Sri Dharma Mittrra has no doubt, when asked if he would be interested in reincarnating again, he responds yes, "but this time I would like to come back as the president of the United States," he says with that warm smile and those deep dark brown eyes that characterize him: "Imagine the president walking through the White House with a yoga mat under his arm, imagine everything that would change!"
Carlos Augusto Vargason, now known as Sri Dharma Mittra, one of the most recognized yoga masters today, was born on May 14, 1939 in Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. As a young man, he began practicing bodybuilding, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu, but he also started studying yoga through books. From the age of 19 to 26, he was part of the Brazilian Air Force until one day his younger brother invited him to New York, where he studied with one of the masters who introduced yoga to the United States: Swami Kailashananda, also known as Yogi Gupta.
This relationship with his guru, with whom young Dharma Mittra remained in intensive study of yogic scriptures, would shape the style and essence of his teaching. After intensive learning of Ashtanga and Karma Yoga, he was accepted and initiated as a sannyasin, one who renounces the world in order to realize God.
In 1967, he began teaching after spending a decade as a full-time yogi and brahmachari (celibate religious student living with his teacher and dedicated to the practice of spiritual disciplines). Dharma Mittra mastered the art of yoga and all its postures, being the chosen model for his guru's classes.
By 1975, he founded the Dharma Yoga Center in the city of New York, which he still directs to this day, where, at 78 years old, he continues to teach five or six times a week.
Dharmaji's devotion to his teacher led him to create the well-known Master Yoga Chart of 908 Poses for him in 1984, after meticulously photographing himself in 1,300 yoga poses, images that he himself pasted and cut to create the work. It is said that due to the extreme difficulty of some of the poses, he had to fast for 30 days in order to perform them. Despite this, he explains that the basic poses are only eight and that the rest are just variations.
The Master Yoga Chart can be found in many ashrams and yoga centers worldwide as a teaching and inspiration tool for students and instructors.
Dharma travels constantly around the world giving workshops and courses. His book titled Asanas: 608 Yoga Poses was published in 2003 and in 2006 he released a series of instruction videos titled Maha Yoga Sadhana: The Great Practice.
With 42 years of uninterrupted teaching and an enviable physical strength, Sri Dharma Mittra never fails to emphasize that asanas or the physical aspect of yoga is not the fundamental character of this practice, but rather the internal aspect of the individual, emphasizing the Divine nature of each being. The poses, he assures, are a aid to keep the body healthy and simplify the path to inner knowledge. His classes also include pranayama or breathing techniques, kirtan or devotional chants, and satsang or group gathering with the guru.