| Hi - thought this might be interesting to people. It was in the paper here today.
NEW DELHI JOURNAL, NEW YORK TIMES
India's Harried Elite Now Turns, and Twists, to Yoga Lite
By HARI KUMAR
Published: February 1, 2005
NEW DELHI - It was 4:30 a.m., the stars were still out and Swami Ramdev was ready to begin the day's yoga lesson. His 12,000 students watched raptly as he sat wearing little more than a loincloth, chanting morning prayers in Sanskrit. When he walked on his hands across the stage in New Delhi's cavernous Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, they applauded.
The students were on the final day of a weeklong yoga camp that the swami had promised would cure whatever ailed them, mentally as well as physically, and without a great investment of time. For a growing number of harried middle-class Indians, worrying about health problems associated with a more affluent lifestyle, that is just the message they want to hear.
While a majority of Indians are familiar with yoga, many think it is too complex and time-consuming to practice, particularly with the increasing demands on their time. The swami, youthful and photogenic, has become wildly popular with a "yoga made easy" approach that promises to yield quick health benefits with minimal effort.
His emphasis is on pranayama - roughly put, breathing exercises or the art of breath control. "If you do pranayama half an hour daily, you will never fall sick," he claims.
Each month, his weeklong yoga camps attract about 75,000 acolytes, he says, all of them paying at least $11. He receives an additional 60,000 visits to his permanent camp at Haridwar, 125 miles north of Delhi.
Another million people watch his yoga camp each day on Aastha, a private television channel, according to executives there. His show is even beamed to the United States.
India's elite, including its vice president, several Supreme Court judges and other senior government officials and politicians, touch his feet to get his blessings.
He is not well known in the Western world and does not care to be. He speaks no English and has never traveled outside India. "I am an Indian talent and my Indian brothers and sisters have first right on the benefits from me," he says. " What God gave to me, I am giving to other people."
He has arisen at a moment when Indians, at least those of the growing urban middle class, are increasingly preoccupied with their health.
The number of diabetic patients in India, estimated at more than 30 million, has tripled in the past 20 years, according to WebHealthCentre.com. An estimated three million people die of heart disease every year and the number is increasing sharply. Recent studies say 30 percent of men and 55 percent of women in India's urban middle classes are overweight.
Mr. Ramdev maintains that yoga can clear blocked arteries, lower blood pressure and cure diabetes, asthma, cancer, slipped discs, cervical and arthritis pain, kidney failure and poor eyesight. Medical professionals, not surprisingly, dispute many of his claims.
"Diseases are nothing but imbalances of the body, and yoga corrects those imbalances," he said.
He is vague about his own background, saying he is in his late 40's and the son of an upper-caste farmer.
According to his own account, he suffered paralysis on the left side of the body when he was 2 but fully recovered by the age of 10. The only visible sign now is his slightly shrunken left eye.
He says he spent eight years in school, dreaming of becoming a saint. At 14, he ran away from home to a nearby Gurukul, a traditional school teaching Sanskrit and Vedic literature. He studied in the school for 10 years before spending many years wandering the Himalayas learning yoga and meditation. He has been teaching yoga for the last 15 years.
He sleeps only five hours a night, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., but always bubbles with energy. He eats only fruits and vegetables, and claims he has never had sex.
"I sublimate my libido to positive energy through yoga," he said. He was 25 before he used a telephone, he says, but now carries a fancy cellular phone.
Unlike many other gurus, Mr. Ramdev is a talkative sort who speaks less of spiritualism and more about issues like health, education, politics and economics. He portrays himself as an Indian nationalist, building healthy individuals and a healthy nation through yoga, a philosophy on full display during the morning in the stadium.
"Say greetings with folded hands" - the traditional Indian way - "not by hi or bye," he told his students, before issuing a warning about the evils of Western fare.
"I want to remove the glasses of Western culture from your eyes," he roared as the sun rose and birds start chirping. "Do not eat pizza, burgers or fast food. And use cold drinks like colas as toilet cleaner."
But when in New Delhi, the swami stays in the palatial house and uses the luxury car of an Indian friend who is a top executive of a multinational company. Asked about the seeming contradiction between criticizing foreign companies but living off their wealth, Mr. Ramdev smiled. "At least he is our Indian brother and not selling liquor or tobacco," he said.
|
Article
