Swami Kripalu (1913-1981), known to his students as Bapuji and also called Kripalvananda, "the compassionate one," was an Indian master of kundalini yoga, as well as a scholar, poet, and trained musician. He kept an intense practice, sitting for as much as ten hours of sadhana a day and holding long stretches of silence. His disciple Amrit Desai created Kripalu Yoga in the West and named it, along with the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, in his honor. The lineage I teach in traces back to Swami Kripalu, including its grounding in practice, community, and selfless service.