Kripalvananda

Kripalvananda (January 13, 1913 – December 29, 1981), also known as Swami Sri Kripalvanand or Bapuji, was a renowned master of kundalini yoga and the namesake of the Kripalu Center, Kripalu Yoga style and Kripalvananda Yoga Institute, as well as a significant influence on Kriya Yoga in the United States.

Life

Kripalvananda was born in 1913 in Dabhoi, Gujarat, India.

In 1981 his health worsened and he decided to go back to India. He made a farewell speech to his American disciples on September 27, and he died on December 29. His shrine is in Malav, Gujarat.

Dadaji

After his training by guru Dadaji (also known as Pranavandji or Bhagwan Lakulish), Swami Vinit Muni who died in 1995; Swami Asutosh Muni who maintains the mahasamadhi of Kripalvananda in Malav, India, and Yogeshwar Muni 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. 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.

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 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.