Vimalananda

(1942– )

   founder of Yoga House Ashram

   Vimalananda, founder of Yoga House Ashram and a former member and teacher of the ANANDA MARGA YOGA SOCIETY, currently teaches yoga throughout northern California.

   Dadaji, as he in known to his friends and disciples, was born in 1942 to a BRAHMIN family in Badwel in South India. He had spiritual experi-ences as a young boy and at age six experienced a bright light filling his room and a voice urg-ing him to commit himself to the inner path of enlightenment. Dadaji answered the call of the inner life; by the time he was 16 he was adept as a YOGA instructor.

   In 1962 he developed a relationship with Sri ANANDAMURTI, founder and creator of the ANANDA MARGA YOGA SOCIETY. He delighted in the services the society provided for the sick, the poor, and the elderly. Very quickly he was promoted to yoga teacher. In 1966 Dadaji felt the need to spread the words and programs of the society to help humanity. He left India as an emissary of the society to found centers in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sin-gapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. He was honored by the United Nations for his heroic work in the aftermath of the great earthquake that struck Manila in 1968.

   In 1969 Dadaji went to the UNITED STATES and assisted in developing the Ananda Marga Society there. However, in the mid-1970s he left the society, created the Yoga House Ashram, and developed his own following. He settled in the San Francisco area and continued to teach that service to humanity was as important as yoga or MEDITATION. His life has been devoted to bridging the rivers that separate the East and West through traditional yoga techniques.

   Further reading: Dadaji Vimalananda, Yogamritam (The Nectar of Yoga) (San Rafael, Calif.: Yoga House Ashram, 1977).