This animated doodle is Google's tribute to BKS Iyengar - the Indian Yoga Guru who inspired the West to follow Yoga

Today, Google has something adorably cute yet significant for its users. Every time you will refresh the homepage, a saint like figure appears in place of one of the letters, in a yoga posture. The creative doodle is Google’s tribute to one of the best yoga gurus in the world - BKS Iyengar - on his 97th Birth Anniversary.

BKS Iyengar, it’s been said, could hold a headstand for nearly half an hour well into his eighties. He was instrumental in bringing yoga to the West, beloved by followers on nearly every continent, and advised such aspiring yogis as Aldous Huxley, Sachin Tendulkar, and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium.

His style--Iyengar Yoga--is characterized by tremendous control and discipline, which he exercised in ways not limited to confounding long headstands.

Google informs: “To remember the pioneering and deeply spiritual yogi on what would have been his 97th birthday, Kevin Laughlin used a few of the master’s poses, or asanas, to help complete the logo on today’s homepage.”

LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS



Born on December 14, 1918 in Bellur in Karnataka, Iyengar found his own yoga style known as 'Iyengar Yoga'. He authored several books on yoga like Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.

Not only that, he was, in 2004, named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

On 20 August 2014, Iyengar died in Pune from heart failure and renal failure. He was 95-year-old.