Bikram Choudhury began studying yoga at the age of 4. At the age of 13 he was the youngest ever National Yoga champion of India, holding the title three consecutive years until his guru Bishnu Ghosh (brother of the famous Paramhansa Yogananda, who founded the self-realization fellowship and wrote "Autobiography of a Yogi") asked him for the sake of fellow competitors to just demonstrate. In less than 30 minutes Bikram had executed over 500 postures to physical perfection. Swami Shivananda declared him "Yoga Raj" (King of the Yogis) and "the best Yogi of the 20th century". Bikram went on to pursue an athletic career as a marathon runner and a champion weight lifter, setting world record lifts and competing in Olympic style weight lifting.