Workshop with Mansoor

About Mansoor, from the introduction of his book ‘Chup Sadhana’ :


Mansoor was born into a traditional Muslim family in Old Delhi in 1954. Post-partition India was full of deep wounds & distrust between the different religious communities. From a very young age, Mansoor was acutely aware of these immense contradictions & there was a feeling that somewhere, there must be a common ground & a meeting point beyond all these conflicting religious & sectarian beliefs.

In his teens, Mansoor by chance, started reading books by Ramana Maharishi, whose teaching were to later have a profound influence on him. At age 17, Mansoor travelled around Europe & went on to live in America for the next 24 years. There, he was able to view life from many different angles & explored a wide range of spiritual traditions: Vedanta, J. Krishnamurti, Zen, Catholicism, Transcendental Meditation, EST etc. He travelled on pilgrimages & at times was also actively involved with different spiritual organisations.

This period abroad, most importantly, led to & developed Mansoor’s unorthodox understanding & appreciation of Indian philosophy. He had to explore outside, in order to recognise the great wisdom sitting in Indian spiritual traditions.

In 1992 Mansoor returned to India, discovered Vipassana & started practising Yoga in the Sivananda tradition. A whole new path opened up for him, combining the practice of awareness learnt in Vipassana with Hatha Yoga. Mansoor became a Yoga teacher & has now been teaching & conduction retreats in the USA, India & Europe for the last 13 years. His multi-facetted background & his openness to embrace & to experience knowledge from many different sources, has given Mansoor a unique approach & he has stirred & motivated students from all over the world.

In 1998, Mansoor started studying the scriptures seriously & taught himself enough Sanskrit to be able to understand the original Indian texts. This knowledge of scripture, particularly the Bhagavad Gita, which has always been closest to his heart, balanced with personal erpirience, has given a depth to his understanding. Mansoor is able to share & communicate this understanding in a remarkable & revealing way, creating a bridge between the different traditions, East & West, ancient & present.