Teachers

Lineage Teacher

Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, also known as Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D., was a prolific author on the science and philosophy of Yoga-Vedanta. He introduced thousands of people to meditation through his programs and his classic book, Fundamentals of Yoga. He integrated the universal message of these teachings with his deep knowledge of both Eastern and Western medicine and psychology. His areas of specialty ranged from Ayurveda to modern psychiatry and neurosurgery. He enjoyed the connections between modern physics and Yoga philosophy.

In his teaching, he prominently used the medium of Sanskrit, emphasizing the chanting and study of mantras, hymns, and scriptural texts, as well as the study of the language itself as a "science of vibration." His written works include Fundamentals of Yoga, The Textbook of Yoga Psychology (a commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras), Self Analysis and Self Knowledge (on Shankaracharya's Atma Bodha), translations of Upanishads and other ancient Sanskrit texts, as well as numerous essays.

Indira (Ann) Bulkin met Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati in the summer of 1971 at Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York. The following spring, she became a full-time resident student at the newly established Yoga Society of San Francisco, where she lived for several years. During that time, Shri Brahmananda, then known as Dr. Mishra, held Sanskrit classes for many hours a day, seven days a week, and Indira fully participated in this program. In the summer of 1973, Dr. Mishra asked Indira to start teaching Sanskrit. In the early 1980s, he named her the head of the Sanskrit Department at the Yoga Society of San Francisco, a position she held until 2010.

Indira was privileged to study Sanskrit with Professor Robert Goldman at UC Berkeley, and in 1993, she graduated with a B.A. in the Sanskrit language, before going on to earn her Master's degree in physical therapy. She opened her own clinic, Balance in Motion Physical Therapy, in 2009. She was blessed to be able to continue her Sanskrit studies with Dr. Ram Karan Sharma for more than 17 years. She and her husband, Shanta, co-founder of the East-West Sanskrit Institute, have been married for many years and have two grown sons and four beautiful grandchildren.

Shanta Bulkin met Dr. Mishra in the summer of 1972 at Ananda Ashram. Dr. Mishra said, "If you want to stay here, you must study Sanskrit." Shanta took him at his word and felt the healing effect of this study begin to change his life. Shanta started teaching Sanskrit in the late '90s. He continued to grow as a Sanskritist, studying with world-renowned Sanskrit teacher and writer, Professor Ram Karan Sharma. Since 2012 he has been teaching at the College of Ayurveda at the Mt. Madonna Institute. He has also taught and given programs at many yoga centers in the U.S. Shanta's professional career in construction (Shanta Design I Build) started when Dr. Mishra put him in charge of building the temple at the Yoga Society of San Francisco. Since he has retired as a contractor he devotes much of his time to teaching one on one and small group Sanskrit classes on-line.

The late Dr. Ram Karan Sharma was an eminent scholar and educator, award-winning Sanskrit poet, prolific author, and long-time President of the International Sanskrit Studies (ISS). He spent many years working with an Ayurvedic practitioner to produce a definitive translation of the Caraka Samhita, the oldest text on Ayurveda.

Professor Sharma began his Sanskrit study as a small boy in a traditional Gurukula in Northern India. He earned his PhD in Sanskrit at UC Berkeley as a Fulbright scholar in the 1950s. He taught as a professor of Sanskrit, linguistics, and philosophy in India and the United States. He was a guest professor at Columbia, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious President's Award of India. Dr. Sharma's interest was in the unification of Sanskrit and other classical traditions of the world.