BKS Iyengar's 90th Birthday Celebration finale in Pune Dec 14th 2008

It was a magical evening with over 500 attendees converging at Govinda Gardens in impeccable pageantry of traditional indian garb, color and music. A shloka was chanted upon Guruji's arrival. It was followed by fecilitation of Guruji by some of his oldest students that included Jawahara Banga, Faeeq, Munos and then Prashant and Geetaji. Guruji's address to the students was touching and heart warming. Many tears flowed as he addressed that gathering as his children. I will let the video speak for itself.

Afterwards there was a mad attack to the food stalls :) whilst the announcers that included Abhi requesting the crowds to not shower guruji with gifts and give him space so he could give his blessings to everyone. The food was really delicious and worth the wait in crowded lines. Guruji walked around to thank everyone for attending. I had many opportunities to get close and even ask for a picture, but something inside told me to respect his grand daughters wishes. Of course rules were broken, and there was a stream of well wishers around Guruji wanting his blessings and pictures - India is full of contradictions and Iyengar yogis can't be excluded.

I remained a silent observer - there were many people who I had email contact with that I wanted to interview for the blog, but I decide to "unblog" and reflected upon his words and reflected upon the conglomeration of people from around the world who had come all the way to be part of the celebration of the life of this great man. We all have been blessed in some way by his teachings, physically, mentally and emotionally, as we all took a leap of faith into the world of his yoga.

I left Pune for Bangalore this morning, probably much less stressed than the day before. There were the customary hugs and good byes with Neena and Manu Shahani. Neena commented I looked a lot let stressed this time. Of course I am destressed! I have been in holistic heaven for the last four days with the peace and tranquility of her house and the birds chirping every morning to wake me.

She gave me a Ganesha statue as a parting gift and remarked "This is for your protection!" I turned away teary eyed ... Ganesha is my savior - How did she know? Faith, I recall her words is every where here on Hanuman Mandir Road. Its this faith that keeps drawing me to her place, over fancy hotels. Enjoy another batch of pictures from the event last night. Another post will follow with a video.... If you find the music from the earlier posts annoying please unselect the speaker icon from both posts.

Namaste

The Yogi.