Report From
Bellur
WHAT’S NEW WITH THE BKSSN TRUST? BY MICHAEL LUCEY
Students from the high school and pre-university college provide a yoga demonstration for visitors. Photo: Michael Lucey
Toward the end of the Yoganusasanam intensive with Geeta
Trust included the construction of a yoga hall over the primary
Iyengar in Pune, the organizers held an auction for various
school in the village. That hall also serves as an additional
banners that had been on display around the room. All the
classroom and as a place for village social functions. The Trust
proceeds, we learned, would be donated to the Trust
also built a huge water storage tank to meet the needs of the
established by B.K.S. Iyengar to improve and enhance
village for clean drinking water.
conditions in and around his birthplace. On Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, two days after the end of the intensive, a group of
In the early years of the Trust, a hospital, a high school, offices,
participants from around the world made its way to Bellur,
and a guest house were built on its own nearby campus. The
Guruji’s native village, about an hour’s drive from the Bangalore
Trust runs the school and provides uniforms, books, materials,
Airport. We visited the village itself as well as the campus of
and a daily meal to the students enrolled there. Students come
the Bellur Krishnamachar & Seshamma Smaraka Niddhi
from Bellur itself as well as the surrounding region. More
(BKSSN) Trust, set up by Guruji in 2003.
recently, the campus has seen the addition of a pre-university college, where students who have finished high school can
Guruji’s first philanthropic project in Bellur dates to 1967, when
continue their studies. In May 2014, Guruji attended the
he built a primary school in the village. That school is now run
inauguration of a new technical vocational training and
by the Indian government. The 16-acre campus of the BKSSN
research center on the Trust’s lands.
Trust is a short distance from the village. Early activities of the 40
Yoga Samachar Spring /Summer 2015
