毛，回到了印度，使用Indra Devi的艺名，成为印度电影圈里的舞蹈家和演员，是一名冉冉升起的新星。一个社交聚会时，她遇到了Jan Strakaty，Czechoslovak驻Bombay总领事馆的商务专员。他们于1930结婚。通过他，她认识了迈索尔的王公贵族，他们在宫殿里设立了一所瑜伽学校，由Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya任教。
Indra became a colonial socialite attending receptions, balls, and horse races. She tried to meet Indians of all castes and ranges. She became friends with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru. Her husband was very open and understanding, even though she was violating social convention. This lifestyle soon took its toll on her and she began experiencing chest pains. She spent four years taking unsuccessful treatments for her condition. A yoga practicing friend of hers suggested she try practicing yoga.
Indra成为了一个在殖民地出席酒会，舞会，和赛马的社会名流。她尝试接触所有等级范围的印度人。她成为Mahatma Gandhi，Rabindranath Tagore和贾瓦哈拉尔·尼赫鲁的朋友。她的丈夫很开放，善解人意，尽管她违反了社会习俗。这种生活方式很快对她产生了影响，她开始胸部疼痛。她花了四年的时间治疗她的病情可惜都没有成功，她的一个瑜伽练习朋友建议她练习瑜伽。
She approached Krishnamacharya. He refused on the grounds she was a Westerner and a woman. The Maharaja finally intervened and Krishnamacharya agreed to take her on as a student. She met every challenge: strict discipline, long hours of practice, diet restrictions, no use of a stove to keep warm. She had to keep up with all the requirements of the male students. The master admired her zeal so much he took her on as a private student. Some of her fellow students were to become the great masters: K. Pattabi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar. She experienced a complete recovery from her heart ailment.
她请求Krishnamacharya教授。他拒绝了，理由是她是一个西方人和一个女人。王公最后出面他才同意收她为学生。她迎接每一个挑战：严格的纪律，长时间的练习，饮食限制，没有炉子取暖。她必须达到所有男学生的要求齐肩并进。大师非常欣赏她的热情，把她当作一个私立学生。她的一些同学成为大师：K. Pattabi Jois和b.k.s. Iyengar。她完全从心脏病中康复了。
In 1938, her husband learned he would be transferred to China. Krishnamacharya urged Indra to teach yoga. In 1939, she opened a yoga school in Shanghai in the home of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the nationalist leader and a yoga enthusiast. She had American and Russians students come to her school. They began calling her “Mataji” which means mother.
1938，她丈夫得知他将被转移到中国。大师强烈要求敦促Indra教瑜伽。1939，她在上海开了一所瑜伽学校，在蒋介石夫人的家里，不仅是民族主义领袖的妻子也是瑜伽爱好者。其间有美国和俄罗斯学生来到她的学校学习。他们开始叫她“Mataji”，意思是母亲。
Indra returned to India after the war and wrote her first book “Yoga, the Art of Reaching Health and Happiness”, believed to be the first book on yoga written by a Westerner to be published in India. She was also the first Westerner to teach yoga in India. In the meantime, her husband returned to Czechoslovakia where he died in 1946. Indra departed for Shanghai to retrieve her belongings and couldn’t decide whether to go back to India or go to the United States.
战争结束后Indra回到了印度，写了她的第一本书《瑜伽，达到健康和幸福的艺术》，被认为是第一本由西方人在印度出版的瑜伽书。她也是第一个在印度教瑜伽的西方人。与此同时，她的丈夫回到了捷克斯洛伐克，他于1946去世。她前往上海取回她的财物，不能决定是回印度还是去美国。
Her decision was to go to the United States. About a year later she opened a yoga school in Hollywood. In an effort to publicize and spread word about yoga, she cultivated movie stars and other famous people to come to her school. Gloria Swanson, Yehudi Menuhin, Pandit Nehru, Ben Gurion, Roman Navarro, Jennifer Jones, Greta Garbo and Robert Ryan were just some of her students. She became friends with Elizabeth Arden, the expert cosmetologist who incorporated yoga into her health spa programs. Indra wrote two more books, “Forever Young, Forever Healthy” and “Renew Your Life by Practicing Yoga” which soon became best sellers. They were sold in 29 countries and translated into ten different languages.
她的决定是去美国。大约一年后，她在好莱坞开办了一所瑜伽学校。为了努力宣传和传播瑜伽，她栽培了电影明星，其他名人也慕名来她的学校。Pandit Nehru，Ben Gurion..只是她的一些学生。她成为了Arden的朋友，一个专家美容师，将瑜伽加入到她的健康水疗项目。Indra写了两本书，“永远年轻，永远健康”和“瑜伽改变人生”，很快就成了畅销书，在29个国家销售，并被翻译成十种不同的语言。
In 1953, she married Dr. Sigfrid Knauer, a distinguished physician and humanist. She became an American citizen in the mid-fifties and her name officially became Indra Devi when she put it on her passport. Dr. Knauer bought her a twenty-four room estate in Tecate, Mexico where she gave training courses in yoga. She began speaking at conferences and on television and radio to spread word about the benefits of yoga and writing more books. She went to the Soviet Union in 1960 and tried to convince the government that yoga was not a religion and should be practiced there. It was finally legalized in Russia.
1953，她嫁给了Sigfrid Knauer博士，一位杰出的医生和人道主义者。五十多岁时她成为了一名美国公民，正式的将Indra Devi这个名字落在她的护照上。Knauer博士在墨西哥特卡特给她买了房子，她用来开展瑜伽培训课程。她开始在会议、电视和广播上发言，宣传瑜伽的好处和写更多的书。她在1960去了苏联，并试图说服政府，瑜伽不是一种宗教，应该允许练习。它终于在俄罗斯合法化了。
In 1966, she became a follower of Sathya Sai Baba. She began calling her yoga Sai Yoga. In 1977, Indra’s husband died. She was traveling the world lecturing and teaching, aided by her fluency in five languages: English, Spanish, Russian, French and German. In 1982, she travelled to Argentina and fell in love with the country. Her popularity was immense and she was to spend the rest of her life there.
1966，她成了Sathya Sai Baba的追随者。她开始叫她的瑜伽为Sai瑜伽。1977，Indra丈夫死了。她在世界各地讲学和教学，借助于流利的五种语言：英语、西班牙语、俄语、法语和德语。1982，她去了阿根廷旅游并爱上了这个国家。她的声望很高，她在那里度过她的一生。
In 1988, she created the Fundacion Indra Devi which exists to this day. In 1989, the first national conference was held in Russia with Indra Devi, B.K.S. Iyengar and Guru Bhajan. In 1999, over 3,000 guests attended a party celebrating her 100th birthday. As she became older she still traveled but began to slow her pace. In 2002, her health was to worsen and she was to die peacefully in Buenos Aires on April 25, 2002. She was cremated and her ashes scattered over the Rio de la Plata.
1988，她创建的基金会Indra Devi一直存在到今天。1989，第一次全国大会在俄罗斯举行，Indra Devi、B.K.S. Iyengar和Guru Bhajan参加。1999，3000多名嘉宾参加了她一百岁生日庆祝晚会。随着年龄的增长，她仍然旅行，但开始放慢脚步。2002，她的健康状况恶化，她于2002年4月25日在布宜诺斯艾利斯平静地死去。她被火化，骨灰撒在 Rio de la Plata。(我想应该是在阿根廷，世界最宽河流，由漏斗状河口注入大西洋）
网友评论