Page 26 - Adhiyoga Purana

Kerala: The First Vision, the First Yoga Teacher
During a summer internship at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Kerala, Adhiyogi’s life would again change course. There, he encountered Pandit Balakrishna Sharma, a gentle and powerful yogi. It was the first time Adhiyogi had formally studied yoga under someone outside his family.
What made this especially unique was Vinayak’s response. Normally reluctant to see his son study from others, he made an exception. “You should study with Sharmaji,” he said — a rare and blessed endorsement.
In just 10 hours of teaching, Pandit Sharma laid the foundation of something eternal. After just three classes, the teacher smiled and predicted:
“You will become a well-known yoga teacher.”
This stunned Adhiyogi. His goal was to pursue a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and become a professor. The idea of teaching yoga — especially at a time when it offered little income or recognition — seemed improbable. But Sharmaji’s words would echo through time. That prediction came true in 1998, almost two decades later.
So powerful were those 10 hours that Adhiyogi practiced the lessons every single day for the next 8 years, including on his wedding day in 1982. He carried those teachings like sacred fire in his heart.
Encounters with the Masters
While at IIT, Adhiyogi also visited Ramakrishna Paramahansa’s room in Kolkata, a spiritually seismic experience. He immersed himself in the writings of Swami Vivekananda, whose fierce intellectualism and devotion further guided Adhiyogi’s own synthesis of yoga, science, and service.
Kerala, too, played a recurring role in this story. During his internship, he visited numerous spiritual sites across the state — temples, ashrams, and beaches steeped in energy. Even 45 years later, Kerala remains an anchor in his spiritual work — the place where, much later, he would again be guided by an inner voice to teach, as we’ll see in later chapters.
A Father's Prophecy
When Adhiyogi discovered that Aerospace Engineering held little promise in India, he wrote home, discouraged. Vinayak, unwavering, responded:
“Continue your studies. You’ll find work. It will be with the Tata Organization.”
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