Paramahamsa Madhavdasji or Paramahamsa Madhavdas (1798–1921) was an Indian yogi, yoga guru and Hindu monk in the 19th century. He was born in 1798 in Bengal.[1] He was initiated as a sadhu (monk) and entered the order of Vaishnavism. He traveled across India on foot for nearly 35 years for knowledge of the practice of yoga.[2] His notable disciple includes Swami Kuvalayananda[3] and Shri Yogendra.[4]

Paramahamsa Madhavdas
परमहंस माधवदास
Photo of the Bengali yogi Paramahamsa Madhavdasji, sometime between 1900 and 1920 but the exact date is unknown.
Personal
Born1798
Died1921 Malsar
Malsar, near Baroda, Gujarat
ReligionHinduism
NationalityIndian
SchoolYoga
Known forPioneering modern yoga
Hatha yoga
Organization
OrderVaishnavism
Religious career
HonorsParamahamsa, Maharaj

Biography edit

He was born in 1798 to a Mukhopadhyaya family in Bengal in a small village near Shantiopur in the Nadia District of present-day West Bengal. He worked as a clerk in the judicial department but later quit the job. Madhavdas made efforts to learn different traditions. After travelling through Assam, Tibet, the Himalayas and various other places in India, he had an opportunity to have first-hand knowledge of yoga techniques. He was also a follower of Bhakti order of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the beginning and later the Vaishnavism order influenced by Gauranga.

In 1869, Madhavdas joined a large Sadhu community, who elected him as their leader at Vrindavan (now in Uttar Pradesh) in 1881. But Madhavdas was not satisfied with these activities among the sadhus. He was eager to reduce the sufferings of the commoner. Later, he came to Gujarat and started teaching yoga vedanta. He eventually settled in Malsar village near Baroda on the banks of the Narmada River in Gujarat, where he taught the secrets of practicing yoga to a few selected and deserving disciples. At the age of 123, Madhavadas died in 1921.[5]

Madhavdas Vacuum edit

A noted researcher of Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center, Swami Kuvalayananda, discovered the creation of negative pressure in the colon during nauli, one of the yoga kriyas, for the first time in 1924. The discovery of a partial vacuum in the colon during nauli was named the Madhavdas Vacuum after Madhavdas by Swami Kuvalayananda.[6][7]

References edit

  1. ^ Tiwari, Sanjay (June 20, 2022). "योग पुनर्जागरण के युग पतंजलि: परमहंस माधवदास बाबा". OneIndia (in Hindi).
  2. ^ Lohar, Dr. Ratna; Lohar, Jagdish (2022). Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodhah. FanatiXx Publication. pp. 124, 125.
  3. ^ Mas Vidal (2016). Sun, Moon and Earth The Sacred Relationship of Yoga and Ayurveda. Lotus Press. ISBN 9780940676404.
  4. ^ Swami Satyananda Saraswati (2021). Las bases del yoga El origen del hatha-yoga, los nathas, y su expansión en Occidente. Editorial Kairós. ISBN 9788499889467.
  5. ^ "Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji". Yoga Clasico.
  6. ^ Kuvalayananda Swami. Barometric Experiments on Nauli: Madhavdas Vacuum – Yoga Mimamsa Vol. I: No. 1 & 2; pp. 27 – 28 and 96 – 100 (1924)
  7. ^ "Historicizing Yoga" (PDF). Princeton University Press. pp. 17, 27, 30.

External links edit