Mohan Singh’s life joined two unlikely careers: he became the first licensed pilot from India, according to historian Philip Deslippe, then built a U.S. following as the yoga teacher Yogi Hari Rama. The “yoga empire” shorthand needs qualification: Singh led a substantial teaching network and the Benares League of America, but it was short-lived and its reported audience figures were never audited.
Who was Mohan Singh?
Singh came from Himmatpura in Punjab and arrived in the United States in 1906, according to Deslippe’s account for the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine. A birth date is not firmly established in that account; Scroll.in places his birth around 1885. Before taking up aviation, he worked as a domestic servant in Chicago.
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His story is also one of changing public identities. He was known as Mohan Singh in his early life, later as Harry Mohan, and in the 1920s as Yogi Hari Rama. The available accounts connect these names to one person, not separate figures.
How did Singh become a pilot?
Training with Glenn Curtiss
In 1912, Singh went to Glenn Curtiss’s flying school in San Diego. Curtiss was an instructor and aircraft promoter; Singh learned to fly Curtiss hydroplanes and joined the Curtiss-Wright Aviators, performing in aerial shows. The publicity surrounding the group billed him as the “Only Hindu Flyer in the World,” a promotional label rather than a formal aviation distinction.
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What “first licensed pilot from India” means
Deslippe reports that Singh received brevet #123 and became the first licensed pilot from India. Scroll dates his flying trial to May 1, 1912. That wording is more precise than calling him simply “India’s first pilot”: the claim concerns a pilot license and Singh’s connection to India, not the first person of Indian origin to fly in every possible sense or jurisdiction.
Singh also performed with the Curtiss-Wright aerial circus. When Curtiss was promoting a hydroplane, he reportedly asked prominent barnstormer Lincoln J. Beachey to take Singh along for a flight. In 1913, Singh joined Curtiss in Europe to promote aircraft.
Aviation did not become a lasting profession
Singh’s flying work did not turn into a stable aviation career. The Smithsonian account says he had settled in Los Angeles by 1914 and was working as a butler and chauffeur. Scroll places his Los Angeles arrival in 1916, so the exact timing of the move differs between accounts.
Why did Singh lose U.S. citizenship?
Singh pursued U.S. naturalization under a law that restricted citizenship to people classified as white. The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship archive dates his naturalization to 1919 and its cancellation to early 1924. In the intervening period, the Supreme Court’s 1923 decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind ruled that South Asians were ineligible under that racial standard.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Singh was not the plaintiff in Thind. He had his own naturalization proceedings; the Supreme Court case changed the legal landscape that led to revocations such as his. Scroll’s account names Bombay-born lawyer Sakharam Ganesh Pandit as an adviser in Singh’s citizenship appeal. His case illustrates how a status he had obtained could be taken away when courts applied racial eligibility rules against South Asian immigrants.
How did Mohan Singh become Yogi Hari Rama?
After losing citizenship, Singh adopted the name and public persona Yogi Hari Rama, wore orange robes, and taught a system he called “Super Yoga Science.” Deslippe’s account in Scroll says Singh attended Paramahansa Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga lessons and incorporated material from Yogananda and other predecessors into his own teaching. That is Deslippe’s historical account; it should not be mistaken for a legal finding about the originality of Singh’s system.
Singh’s identity as a teacher took shape through touring and organized instruction. The fellowship archive traces the evolution of the Hari Rama name and records lecture stops in several U.S. cities. His activity was more than a solitary lecture career: students and appointed teachers carried the lessons, while the Benares League of America provided an organizational home.
What did Super Yoga Science include?
A surviving book record offers a window into how Singh presented the system. The archive lists Yoga System of Study: Philosophy, Breathing, Foods and Exercises, published under H. Mohan in 1926. Its description includes breathing exercises, food advice, physical exercises, recipes, metaphysical material, and a diagram of the nadi system. In 1927, it was retitled Super Yoga Science and Yoga System of Study: Occult Chemistry combined with the Chemical Composition of Life Elements.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11The archive also lists Human Life and Destiny (H. Mohan, 1927). These titles show that Singh’s teaching joined practical instruction with occult and metaphysical claims; they do not, by themselves, establish how widely either book circulated or how students used it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How large was the Benares League?
The Benares League of America was the organization associated with Singh’s students and his teaching system. The fellowship archive describes it as the largest yoga organization in the United States during the 1920s; the Smithsonian account more cautiously documents a substantial network. “Major organization of its period” is a sound description, while claims of an empire-scale membership go beyond what the surviving figures can verify.
Historical audience numbers are claims from particular sources, not audited totals:
- A 1927 newspaper report, reproduced in the fellowship archive, said more than 700 followers had proclaimed Hari Rama a “miracle man.” This is a contemporary report about people said to have endorsed him, not a membership roll.
- In a 1933 newspaper account, A. William Goetz, identified as a disciple, said Hari Rama “had more than 10,000 pupils” over three and a half years. That is a retrospective claim by a follower, not a verified count.
The sources also give differing figures for the teachers or disciples Singh left behind. Deslippe’s Smithsonian account says 13 American teachers; a letter reproduced in the fellowship archive refers to twelve appointed disciples. These may describe different groups or reflect different records, and the available accounts do not reconcile them.
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One disciple’s recollection, reproduced by the archive, begins: “In 1928, I, along with eleven others, was appointed by an East Indian known as Yogi Hari Rama” to continue Super Yoga Science. Franklin Merrell-Wolff’s recollection also describes an economic dimension to the instruction, saying there was “a formal charge for these” teaching “keys.” Together, these accounts suggest an organized, paid teaching model, though they do not provide a complete picture of its finances.
What happened to Singh and the League?
Singh disappeared from public life in late summer 1928, according to the Smithsonian account and the fellowship archive. The League later faded rather than continuing as a lasting institution. The sources establish a short-lived teaching network and an important episode in U.S. yoga history, not a durable organization with independently verified membership on the scale implied by “empire.”
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