Ramdev

Swami Ramdev
Swami Ramdev
Personal
Born	Ram Krishna Yadav Village: Ali Saiyad Pur, Distt: Mahendragarh, Haryana, India
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Guru	Achary Pradumn

Swami Ramdev (Hindi: स्वामी रामदेव), born Ram Krishna Yadav, is a Hindu Yogi, also known as Baba Ramdev. Swami Ramdev has gained popularity for his teachings of Yoga, Pranayama and public stance on a number of political and medical issues, especially recently with his movement against corruption in India.

Biography

Early life

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Image of Mother and Father of Ramdev

He was born as Ram Krishna Yadav to Gulabo Devi and Ram Nivas Yadav in the village Ali Saiyad Pur (Alipur) of Mahendragarh district in Haryana state of India. He was inspired by the portraits of Ram Prasad 'Bismil' and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that were hung in his room. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help) According to his statements in an open Yog Shivir at Shahjahanpur, when he grew up and read the autobiography of Ram Prasad 'Bismil', his mind was totally cleansed. After completing his middle education of eighth standard from Shahjadpur Haryana, he joined Aarsh (Arya) Gurukul, Khanpur and studied Sanskrit and Yoga under the guidance of Achary Pradumn.

After he received teachings from Achary Baldevji, believed by many to be a saint, he renounced worldly life, entering into Sanyas and changing his name from Ram Krishna to Swami Ramdev. (Note: The Hindi word swami means master).

In Kalva Gurukul of Jind district in Haryana India he offered free training of Yog to villagers for some time. Then he moved to Haridwar and spent several years studying ancient Indian scriptures at Gurukul Kangari. This included a rare book of Aurobindo Ghosh- Yogik Sadhan, translated from Bangla into Hindi by Ram Prasad 'Bismil'. After reading this small booklet he went to the caves of Himalaya and practiced intense self-discipline and meditation.

Contemporary life and fame

He shot into prominence when he started the Divya Yog Mandir Trust with the company of Achary Bal Krishna. In 2003, Aastha TV began featuring him in its morning yoga slot. Within a few years, he had gathered a huge following. He is known for his efforts of popularizing yoga. The New York Times called him "an Indian, who built Yoga Empire, a product and symbol of the New India, a yogic fusion of Richard Simmons, Dr. Oz and Oprah Winfrey, irrepressible and bursting with Vedic wisdom". His yog-camps are attended by a large number of people in India and abroad.

Institutions founded

Maharshi Charak's Monument in the Campus of Patanjali Yog Peeth Haridwar

His flagship project is Patanjali Yog Peeth (a registered Trust which was inaugurated on August 6, 2006 by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, then Vice President of India). The primary aim of this institution is to build India the world's largest centre for Ayurved and Yoga with the facilities of treatment, research and training.

At present the trust offers free treatment to those who cannot afford to pay and for the rest, it is provided at a reasonable cost. Various institutions and medical organizations are also run by the Patanjali Yoga Peeth Trust to study and improve the effectiveness of yoga against diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc. Recently the second phase of Patanjali Yoga Peeth has also started its working.

View of the Patanjali Yog Peeth Haridwar

Patanjali Ayurved College, Patanjali Chikitsalaya, Yog Gram, Go-Shala, Patanjali Herbal Botanical Garden, Organic Agriculture Farm, Patanjali Food And Herbal Park Ltd are some of its affiliated institutions which are run under the guidance of Swami Ramdev and his close associate Acharya Bal Krishn. Some useful books are also published by its sister concern Divy Prakashan. Yog Sandesh is its authorised journal which is being published in 11 languages viz. Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Nepali, Kannada and Telugu. Monthly readership of this multi-lingual journal is more than one million.

Patanjali Yog Peeth has acquired a Scottish Island for about £2 million to set up a wellness retreat. The Little Cumbrae Island, off the fishing town of Largs in Scotland, will also serve as the Patanjali Yog Peeths base overseas, where yoga will be taught. The acquisition of the land itself was carried out by a Scottish couple of Indian origin, Sam and Sunita Poddar, to expand the base of Yog in abroad. This project will be run by Patanjali Yogpeeth (UK) Trust.

Political and Social Campaigns

Ramdev has clarified that he has no political ambitions and is not interested in starting a political party, but feels it's his obligatory duty to reform social and political ambiguities apart from popularising yoga and thus strengthen the country.

He has raised a number of political, social and economic issues through his yoga camps (in Hindi Yog Shivir). Most of the issues raised by him demand a drastic change in the governance policies of India.

Bharat Swabhiman

For changing governance policies, he has initiated a movement named Bharat Swabhiman along with Rajiv Dixit.

The five goals of Bharat Swabhiman campaign are:

1. 100% voting
2. 100% nationalist thought,
3. 100% boycott of foreign companies and adoption of swadeshi,
4. 100% unification of the people of the nation and
5. 100% yoga-oriented nation.

As a part of campaign, Baba Ramdev has been organising yoga camps across India to create awareness amongst people against corruption and black money.

On agriculture and dietary practices

In many yog shivir (yoga camps), he has raised the issue of increased consumption of fast foods, packed foods and soft drinks by the people. According to him these products can cause diseases and so they must not be eaten. He has also claimed that commercially available aerated drinks are harmful to due to the presence of phosphoric acids, preservatives, unknown chemicals and emulsifiers. He claims that these drinks are very harmful to the entire body and especially the stomach lining if consumed. He has also made statements along the lines of "Cold Drinks means Toilet Cleaner" and has claimed that these cold drinks are more effective at cleaning toilets than commercially available toilet cleaners. He urges people in his public meetings to pledge not to consume commercial aerated drinks, to protect individual health as well as to avoid Indian wealth being transferred to multinational companies. Instead he advices the public to consume hot water, milk or traditional Indian juices only so that India may become prosperous.

He has also claimed that the use of fertilizers and pesticides has led to an undue economic load on farmers and increased the profits of large business houses involved in the business. He also claims that these practices are harmful to the general public, since the farming produce is contaminated with inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. Due to this practice, the farming land is also becoming barren. He also blames corrupt practices for the miserable conditions of the poor farmers and other backward class of the society. He says that although agriculture is the biggest contributor to India's economy, farmers are the most poverty stricken class of the country.(Note:The former half of the statement is incorrect, see Economy of India)

Illegal Mining

According to Bharat Swabhiman Trust, there is permission for only 200 mining leases but about one hundred thousands illegal mines are operational in the country. He also describes illegal mining in India as one of the major social issue that requires an immediate ban.

Protests against black money

Main articles: Ramlila ground protests and Indian black money

Swami Ramdev has been associated with the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement and was involved in the Jan Lokpal agitation . He plans to start an indefinite fast from June 4, 2011 to force the government to take steps to curb corruption, black money and bring back Indian money illegally stashed abroad.

In February 2011, he gave the following steps for eradication of black money. :

1. Withdrawal and demonetizing of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes - so as to avoid misuse of unaccounted money and quick arrest of the entire locally circulated black money, bribing, and fake note traffic.
2. Agree to and accept the U.N. Convention against Corruption – pending since 2006.
3. Death penalty provision for the corrupt persons in Indian Penal Code.
4. Access, monitor and disrupt payment gateway servers enabling corrupt people to manage money in tax havens.
5. Scrutinizing accounts of people having credit/debit cards of foreign banks without any foreign work/relation.
6. Disabling operations of any bank from a tax haven country.

The practicality of such steps has been called into question.

He has raised the issue of Indian money stashed away illegally in Swiss Bank which is estimated to be anywhere between 1 to 1.5 trillion USD. He says that the government must take immediate action and bring back the money as it belongs to the people of India. Not only this he openly charges that this black money has been taken out of the country illegally and also very strongly demands a capital punishment to all those Indians or N.R.I.s, who acquire, handle and stash black money. He suggests that Mauritius route is a tax haven for black money operators in India and this route should be cut effectively by the Indian government. He had also demanded (as early as September 2009) the removal of currency of denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000, saying that this would curb corruption, black money and terrorism.

In 2011, Swami Ramdev declared at Bangalore that he will be on hunger strike from June 4, 2011 in Delhi and asked his followers to join his crusade. He declared one of the main objective of the movement is to root out the corruption and bring back the black money stashed away in various financial institutions in the country and abroad.

On May 28, the government set up a panel to suggest steps to curb black money and its transfer abroad, in an apparent bid to placate Ramdev. Afterwards, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Ramdev and requested him to cancel his fast, but Ramdev refused. When Ramdev arrived at Delhi airport on June 1, he was met by four senior ministers of the UPA government, who tried to persuade him about the government's tough stand on corruption. However, Swami Ramdev repeatedly said that he would begin his fast on Saturday as planned. On June 2, noted activist Anna Hazare announced that he will also join the protest from June 5, saying that the government "has tried to cheat us".

Controversies and criticisms

Labour Law violations and Animal parts in medicines

In March 2005, 113 employees of Divya Yoga Mandir Trust, Haridwar started an agitation for minimum wages and employees' rights such as coverage under the Provident Fund and Employees' State Insurance schemes. After a tripartite meeting, an agreement was reached between the workers, management and the district administration. However, some agitating workers were dismissed by the Trustees after being alleged to be responsible for sabotage. Their case was taken up by the trade union Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). They are still to be reinstated.

Brinda Karat, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was involved with the protesters and was told by disgruntled workers that animal parts were used in the manufacture of some medicines. In January 2006, she accused the Divya Pharmacy, owned by Divya Yog Mandir Trust for using human and animal bones in their medicines. Samples of the medicines Kulya Bhasm (Mixture) and Yauvanamrit Vati purchased from Brahmakalp Chikitsalaya- the Trust's Hospital at Haridwar were allegedly tested at government labs and the presence of animal materials in the sample was confirmed. However, the source of the samples was disputed, as these had been supplied by Karat to the labs and not procured by government officials. Karat produced what were claimed to be the prescription and cash receipt obtained from the medicine counter for the samples povided.

Her controversial remarks drew strong condemnation from several politicians in North India, like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Narayan Dutt Tiwari. Subsequently she received a legal notice on the behalf of a B.J.P. leader in Faridabad.

A few month later in 2006, four samples were sent to the government recognized Shriram Institute of Industrial Research in Delhi. The report from this institute declared that the samples did not contain any objectionable ingredient and were purely herbal. However, the Union Health Ministry did find animal DNA in the samples, though most newspapers carried reports to the contrary.

Views on AIDS and sex education

In December 2006, Swami Ramdev claimed to cure diseases such as AIDS and cancer through yoga and ayurvedic drugs sold by his Divya Yoga Mandir Trust. He also went on to suggest that sex education should be replaced by yoga, which was the way to AIDS awareness, prevention and cure. "Sex education in schools need to be replaced by yoga education," Ramdev told reporters at the state health minister's residence. As a consequence of these public statements he was sent a cease and desist order by the Indian Union Health Ministry to avoid making such claims in the future, and the civil society threatened legal action. In response, Ramdev retracted his statement and said the claims were not directly his, but those of patients who practiced yoga.

Claims of curing cancer

Other press reports quoted him as claiming to have a cure for cancer of the breast, liver, prostate, uterus, pituitary gland, brain tumors and leukemia by practicing the seven breathing exercises. In a residential camp held in Yog Gram, Haridwar during 19–25 June 2008, several cancer patients stepped forward to recount first-hand stories of their successful bouts with blood, prostate and breast cancer using Pranayam or breathing exercises. Swami Ramdev has claimed having documented proof of his successes, but has failed to provide any to the media or the Ministry of Health.

Views on homosexuality

In July 2009, when Delhi High Court gave a verdict under decriminalizing homosexuality in Delhi, the swami called a press conference and said, "this verdict of the court will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting to all of us. We are blindly following the West in everything. This is breaking the family system in India. Homosexuals are sick people, they should be sent to hospitals for treatment. If the government brings this law, I will take this matter to the streets of Delhi in protest."

Awards and recognitions

• January 2007 - Honorary Doctorate, by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, in recognition of his efforts to popularize the Vedic system/science of Yoga.

• March 2010 - Honored with Degree of Doctorate of Sciences by Amity University Noida.
• April 2010 - Honored with honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Dr D. Y. Patil Deemed University.
• January 2011 - Honored with Sri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati National Eminence Award by Maharashtra Governor K. Shankaranarayanan.

See also

• Hinduism

External links

• Patanjali Yogpeeth - Divya Yog Madir)
• Full text of Baba Ramdev's speech at the Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on un 03, 2011
• Bharat Swabhiman Andolan
• BBC Audio Interview with Swami Ramdev in Hindi
• The republic and the wayward rationalist - Essay .uk/leicester/content/articles/2006/07/26/swamiyoga_feature.shtml BBC Interview with Swami Ramdev]
• BBC News - Yogi cleared of animal parts row - March 8, 2006