Swami Buaji Maharaj's teaching

Swami Buaji Maharaj was a hundred and twenty one years old yogi,
who was also the founder of the Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society in New York.

Sri Swami Buaji Maharaj, a Master of Hatha Yoga and beloved teacher to thousands of students around the world, left his body on July 22,2010 in Bangalore, India. He was believed to have been over 120 years old. (Picture shows Swami with Thomas Koovalloor of New York).

Swamiji, as he was affectionately known by his students, along with contemporaries such as Swami Satchidananda, BKS Iyengar, and Swami Kailashananda, was one of the first Indian masters to bring the classical practices of traditional yoga to the United States. Since 1972 he resided alone in a small apartment near Columbus Circle in New York City, where he taught a rigorous form of Hatha Yoga to generations of students. A humble and dedicated teacher, SwamiJi was a personal Guru to his students and considered them part of his family. He was always accessible to them and took a personal interest in their welfare. He would often cook food for them after the class, engage in philosophic discussions, organize cooking classes, go on field trips to temples, and perform or attend their weddings.

Swamiji was born in the late 1800s to a poor orthodox South Indian Brahmin family. Born with crippled feet, he overcame huge obstacles and achieved many “providential escapes” to rise to become a master of yoga. His path toward yoga began when he was 13, when he was stricken with an unknown illness and was believed to be dead. He awoke on the funeral pyre before it was lit, a feat for which he became ostracized. Soon afterward he attended a yoga demonstration organized by Swami Kuvalayananda of Kaivalya Dhaam, Lonavla, India, and began his training there. After extensive training, Swami was given the title 'Bua' and he began teaching yoga. After many more years of vigorous practice of yoga and teaching, he traveled to Rishikesh to study and practice with the great yoga master Swami Sivananda; there he was conferred the title "Yogiraj" by Sivananda, and was later bestowed with the sacred title of 'Master of Hatha Yoga.' It is believed that Swami Bua is the only yogi to have been granted this title from Sivananda’s Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy. He has also known Sathya Sai Baba when Sai Baba was in his youth and was the only Yogi known to perform in his presence.

Although he had little formal education, Swami Bua was a master of language and spoke numerous languages with complete fluency. He traveled extensively throughout the world teaching and lecturing on the philosophy of Yoga to many thousands. He (taught and – delete) interacted with world spiritual leaders like Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi, Sathya Sai Baba, Aurobindo, Swami Sivananda, Sri Sri Sivaya Subramunia Swami of Kawai Adheenam in Hawaii and many others. In 1999 he received the “Hindu of the Year” award from “Hinduism Today” publication for his life-long dedication to the practice and philosophy of Yoga.

Beyond these external achievements, Swami Bua truly lived and embodied the complete practice of yoga in all of its facets. He never felt the need to establish a formal “school” based on his teachings; he led a simple life with few possessions, accepted only donations for classes, and lived on whatever his students brought him for food, clothing and other necessities. He led an austere and disciplined life, rising before sunrise, performing ablutions, cleansing and purifying the body, performing morning meditation, prayers, and yoga practice, and preparing to give himself over to his students and followers for the rest of the day. As a teacher, he combined stern discipline with great good cheer and humor, throwing out puns and plays on words as he challenged his students to answer the most important and unanswerable question in life: “who are YOU?” He lived his life with tremendous ethical discipline, always admonishing his students to “speak the truth!”

Ahimsa, the practice of non-violence, love, and compassion, was at the heart of Swamiji’s way of life. A lifelong vegetarian, he frequently warned his students not to “turn the belly into a burying ground.” He transformed thousands of people into vegetarians. Long-time student Patricia D’Angelo recalled: “when you tasted his food, his cooking, it not only filled the stomach but also nourished the soul. He had such a reputation of feeding people that all visiting Swamis, great masters, people in general were always invited to feast at his tiny apartment in New York City.” In the early 1990s, burglars broke into Swamiji’s apartment and smashed in his teeth. While they ransacked the apartment, Swamiji retreated into the kitchen, where he cooked them a vegetarian meal and served them before they made their getaway.

His longevity and prowess as a yogi were legendary. Although he never spoke of his age, photos of him through the years indicate that he was at least 120 years of age. He continued to practice vigorous asana well into his 90s, astounding students a quarter of his age with his postures. D’Angelo recalled first meeting Swamiji when she was a young woman: “When I witnessed what an 84 year “young man” could do with his body I knew I was in the presence of a Master. The way he moved his body, the fluency of the movement, the control of the body, the precision of each pose, it was all beyond description. No one had taken yoga to that degree…” Swamiji was known worldwide for being able to blow the conch for indefinite periods, and often convened gatherings of world religious leaders with a 5-minute continuous invocation with the conch.

Although no one will ever know for certain how a person such as Swami Bua came to be, he leaves a clue behind in one of his favorite sayings, words that this gentle Master truly lived by: “Begin the day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love, end the day with love. That is the way to God.”

Swami Bua leaves three daughters, a son, several grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and thousands of devotees around the world.