Vimala Thakar

Submitted by nathan on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 00:31.
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General
vimala.jpg
Other Names and Nicknames: 
Kumari Vimala Thakar
Function: 
Spiritual Teacher
Traditions: 
Hinduism
Main Countries of Activity: 
India
Date of Birth: 
15 April 1923
Place of Birth: 
India
In His/Her Body ("alive"): 
Yes
Ancestor Gurus: 
Jiddu Krishnamurti

Biography

Vimala Thakar is an Indian social activist and spiritual teacher. She was born into a middle-class Brahmin family in central India and was interested in spiritual matters from an early age. She pursued this interest with meditation and spiritual practices through her youth.

Later she became active in the Bhoodan (Land Gift) Program. This program, led by Vinoba Bhave, persuaded landlords to give land to poor farmers. Through the 1950s, several millions of acres of farmland were so redistributed.

In 1960, Thakar attended talks given by Jiddu Krishnamurti and met with him. This meeting was to change her life. She dedicated herself to teaching meditation and philosophy. For the next two decades, she traveled between India, the U.S. and Europe, teaching and giving talks on spirituality. After 1979, she curtailed her travel outside India, and her teachings emphasize balancing 'inner' spiritual development with 'outer' social development.

She lives at Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India.

Locations

Thakar no longer travels outside India but remains busy seeing individuals or groups who make their way to visit her at her home in Rajasthan or in Ahmedabad where she stays during the winter. Here she meets with people from all over the world.

Vimala Thakar Home in Rajasthan
Type: 
Home
Address: 
Shiv Kutir,
Mount Abu, Rajasthan 307 501, India
Phone: 
02974 238434
When to Go: 

See Weather in India according to regions and seasons.

Maps and Pictures: 
vimala_house.jpg

Books, Audio & Video

Recommended Books: 
Cover image

Blossoms of Friendship

by Vimala Thakar

(Paperback)

Blossoms of Friendship introduces the Yoga Wisdom Classics series from Rodmell Press. This book is a collection of talks given by Vimala Thakar, in 1973, in Mount Abu, India. In the style of Krishnamurti, she describes the subtle differences between the states of concentration, attention, awareness, and meditation, and discusses the roles of guide, teacher, master, and guru. In the Foreword, publisher Donald Moyer writes that Vimala Thakar\'s insights \"provide a clear exegesis of the last three stages of the eightfold yogic path: dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. For students who wish to deepen their understanding of Patanjali\'s Yoga Sutra, these talks will be especially welcome.\"

Cover image

Insights into the Bhagavad Gita

by Vimala Thakar

(Hardcover)

Cover image

Glimpses of Raja Yoga: An Introduction to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (Yoga Wisdom Classics)

by Vimala Thakar

(Paperback)

Indian sage Patanjali wrote his famous Yoga Sutras sometime around 250 B.C. and they are still widely regarded as the ultimate text on yoga practice. However, many modern practitioners find his aphorisms too inaccessible, and analysis has tended to obscure rather than reveal their meaning. Vimala Thakar cuts through the mystique by returning to the root meaning of the Sutras\' Sanskrit words and reveals, at last, their basic concepts. Glimpses of Raja Yoga provides an in-depth look into the ancient Indian culture that gave rise to the Upanishads and the Yoga Sutras, the dimension of Silence that lies beyond meditation, the yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances) that form the basis of ethics in yoga, and much more. By demonstrating the direct relevance of the Sutras to modern yoga practice, Glimpses of Raja Yoga opens the spiritual horizons of yoga practitioners everywhere.

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