Pierre Bernard (yogi)
Encyclopedia
Pierre Arnold Bernard was a pioneering American yogi, scholar, occultist, philosopher, mystic and businessman; he held a notorious reputation as a con man, seducer and philanderer.
Due to his practice of keeping his origins obscure, little is known positively about his early life. He is reported to have been born Perry Baker or Peter Coon in Leon, Iowa
, 31 October 1875, the son of a barber. He also called himself Homer Stansbury Leeds at some point.
He claimed to have traveled to Kashmir
and Bengal
before founding the Tantrik Order of America in 1905, variously reported as starting in San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Washington
, or in Portland, Oregon
; the New York Sanskrit College in 1910; and the Clarkstown Country Club (originally called the Braeburn Country Club), a seventy-two acre estate with a thirty room mansion in Nyack, New York, a gift from a disciple, in 1918. He eventually expanded to a chain of tantric clinics in places such as Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City. Bernard is widely credited with being the first American to introduce the philosophy and practices of yoga
and tantra
to the American people. He also played a critical role in establishing a greatly exaggerated association of tantra with the use of sex for mystical purposes in the American mindset.
In 1910, two teenage girls, Zella Hopp and Gertrude Leo, feeling that he had taken too much psychic control over their lives, had him charged with kidnapping (alleging that Leo had been prevented three times from leaving the institute) and briefly imprisoned. Hopp reported that, for a pre-induction, Bernard had her strip and placed his hand upon her left breast, explaining that he was testing her heartbeat. "I cannot tell you how Bernard got his control over me or how he gets it over other people. He is the most wonderful man in the world. No women seem able to resist him.... He had promised to marry me many times. But when he began the same thing with my little sister [Mary, age sixteen] I decided I would expose the whole matter. If it had only been myself I wouldn't have done it for the whole world." Three months later, the charges were dropped.
He remained popular with upper middle class women and the high society of New York throughout the 1920s and 30s. He married Blanche de Vries, who taught yoga in New York into her eighties. At some point, he shifted his attentions to more conventional businesses, including baseball stadiums, dog tracks, an airport, and became becoming president of the State Bank of Pearl River in 1931.
Lecturers at the Clarkstown Country Club included Ruth Fuller Everett
and Leopold Stokowski
. Among Bernard's students there was Ida Pauline Rolf
. Scholars from across the US visited Bernard's library, said to have been the best Sanskrit collection in the country and to contain some 7000 volumes of philosophy, ethics, psychology, education, metaphysics, and related material on physiology and medicine, to do research.
He was uncle of Theos Bernard
, an American scholar of religion, explorer and famous practitioner of Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism.
He was also a relative of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, a Sufi teacher.
Due to his practice of keeping his origins obscure, little is known positively about his early life. He is reported to have been born Perry Baker or Peter Coon in Leon, Iowa
Leon, Iowa
Leon is a city in Decatur County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,983 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Decatur County.The city is located near the Little River Lake Recreation Area...
, 31 October 1875, the son of a barber. He also called himself Homer Stansbury Leeds at some point.
He claimed to have traveled to Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
and Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
before founding the Tantrik Order of America in 1905, variously reported as starting in San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, or in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
; the New York Sanskrit College in 1910; and the Clarkstown Country Club (originally called the Braeburn Country Club), a seventy-two acre estate with a thirty room mansion in Nyack, New York, a gift from a disciple, in 1918. He eventually expanded to a chain of tantric clinics in places such as Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City. Bernard is widely credited with being the first American to introduce the philosophy and practices of yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
and tantra
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
to the American people. He also played a critical role in establishing a greatly exaggerated association of tantra with the use of sex for mystical purposes in the American mindset.
In 1910, two teenage girls, Zella Hopp and Gertrude Leo, feeling that he had taken too much psychic control over their lives, had him charged with kidnapping (alleging that Leo had been prevented three times from leaving the institute) and briefly imprisoned. Hopp reported that, for a pre-induction, Bernard had her strip and placed his hand upon her left breast, explaining that he was testing her heartbeat. "I cannot tell you how Bernard got his control over me or how he gets it over other people. He is the most wonderful man in the world. No women seem able to resist him.... He had promised to marry me many times. But when he began the same thing with my little sister [Mary, age sixteen] I decided I would expose the whole matter. If it had only been myself I wouldn't have done it for the whole world." Three months later, the charges were dropped.
He remained popular with upper middle class women and the high society of New York throughout the 1920s and 30s. He married Blanche de Vries, who taught yoga in New York into her eighties. At some point, he shifted his attentions to more conventional businesses, including baseball stadiums, dog tracks, an airport, and became becoming president of the State Bank of Pearl River in 1931.
Lecturers at the Clarkstown Country Club included Ruth Fuller Everett
Ruth Fuller Sasaki
Ruth Fuller Sasaki , born Ruth Fuller, was an important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett , she met and studied with Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in Japan in 1930...
and Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
. Among Bernard's students there was Ida Pauline Rolf
Ida Pauline Rolf
Ida Pauline Rolf was a biochemist and the creator of Structural Integration or "Rolfing".-Early life and education:Rolf was born in New York in the Bronx on May 19, 1896....
. Scholars from across the US visited Bernard's library, said to have been the best Sanskrit collection in the country and to contain some 7000 volumes of philosophy, ethics, psychology, education, metaphysics, and related material on physiology and medicine, to do research.
He was uncle of Theos Bernard
Theos Casimir Bernard
Theos Casimir Bernard was an explorer, and author, known for his work on yoga and religious studies, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism.-Career:...
, an American scholar of religion, explorer and famous practitioner of Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism.
He was also a relative of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, a Sufi teacher.
External links
- Omnipotent Oom
- R. Stringer-Hye's
- NPR interview with author Robert Love about his 2010 biography of Bernard "The Great Oom: The Improbable Birth of Yoga in America"