Dhirendra Brahmachari

Dhirendra Brahmachari (born Dhirendra Choudhary; 12 February 1924 – 9 June 1994) was an Indian yoga teacher of Yogi Bhajan who taught Kundalini Yoga in the Western world and founded 3HO. Dhirendra Brahmachari was also yoga mentor of Indira Gandhi –The former prime minister of India He ran ashrams in Bhondsi (Gurugram in Delhi NCR), Jammu, Katra and Mantalai (near Sudhmahadev in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir) and wrote books on yoga.

Biography He was born in a Maithil Brahmin family He later got inspired by reading the Bhagavad Gita, he left home at the age of thirteen and went to Varanasi. His guru was Maharshi Kartikeya whose ashram was at Gopal-Khera, about twelve miles from Lucknow. Dhirendra Brahmachari studied yoga and associated subjects there. In the 1960s, he was invited to travel to the Soviet Union as a hatha yoga expert to train Soviet cosmonauts. Jawaharlal Nehru later invited him to teach yoga to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, to improve her health. He is said to have guided Mrs. Gandhi's vision and ideas. He became influential politically in 1975–77 when Mrs Gandhi dissolved Parliament, declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties.

In the late 1970s, Dhirendra Brahmachari promoted the benefits of yoga in a weekly program called Yogabhyaas which was broadcast on Doordarshan, the state-owned television network. He introduced yoga as a subject of study in Delhi administered schools, a considerable innovation.

Ashrams During 1980s, Brahmachari built Aparna Ashram Society in Gurgaon (now Gurugram) near Silokhera village, in Haryana. The air conditioned Ashram included an airstrip, hangar and a TV studio. Indira Gandhi use to visit Brahmachari here once a week. After the guru's death, his relatives and a tenant engaged in a legal battle over the ownership of the property. The aircraft hangar still has two ruined aircraft belonging to Brahmachari

He was the owner of Vishwayatan Yogashram in the centre of Delhi, now known as the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. He also owned campuses in Jammu, Katra and Mantalai, plots of land he had received through his Indira Gandhi clout.