>Marcocapelle at 14:11, 4 July 2021

2021-07-04T14:11:14Z

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{{Infobox person
| name = Kripalvananda
| image = Kripalvananda.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1913|01|29}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{d-da|29 December 1981|13 January 1913}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names = Bapuji
| known_for = [[Kripalu Center]]
| occupation = Swami
}}
'''Kripalvananda''' (January 13, 1913 – December 29, 1981), also known as '''Swami Kripalvanandji''' or '''Bapuji''', was a renowned master of [[kundalini yoga]] and the namesake of the [[Kripalu Center]] and Kripalvananda Yoga Institute in the [[United States]].

==Life==

Kripalvananda was born in 1913 in [[Dabhoi]], [[Gujarat]], [[India]].<ref name=secrets/><ref name=Journal>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nukDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA123 ''Yoga Journal'' Mar-Apr 1990], pages 123-124</ref>

He worked as a music teacher in [[Ahmedabad]] between 1935 and 1940, playing the tamboura and harmonium, and becoming a Master of Music at the same time.<ref>{{cite web |title=PASHUPATA LINEAGE {{!}} Swami Kripalvananda |url=http://www.naturalmeditation.net/Design/Kripalucopylineage.html |publisher=FOUNDATION FOR NATURAL MEDITATION |accessdate=13 July 2019}}</ref>

In 1981 his health worsened and he decided to go back to India. He made a farewell speech to his American disciples on 27 September, and he died on 29 December. His shrine is in Malav, Gujarat.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swami Kripalu |url=https://www.kyifamily.org/swami-kripalu/ |publisher=Kripalvananda Yoga Institute |accessdate=13 July 2019}}</ref>

==Dadaji==

After his training by [[guru]] Dadaji (also known as Pranavandji or Bhagwan Lakulish), he renounced his worldly attachments and traveled throughout western India as a lecturer, writer, and teacher. One of his students in 1947 was [[Amrit Desai]], creator of [[Kripalu Yoga]].<ref name=secrets/><ref name=Journal/>

He is reputed to have met Dadaji in [[Bombay]] circa 1932, when Dadaji told him he was occupying the body of a deceased [[sadhu]] for 18 months, during which time he could initiate Kripalvananda into the teachings of kundalini yoga. The two men traveled together for 15 months until Dadaji vanished. Several years later, in 1942, Kripalvananda took [[sannyasa]] vows and became a recognized kundalini yoga master.<ref name=Journal/>

Dadaji is said to have reappeared to Kripalvananda briefly in 1950, then in the body of a 19-year-old [[saint]]. In 1955, Kripalvananda encountered a statue of Lord [[Lakulisha]], the 28th [[incarnation]] of [[Shiva]], and recognized Lakulisha's face as the face of Dadaji. It is said that the advanced teachings of kundalini yoga were revealed to him at that instant.<ref name=Journal/>

==Disciples==

Kripalvananda had four disciples who took vows of renunciation: Swami Rajarshi Muni, who maintains Bapuji's ashram in Gujarat, India, LIFE Mission;<ref name=Muni>[http://www.lifemission.org/swami_rajarshi_muni_1.htm Swami Rajarshi Muni] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727031702/http://www.lifemission.org/swami_rajarshi_muni_1.htm |date=2011-07-27 }}, Life Mission website</ref> Swami Vinit Muni who died in 1995; Swami Asutosh Muni who maintains the mahasamadhi of Kripalvananda in Malav, India, and Yogeshwar Muni<ref>[http://www.naturalmeditation.net/Design/lineage2Y.html Lineage], Natural Meditation</ref> who was given the highest yogic teachings and commissioned by Kripalvananda to teach kundalini yoga in the West; he died in 2007. Kripalvananda's householder disciple, [[Amrit Desai]], brought his own version of yoga to the West in the 1960s and created the Kripalu Yoga Center in his honour.

Kripalvananda, along with his disciple Swami Vinit Muni, spent four years from 1977 to 1981 at Desai's yoga centers in the United States, primarily at the Kripalu Yoga Ashram in [[Sumneytown, Pennsylvania]] and at Kayavarohana West in 1977 and 1978 at Yogeshwar Muni's Ashram in St. Helena, CA.<ref>[http://www.naturalmeditation.net/Design/Kripalvananda_Yogeshwar.pdf Kripalvananda Yogeshwar], Natural Meditation</ref> While in the US, he performed intense [[sadhana]] for 10 hours daily. In 1981, as his health was failing, he returned to India, where he died on December 29, 1981.<ref name=secrets>[http://www.thesecretsofyoga.com/kripalu/kripalu-founder.html Founder and History of Kripalu Yoga], TheSecretsOfYoga.Com, accessed July 10, 2010</ref><ref name=Muni/><ref>[http://www.kripalvanandayogainstitute.org/bio.html Who is Swami Kripalvananda?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222134135/http://www.kripalvanandayogainstitute.org/bio.html |date=2009-12-22 }}, Kripalvananda Yoga Institute</ref>

Kripalvananda's disciple, Rajarshi Muni continues Kripalvanada's work as head of LIFE Mission and runs the [[Lakulish Yoga University]] in Gujarat, India, an accredited private yoga university<ref name=Private>{{cite web |title=State-wise List of Private Universities as of 29.06.2017 |url=http://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/Private%20University/Consolidated%20List%20Private%20Universities%20as%20on%2029.06.2017.pdf |website=www.ugc.ac.in |publisher=[[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission]] |accessdate=1 September 2017 |date=29 June 2017}}</ref> which teaches yoga principles and methods and which grants degrees and certificates in yoga. LIFE Mission also has an ashram and retreat center in the United States. Lakulish Yoga and Health Retreat in Mebane, North Carolina, United States, is run by Swami Satyanand, a disciple of Swami Rajarshi Muni and offers yoga classes, workshops and seminars in the kundalini yoga tradition.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.lakulishyoga.com/InformationPages/swami_kripalvanandji.aspx Yogacharya Swami Shri Kripalvanandji] on Lakulish Yoga website
* [http://www.naturalmeditation.net/Design/lineage1K.html Foundation for Natural Meditation, Kripalvananda Lineage Page]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:People from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian yoga teachers]]
[[Category:People from Vadodara district]]

Kripalvananda - Revision history

>Marcocapelle at 14:11, 4 July 2021