STERLING, Va. — A local yoga teacher who fell to his death while hiking was remembered Monday at a memorial service.
Hari Simran, 25, of Leesburg, was in Mexico attending a yoga retreat when he went hiking in some nearby mountains Dec. 30 and did not return.
More than 250 people and three helicopters took part in a search, and word spread around the world on social media. But on Jan. 2, his body was found in a ravine.
Family and friends gathered in Sterling, where Simran and his wife, Ad Purkh, ran the Raj Yoga Center. Simran was Sikh-American, and the memorial was held in the Sikh tradition.
Simran’s father, Sat Jagat, said his son loved others without any prejudice.
“I am trying to have those qualities,” he said.
Guru Surya, Simran’s mother, said her son was extraordinary from birth.
“He was the most bright, radiant, enthusiastic being I had ever encountered,” she said.
Ad Purkh was with her husband in Mexico.
“The whole time he was just so happy and alive, and I guess this is what I want you to know — that he was so happy. And he was doing what he loved,” she said.
A cremation ceremony for Simran is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Adams-Green Funeral Home, in Herndon. The website that was set up during the search is now being used to provide updates from the family.
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