Tag Archive for 'Baba Ramdev'

Yoga guru to launch political party in India

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on March 17, 2010
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Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has announced his entry into politics. He said candidates from his party, named as Bharat Swabhiman, would contest elections for all 543 seats in the next Parliamentary elections.

From The Indian Express: “While vowing to stay away from elections himself, the guru said he would make sure that his proposed political party would have at least seven lakh members in each constituency.

“I have been working for this for the past 20 years. Over the past two years, I have met nearly three crore people in Hardwar, trained and mobilised thousands of people in 60 districts. I want to use black money for the good of the country, ensure that offences like corruption and terrorism get the capital punishment, and turn the political system towards the policy of Swadeshi. This is not a knee-jerk decision,” he said.

Previously in AW:

Baba Ramdev: guru, TV star and source of controversy

Published
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on December 24, 2009
in Faith, Health and India
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Rama Lakshmi in The Washington Post:

Haridwar, India: At the crack of dawn, 4,000 people sitting on yoga mats silently watched the renowned guru Baba Ramdev on stage. After his introduction as the one who will dispel the darkness of ignorance, the orange-robed Ramdev chanted “Om” into a microphone. The audience followed with a reverential hum.

“Eat this every morning to prevent cancer,” he said, holding up four holy basil leaves.

“No blood pressure and asthma problem if you do this daily. Be free from medicines!” he exclaimed after performing a few yoga postures and demonstrating six breathing techniques. The crowd cheered. More:

On a Scottish island bought as a birthday gift, Baba Ramdev sets up base

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on September 28, 2009
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yoga_island

Amit Roy in The Telegraph:

Little Cumbrae (Scotland): The Scottish island of Little Cumbrae, whose long and chequered history takes in the Vikings, Robert The Bruce of “try, try again” fame and Oliver Cromwell, is witnessing the arrival of three wise men from the East.

From their retreats in Haridwar and Rishikesh high up in the Himalayas, the trinity – Baba Ramdev, Swami Chidanand and Acharya Balkrishna – have come bearing blessings for the Hawan ceremony and bhoomi puja.

This is because Little Cumbrae is being transformed into “a place of pilgrimage” for followers of Patanjali yoga by the island’s new owners, Sarwan and Sunita Poddar, who bought the island for £2 million (Rs 15.2 crore) last month.

As a fast “rib boat” sped across the Firth of Clyde from the marina at Largs on the Ayrshire coast, Ramdev was dressed the part from his saffron shawl and dhoti down to his fashionable saffron trainers. Only the life jacket he and all the others were required to wear was more a shade of red.

The breeze ruffled Swami Chidanand’s long hair, while it emerged that Acharya Balkrishna, who preaches Ayurveda, had visited the island on a previous occasion to advise the Poddars on their purchase. More:

[Image: www.s1millport.com]

For more on the island, visit Private Islands Onine website.

Yoga guru sets up base on Scottish isle

Published
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on September 8, 2009
in Health and Trends
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From the Times:

baba_ramdevBaba Ramdev attracts thousands of devotees to his open-air yoga sessions, from political powerbrokers and business barons to their drivers and maids. Now he is branching out from his spiritual headquarters on the Ganges to a tiny island in the Firth of Clyde.

This month the superstar swami, one of India’s most charismatic and controversial gurus, will attend a ceremony on Little Cumbrae to mark the start of his new project, the creation of an “international base” for his expanding yogic empire.

Little Cumbrae was bought recently for about £2 million by two Scottish devotees of Baba Ramdev, Sam and Sunita Poddar. The couple, who moved from India 32 years ago and made a fortune running care homes, are renaming it Peace Island. Within 18 months it is hoped that Peace Island will start welcoming pilgrims to retreats, where they will practise strict vegetarianism, stretching routines and circular breathing exercises. More:

TV swami offers a cure for all ills

Published
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on June 14, 2008
in Faith and Health
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In The Guardian, Randeep Ramesh goes to Haridwar to meet Yoga evangelist Swami Ramdev:

At 5am beneath the Shivalik hills in northern India, Swami Ramdev sits cross-legged swaddled in saffron robes commanding the rapt attention of 500 devotees of his brand of yoga. The crowd is made up mostly of middle-class Indians, many suffering from chronic conditions for which traditional medicine has little to offer but comfort.

Each “patient” has paid 7,000 to 40,000 rupees (£90 to £500) to be among the first to spend a week at the swami’s newest venture: a village of 300 bungalows offering spiritual retreat in the shadow of eucalyptus trees.

Swami Ramdev’s pitch is that pranayama, the ancient Indian art of breath control, can cure a bewildering array of diseases. “Asthma, arthritis, sickle-cell anaemia, kidney problems, thyroid disease, hepatitis, slipped discs – and it will unblock any fallopian tubes,” he tells his audience in the yoga village, who line up to have their blood tested and receive herbal remedies.

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