Biographies
OF YOGA MASTERS AND RISHIS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT
ARANYA, SWAMI HARIHARANANDA Late abbot of the Kapila Math in Bihar; author of a subcommentary on the Yoga Sutra.
ASHTAVAKRA, RISHI “The eightfold-bent,” compiler of the Ashtavakra Gita. When Ashtavakra was still in his mother’s womb, he once overheard his brahmin father recite the Vedas incorrectly, whereupon he called out from inside his mother’s body and rebuked him. His father then angrily cursed Ashtavakra to be born bent in eight places, which indeed he was. Having been called to the court of the king to engage in learned dispute, his father was defeated by a famed pandit of the king and thrown into a dungeon. When Ashtavakra was only twelve years old he went and defeated the great pandit in disputation and had his father released. His father retracted the curse and asked him to bathe in a holy river, which made his body straight again.
GAUDAPADA, ACHARYA Master who developed Advaita Vedanta as a systematic philosophy; author of the Mandukya Karika and the commentary on the Samkhya Karika.
ISHVARA KRISHNA Author of the oldest remaining text on Samkhya, the Samkhya Karika.
KAPILA, RISHI Founder of Samkhya, the first systematic philosophy, noted in the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana as a manifestation of the Supreme Being.
KRISHNAMACHARYA, SHRI T. Master of Shri Krishna Pattabhi Jois, student of Ramamohan Brahmachary.
MAHARSHI, RAMANA Liberated sage, modern master of Advaita Vedanta.
PANCHASIKHA, RISHI Ancient Samkhya master who further developed the teachings of the Rishi Kapila, author of a lost treatise on Samkhya.
PANINI Ancient Sanskrit grammarian, author of Ashtadyayi.
PATANJALI Author of the Yoga Sutra, the Great Commentary on Panini’s grammar, and the Charaka Samhita, a text on Ayurveda. Thought to be a manifestation of the serpent of infinity.
PATTABHI JOIS, SHRI KRISHNA Modern master of Ashtanga Yoga, student of Shri T. Krishnamacharya.
RAMANUJA, ACHARYA Authored a commentary on the Brahma Sutra among other texts; developed the Visishtadvaita Vedanta; taught the identity-indifference (beda abeda) between the individual self (atman) and the infinite consciousness (Brahman); advocate of Bhakti Yoga.
SHANKARA, ACHARYA Main protagonist of the Advaita Vedanta; mystic, philosopher, yogi; often believed to be of divine origin; author of commentaries on Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutra. Probably the most influential of all Indian masters.
VACHASPATI MISHRA Tenth-century scholar who obtained fame by writing commentaries on all six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy; author of Tattva-Vaisharadi (subcommentary on the Yoga Sutra).
VAMANA, RISHI Author of the Yoga Korunta.
VASISHTA, RISHI Author of portions of the Veda and the Yoga Vashishta, court priest of King Dasharatha, the father of Lord Rama in the Ramayana epic.
VIJNANABHIKSHU Fourteenth-century yoga master and philosopher, author of Yogavarttika, a subcommentary on the Yoga Sutra.
VISHVAMITRA, RISHI Seer who saw the Gayatri, the most sacred of all mantras. Vishvamitra never hesitated to take hardship on himself, performing the severest and longest austerities of all the rishis. He could never say no if approached for help by the downtrodden; this earned him his name, which means “friend of the world.”
VYASA, RISHI Divider of the Veda, author of the Mahabharata, Brahma Sutra, Yoga Commentary, and Puranas, born as Krishna Dvaipayana.
YAJNAVALKYA, RISHI Most prominent of the upanishadic rishis, he formulated the core doctrine of the Upanishads: that all appearances are nothing but Brahman.