Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar was born to a poor family in Bellur, Kolar district, Karnataka, on 14 December 1918 during the Spanish influenza pandemic. Because his mother contracted the flu during her pregnancy, Guruji was weak and sickly and he struggled with malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid throughout his childhood. In 1934, when Guruji was 15, his brother-in-law, Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, asked him to go to Mysore to practice yoga to improve his health.

Through years of dedication and unyielding devotion to the practice of yoga and to teaching others how to make use of yoga in their lives, Guruji’s fame spread quickly and soon dignitaries, members of the Indian royalty, famous and well-known personalities became his students.

In 1952, a meeting with violin virtuoso, Yehudi Menuhin, sealed their life-long friendship for 47 years until Menuhin passed away in 1999. Through Menuhin, Guruji took Europe by the storm and he was teacher to actresses, musicians and even Queen Mother of Belgium. With his inventions of props and using his own body as a guide, Guruji brought yoga to people who are older, stiffer, and those with physical disabilities and health issues.

Guruji has authored no less than 20 books, supported nature conservation and started the Bellur Trust to transform his ancestral village into a modern township. Guruji passed away on 20 August 2014 in Pune, aged 95.

Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) is the heart and soul of Iyengar Yoga in Pune, Maharashtra. The institute was established in 1975, and is dedicated to Ramamani Iyengar, Guruji’s late wife. Its directors are Prashant S. Iyengar (Guruji’s son) and Abhijata Sridhar Iyengar (Guruji’s grand-daughter).

The unique design of RIMYI is significant. The three floors represent the body, mind and soul. Its height is 71 feet, and has eight columns which represent the eight limbs of ashtanga yoga i.e. yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.

The bust of Ramamani at the gate welcomes the visitor while that of Guruji is in the entrance hall. Guruji’s bust has been chiselled by the Queen Mother of Belgium at age 81 after accomplishing her dream of performing sirsasana.

Guruji’s family oversees the rigorous curriculum and assessment that are standardized throughout the world for the certification of Iyengar Yoga teachers. There are now thousands of CIYTs continuing Guruji’s legacy, including more than 1,100 CIYTs in the United States.

The institute also displays awards, citations, presentations, offerings, works of art presented to Guruji. The library has 8000 titles in several languages on a variety of subjects from philosophy, human anatomy and physiology, ayurveda, commentaries on the scriptures, modern medicine and yoga.

Bellur Krishnamachar & Seshamma Smaraka Niddhi Trust (BKSSNT or also known as the Bellur Trust) was formed with a vision to improve the living standards of Guruji’s ancestral village of Bellur in the Kolar district of Karnataka, including the children of nearby villages.

Through the Bellur Trust which Guruji established led to a transformation of the village. He built a hospital, India's first temple dedicated to Patanjali, a free school that supplies uniforms, books, and a hot lunch for the children of Bellur and its surrounding villages, a secondary school, and a college.

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