Ramdev

Ramdev
Swami Ramdev.
Born	Ram Krishna Village: 'hazaribag Ali Saiyad Pur, Distt: Mahendragarh, Haryana, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Yoddha Sanyasi

Swami Ramdev (Hindi: स्वामी रामदेव) is a Hindu Yogi, also known as Baba Ramdev. Swami Ramdev has gained popularity for his teachings of Yoga and Pranayama, and for his public stance on a number of political and medical issues, who has in the recent past taken on the role of a "sage soldier" (yoddha sanyasi) in a peaceful stance against corruption.

Biography

Early life

Born Ram Krishna to Gulab Devi and Ram Nivas Yadav, at a village Ali Saiyad Pur of Mahendragarh district in Haryana state of India, in the year 1965. He was inspired by the portraits of Ram Prasad 'Bismil' and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose hanged in his room. As soon as he grew up and read the Autobiography of Ram Prasad 'Bismil', his mind was totally washed. After completing middle education(eight standard) from Shahjadpur (Haryana), he joined Aarsh (Arya) Gurukul, Khanpur and studied Sanskrit and Yog under the guidance of Achary Pradumn.

Eventually when he came in the contact of another saint Achary Baldevji, he renounced worldly life and entered into Sanyas and changed his original name Ram Krishna to the present one of Swami Ramdev. (Note: The Hindi word Swami means Master of Conscience).

In Kalva Gurukul of Jind district in Haryana he offered free training of Yog to villagers for some time. Then he moved to Haridwar and spent several years to study ancient Indian scriptures at Gurukul Kangari where he read another rare book of Aurbindo Ghosh- Yogik Sadhan which was 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 cult following. He is known for his efforts of popularizing yog. 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

View of the 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 Yog 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 P.Y.P. Trust to study and improve the effectiveness of yog against diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc. Recently the second phase of P.Y.P. has also started its working.

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 PYP’s 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 reforms

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

He also says that the use of fertilizers and pesticides has led to an undue load on the poverty of farmers and increased the profits of large business houses involved in this trade. This type of malpractice poses a big threat to farmers as well as to the health of the common man since the farm land is increasingly becoming barren and contaminated with harmful chemicals. The farming produces like grains, fruits and vegetables are contaminated with inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.

In almost all of his yog shivir (yoga camps) he has raises the issue of increased consumption of fast foods, packed foods and soft drinks by the common people. He says that these products are causing the diseases and so they must not be eaten. He also tells the public that commercially available aerated drinks are more harmful to the children as well as to the adults due to the presence of phosphoric acids, preservatives, unknown chemicals and emulsifiers. He has also made jokes saying "Cold Drink means a Toilet Cleaner" meaning that its chemical nature of containing surfactants, phosphoric acids and others are very harmful to stomach lining and our entire body if consumed and said that these cold drinks are more effective than toilet cleaners. He usually calls in his public meetings to take pledge by every citizen of India to avoid consuming commercial aerated drinks to protect individual health as well as to avoid Indian currency reaching to multinational companies. Instead he advices the public to take hot water, milk or traditional Indian juices only so that our country may become prosperous.

He 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.

Illegal Mining

According to Bharat Swabhiman Trust, there is permission for only 200 mining leases but one lakh 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.

On corruption

Swamir Ramdev has been associated with anti-corruption movements, including the 2011 Jan Lokpal Bill Agitation.

He has given the following suggestions by which the use of black money can be eradicated. The six point solution suggested by him are:

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 heavens.
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 heaven 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 heaven for black money operators in India and this route should be cut effectively by the Indian government He also charges that currency of higher denomination is the root cause for enabling convenient bribing and handling of black money and this should be immediately withdrawn.

Recently Swami Ramdev declared at Bangalore that a people's movement to liberate the country from rampant corruption and build a strong spiritual Bharat, would be launched by him from June 4, 2011 in Delhi. This movement will be the second phase of Bharat Swabhiman Yatra and it is named as Persistance Against Corruption. 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.

Controversies and criticisms

Employee Protests

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 for sabotage. Their case was taken up by a trade union controlled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). They are still to be reinstated.

Animal parts in medicines

In January 2006, Brinda Karat, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 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 not proved. She exhibited what she claimed to be in the prescription and cash receipt obtained from the medicine counter in support of her claim. Her controversial remarks have drawn strong condemnation from all over North India, decidedly the region he has most followers in, including reprimands from politicians like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ambika Soni, and Narayan Dutt Tiwari who depend on the same populations for their votes. 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 on Monday. 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, Baba 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, (Orissa) 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

• [2]
• Hinduism
• Yoga
• Jan Lokpal Bill
• Black money in India
• 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement

External links

• 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