Paramahamsa Madhavdasji or Paramahamsa Madhavdas (1798–1921) was an Indian

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...

yoga guru Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in any of its forms, whether religious or not. The role implies being well-known and having a large following; in contrast to the old guru-shishya tradition, the modern ...

and Hindu monk in the 19th century. He was born in 1798 in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. He was initiated as a

sadhu ''Sadhu'' ( sa, साधु, IAST: ' (male), ''sādhvī'' or ''sādhvīne'' (female)), also spelled ''saddhu'', is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life. ...

(monk) and entered the order of Vaishnavism. He traveled across India on foot for nearly 35 years for knowledge of the practice of yoga. His notable disciple includes Swami Kuvalayananda and Shri Yogendra.

Biography

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 Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

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 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; born Vishvambhar Mishra) was a 15th-century Indian saint who is considered to be the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna by his disciples and various scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krish ...

in the beginning and later the

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

order influenced by

Gauranga Gauranga is another name for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (or Gauranga Mahaprabhu), the 16th century Bengali avatar and founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The term ''Gauranga Mahaprabhu'' references Lord Chaitanya possessing the golden complexion of Sri ...

. In 1869, Madhavdas joined a large Sadhu community, who elected him as their leader at

Vrindavan Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

(now in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

) 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 Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

on the banks of the Narmada River in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, where he taught the secrets of practicing yoga to a few selected and deserving disciples. At the age of 123, Madhavadas died in 1921.

Madhavdas Vacuum

A noted researcher of

Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center The Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center (abbreviated Kaivalyadhama), founded by Swami Kuvalayananda in 1924, is a spiritual, therapeutic, and research center with a specific aim to coordinate ancient yogic arts and tradition with moder ...

, 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 A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

in the colon during nauli was named the ''Madhavdas Vacuum'' after Madhavdas by Swami Kuvalayananda.

References

External links

Who is Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji?
at ''Yogapedia''
Paramahansa Sri Madhavadasji Maharaj
at ''Yujyate'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Madhavadasaji, Paramahamsa 1798 births 1921 deaths 19th-century Hindu religious leaders Bengali Hindu saints Indian Hindu monks Indian Hindu yogis Kriya yogis Bengali people Scholars from Gujarat Indian yoga gurus Modern yoga pioneers Modern yoga gurus