BANGALORE: Even as children, siblings Nagendra and Nagarathna would run off to spiritual masters with questions whenever they got the chance, and even took Sanskrit classes together.
“We've always complemented each other. She was good at vyakarna (grammar) and I at tarka (logic), so we'd study together,” recalls the older brother while Nagarathna adds, “We used to embroider together, and he was very good at carving on dried coconut.”
Raised by their father Ranga Rao and his sister Lakshmi who chose to live with them, they have always held that the brother-sister relationship embodies "prema bhava — love without expectation”. And through the years their bond only strengthened and they grew up to establish a unique yoga university. Swami Vivekananda Anysandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA) is their labour of love and Nagendra helms it as the chancellor.
When Nagaratna returned from the UK, having specialised in rheumatology, he advised her to look to yoga as a vocation. Talking to City Express at their peaceful 100-acre campus in Jigani, she explains, “Even while studying medicine, we often observed that a majority of the ailments were stress and lifestyle-related, mind-body issues. I had been practising yoga and pranayama for years. So when my brother, who was working with Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari after his stint at NASA talked about a holistic approach to well-being through yoga, I felt it was a natural leap for me to make."
She continues, “It's interesting because he studied engineering as did all the boys of the family, and I medicine, like my two younger sisters. But, on the side, he has kept up with physiology while I've read up the general sciences so that we can take a more holistic approach to the work we do here.” S-VYASA believes in a scientific approach to yoga, “combining the best of the east with the best of the west,” in Swami Vivekananda's words — spirituality and modernity and research. So Nagendra the engineer with experience at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as a post-doctoral research associate, takes care of the research aspect. Nagarathna with her medical background is the director of Division of Yogic Life Sciences and heads the institution’s Stop Diabetes Movement. So brother and sister continue to complement each other.
Now, Nagarathna says, the boy who once comforted her with bedtime stories is more than just her brother. "He's also my spiritual guru, and I feel I'm the luckiest person in the world to have someone like him around me. I've always felt protected." More candidly, she smiles and adds, "I'm a fighter-cock -- I start shouting if a bus is late. And he's the best person to shout at because he's so calm."
Nagendra gets a word in about his sister, who’s a couple of years younger than him: “She has always had this knack to put the most complicated things in a simple manner. Even at the university, all the teachers use complicated terms while teaching. But not her. It especially helps when villagers come here seeking help. She explains medical issues to them in a simple manner, without using a single technical term.”
At the university too, the chancellor shares, Rakshabandhan is one of the festivals they celebrate. "Rakshbandhan is a great concept to build brother-sister relationships, based on true love or prema bhava, not carnal love. Even with friends, you become close because you have common likes and dislikes. There has to be give and take, but brothers and sisters give without expectations. Here, we have people adopting each other as brother and sister, tying the rakhi. They raise themselves to prema bhava, to give on a daily basis — it could be anything, they can be creative," he says.
“The gift given during Rakshabandhan is just a small token...but it's really the feeling that matters,” Nagarathna chips in.
About S-VVYASA
S-VVYASA, a deemed university, is a daughter organisation of Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (VYASA). Initially, it was called Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Cikitsa Tatha Anusandhana Samiti (VK YOCTAS, from 1981 to 1986). It was set up with an aim to bring the benefits of yoga to the society using scientific research.
With a 100-acre campus at Anekal, Jigani, it offers full-time and distance courses (graduate and post-graduate degrees and PG diplomas) in yoga therapy, yogic sciences, naturopathy combined with other subjects. It is also home to a healthcare centre ‘Arogyadhama’ with a 250-bed in-patient facility, in-house specialists and university graduates in attendence.
For details, call the city office on 080-2661 2669, the university campus on 080-2263 9961/9963/9984/9995 or log on to http://svyasa.edu.in/