Buddha Bose's Plane Crash & "Holy Kailas"

In 1947, Buddha Bose was in a plane crash. He survived, but badly injured his spine. It marks a turning point in his life, away from physically-centered yoga practices toward spirituality. After this, he made several treks into the Himalayas to visit sacred places.

On one of these trips, he took off his back brace (which he was forced to wear to support his injured spine) to wash in the icy mountain river. He emerged, sat down to meditate and unwittingly went through the rest of the day without the brace. When he finally realized his oversight, he found he had no more need of the support.

This and many other stories of Bose's treks to the holy places in the Himalayas are described in his little-known book "Holy Kailas." There is only one known copy left in the world, in the Indian National Library in Kolkata, India.

Chitralekha Shalom, Bose's daughter-in-law who lived, studied and taught with him before his death, writes an interesting blog full of personal and historical stories. She recently wrote about "Holy Kailas." Her blog called Moral Courage, from a phrase suggested to her by Buddha Bose himself, is here. Her Facebook page, also called Moral Courage, is here.