Ramdev

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Ramdev (2010)
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Ramdev ( Hindi रामदेव Ramdev , under the name Ramkishan Yadav * maybe 25. December 1965 in Said Alipur, Mahendragarh district , Haryana ) is an Indian yoga guru, Swami , activist and entrepreneur .

With his mass yoga events and popular television programs, he is considered an important figure in an Indian yoga renaissance. Ramdev was politically involved in the movement against corruption and supported Narendra Modi's election campaign in 2014 . The company " Patanjali Ayurved ", which he founded in 2006 together with the Nepalese Balkrishna , expanded its business area from the manufacture and sale of Ayurvedic pharmaceutical products to consumer goods for daily use, groceries and now also fashion and achieved sales in the billions (US dollars) -Height. In addition to the assertion of many positive health effects, his yoga teaching has a strong Hindu-nationalist influence.

Youth and education

He was born as Ramkishan Yadav as the second son of the farmer Ram Nivas Yadav and his wife Gulabo Devi in ​​the village of Said Alipur in the south of the Indian state of Haryana in the Mahendragarh district. Different dates of birth are given on the Internet: December 25, 1965, January 1968 and December 1975 without being verifiable. Another brother and sister were born after him. His childhood was marked by poverty and various accidents. Impressed by wandering Arya Samaj ascetics and after reading a book by the founder of this Hindu reform movement, Dayananda Saraswati , Ramkishan was accepted into a " Gurukul ", a religious school, in Khanpur, 30 kilometers away. He continued his training in Gurukul Kalwa in Peelukheda ( Jind District ). During this time he learned Sanskrit and also received an introduction to yoga. His duties in Gurukul Kalwa included washing the linen and dishes of his teacher Baldev, who also served as his guru , looking after the cows of the ashram and begging for alms. Baldev named him "Ramdev" and gave him the title Acharya (teacher) at the end of his school days .

After serving as a Gurukul teacher in Kishangarh Ghasera in the early 1990s, Ramdev left this post, possibly because he had lost his temper and beat a disciple beyond Gurukul's usual standards, and turned to Haridwar on the Ganges. On the mediation of his Nepalese friend Balkrishna, he was taken under the wing of the young yoga scholar Karamveer, who came from a wealthy family. As a condition he had to vow to be celibate and teach for free. According to biographer Priyanka Pathak-Narain, the influence of Karamveer, who sought to make yoga a mass movement, was crucial to Ramdev's success. During this time (approx. From 1993 to 1995) the friends are said to have traveled to the sources of the Ganges in the Himalayas and lived there for a long time in caves. They also made two medical excursions to the tribal areas of the northeast Indian state of Assam .

Yoga for the masses

Yoga camp with Ramdev on the Rajpath in New Delhi, 2016

As a starting point for his further ascent, Ramdev had the opportunity to take over the Kripalu Bagh Ashram in Haridwar , which was in decline . This ashram was founded in 1932 by Kripaludev, a former freedom fighter and Hindu nationalist, and was now run by the aging guru Shankar Dev (* 1929; missing since July 14, 2007), who cared about his legacy. On January 5, 1995, Shankar Dev, Ramdev, Karamveer and Balkrishna jointly registered the Divya Yog Mandir Trust, the mission of which was to “teach yoga to the masses in a practical way to help people achieve health, spiritual well-being and happiness . "

On April 9, 1995 Ramdev was given by Shankar Dev the diksha , initiation into the status of a sannyasin who creates a saffron-colored Habit and renounces worldly goods. This meant that Ramdev as a disciple (Shishya) of the Guru could come into his inheritance after his death, but it was also a break with the school tradition of the Arya Samaj, in which Ramdev stood until then.

Together with Karamveer, Ramdev organized so-called “Shivirs” (from Sanskrit: “Śibira” = field camp), mostly translated as “Yoga Camps”, in which more and more people took part. They cost little or no entry and took place partly as road shows in different places, partly in the Kripalu Bagh Ashram in Haridwar. The first camp in Haridwar in 1997 lasted a week and marked Ramdev's debut as a yoga teacher (at the previous camps, Karamveer was a teacher and Ramdev sang bhajans ).

The yoga camps filled a void in India where, at a time when yoga was gaining popularity in the West, the masses had little access to yoga teachers. The format also proved to be suitable for translation into the medium of television. Ramdev's first appearance on the religious television channel Sanskar in 2002 was a success, which brought Ramdev many times more donations than the airtime cost him - the religious specialty channels Aastha and Sanskar, founded in 2000, allowed religious leaders to buy airtime for a fee speaking to their followers, attracting new followers, and soliciting donations. In 2003, Ramdev moved to Aastha and over the next few years reached a growing audience of millions. Ultimately, Ramdev took over both channels through Vedic Broadcastings Pvt. Ltd. The television shows show Shivirs with Ramdev as teacher in front of sometimes thousands of people, with the main focus on the health effects of yoga postures ( asanas ) and breathing exercises ( pranayama ). In the shows, Ramdev also gives speeches on the application of yoga philosophy and morality in everyday life.

On February 4, 2005, Ramdev and Balkrishna founded the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust, with which they created a new institutional basis for their expanding yoga realm. About 20 kilometers from Haridwar on the road to New Delhi in Bahadrabad, an Ayurveda clinic, an Ayurveda college, production facilities for Ayurveda medicines, a yoga center and much more were built on a 240 hectare site. The trust is named after the author of the Yoga Sutra , Patanjali .

In March 2005, Ramdev's mentor Karamveer left the Ashram because he saw the idealism of the early days being lost. He particularly disliked the fact that in the meantime the whole Ramdev family (except for the older brother) had moved to Haridwar and was involved in the business of the Ashram, while according to custom a sadhu had left his family behind him forever. In addition, the yoga camps were no longer free, as Karamveer demanded, but increasingly cost higher admission prices.

In 2006, Ramdev, whose shows were also broadcast in the United States and Great Britain by the broadcaster Aastha International, toured England and held yoga camps in Leicester, Coventry, Manchester and London. A USA / UK tour followed in the summer of 2007. Sister organizations of the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust have been established in Great Britain, USA, Nepal, Mauritius and Canada. The British organization owns the Scottish island of Little Cumbrae (acquired in 2009 for £ 2.1 million) on the basis of a gift from businessmen Sunita and Sam Poddar .

The Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust has published the monthly magazine Yog Sandesh since 2003 . There is a Divya Prakashan publishing house and an extensive presence on the Internet. From the titles of Ramdev's yoga DVDs (e.g. Yog for diabetes, Yog for psoriasis, Yog for eye diseases, Yog for vertebral column, Yog for youth, Yog practices and life style, Yog for asthma, Yog for Parkinson & paralysis , Yog for various ailments, Yog for children, Yog for high blood pressure, Yog for childless couple) shows that most of them promise to cure specific diseases through yoga.

politics

From 2004 Ramdev allied himself with Rajeev Dixit , the founder of a movement for "Swadeshi" (local goods) called "Azadi Bachao Andolan", which was founded in 1992 and has gained 100 million followers over the years. Ramdev allowed the excellent speaker to speak at his yoga camps, where he delighted the audience.

Under the influence of Dixit, Ramdev founded his own Swadeshi organization "Bharat Swabhiman Andolan" (translated as "Indian self-glorification movement"), which spoke out in favor of buying local products and against corruption and foreign corporations. In 2008 he headed a campaign initiated by several Hindu organizations to protect the Ganges and to free it from dams and weirs. By renouncing the latter, unrealistic demand, Ramdev was able to book as a success in November 2008 that the government declared the Ganges a national heritage and committed to cleaning the river by 2020.

On November 30, 2010, Rajeev Dixit died of a heart attack at the age of 43. According to reports from eyewitnesses, the biographer Priyanka Pathak-Narain describes the circumstances of the funeral ceremony: Dixit's body lay on a block of ice in the great hall of Patanjali Yogpeeth II, a huge room that could accommodate thousands of people to practice yoga. Dixit's face appeared a strange purple and blue, and the skin was peeling off. According to those reports, requests for an autopsy on Ramdev were prevented. Several times afterwards, Ramdev felt compelled to publicly counter emerging rumors of a crime.

However, Ramdev's demeanor in the fight against government corruption attracted the most attention in the summer of 2011. He joined activist Anna Hazare , who went on a hunger strike to get the government to pass an effective anti-corruption law. On June 4, 2011, Ramdev started a public hunger strike in New Delhi. The event, which was attended by around 40,000 people, was forcibly cleared by police on the night of June 5, 2011, and the fleeing Baba, who feared for his life, was arrested. After his release, he continued the hunger strike in Haridwar, but broke it off a few days later. A particular concern of Ramdev was the repatriation of "black money" brought abroad, black money that the Indian people lack and is thus responsible for hunger and poverty.

When the Indian Supreme Court reinstated the ban on homosexual relationships in 2013 , which was lifted by a lower court in 2009, Ramdev welcomed the decision as it “appeals to the sentiments of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, and all those involved in morality believed “take into account. He called homosexuality an "American disease" and claimed that yoga could cure such "bad habits".

Ramdev supported Narendra Modi and his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election campaign for the 2014 general election . Modi, for his part, took some measures after his election to strengthen the position of Ayurveda and Yoga: he granted the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) department of the Ministry of Health the status of its own ministry, and obtained it from the United Nations (UN) introduced a World Yoga Day and partially exempted charitable foundations in the yoga sector from taxes. According to a report by Reuters news agency , Patanjali Ayurved and its affiliates have been able to acquire land over $ 46 million below market value with the help of BJP and its allies. According to the same report, five leading members of the BJP (including the foreign, finance, interior and transport ministers) signed a nine-point pledge, of which Ramdev claimed authorship, and which aimed to transform the country from a Swadeshi perspective. The pledge also included a commitment to cow protection .

Patanjali Ayurved

Patanjali Amla juice

In 2006 the company “Patanjali Ayurved” emerged from “Divya Pharmacy” in Haridwar, which was founded in 1995. Balkrishna received 90% of the shares, Muktananda, a close confidante, 10%. The ownership structure changed over the years, but Balkrishna always owned by far the most shares. It would have been inappropriate for Ramdev, as a world renouncer, to hold shares himself. In 2016/17 toothpaste (brand name: Dant Kanti) was the main sales driver with Rs 8.7 billion (approx. EUR 120 million). Behind it were hair oil, soap, honey and atta (wheat flour). In 2017, sales exceeded the one billion dollar mark for the first time. In 2018 Patanjali Ayurved had a network of 56,000 sales outlets and expanded its range to include dairy products. In the same year Ramdev announced the intention to open a fashion and fashion accessories store (under the name Patanjali Paridhan) with the brands "Livefit", "Aastha" and "Sanskar".

Yoga and Nationalism

Ramdev defines yoga in his book Yog: Its Philosophy and Practice first as the weeding out of bad moods, then as practices that lead to the union of the soul with the oversoul. He then differentiates between Mantra Yog (yoga of invocations), Laya Yog (yoga of devotion), Hatha Yog (yoga of purifying mind and body) and Raja Yog (yoga of spiritual purity and enlightenment). The benefits of yoga are manifold:

“By practicing yoga, the sleeping energy is awakened. The exercises rejuvenate the tissue and support the formation of new cells. Light yoga exercises invigorate the nervous system and regulate the blood circulation. ... By performing pranayamas and asanas, the glands and muscles contract and expand and diseases are naturally cured. ... In addition to increasing physical fitness, yoga also has an effect on the finer senses, the intellect and the spirit. Yoga regulates the functioning of the organs and helps the mind to detach itself. The follower of Ashtanga yoga easily steps from dark ignorance to a happy, peaceful and enlightened existence by connecting with the highest soul. "

The daily routine of the Ashtanga yoga system consists of Ahara (diet), Nidra (sleep), Brahmacharya (celibacy), Vyayam (exercise), Snan (bath after exercise), Dhyan (meditation, including chanting of the Om - and of the Gayatri mantra ).

For Ramdev, yoga is not just an individual philosophy or practice, but the answer to the manifold problems of today's global society. The religious scholar Stuart Ray Sarbacker sees parallels here to important representatives of modern yoga such as Bhavanrao Pant (1868–1951, ruler of the princely state of Aundh in Maharashtra and popularizer of the sun salutation yoga sequence) and to Mohandas Gandhi .

The connection between spiritual practice and social goals is elaborated in Ramdev's manifesto Jeevan Darshan ("Life View ", 2009). He has a kind of yoga nationalism in mind, and the practice of yoga becomes a service to the nation. In everyone the religion of yoga is supposed to light the flame of a national religion (for Ramdev there is “no greater religion than the service of the nation”, “no greater god than the nation”). Through self-education through yoga every morning, the remainder of the day should be dedicated to the progress and prosperity of the nation.

The yoga practitioner is called upon to take five vows to achieve five nationalist goals (100% voter turnout, 100% nationalist thinking, 100% boycott of foreign companies, 100% domestic production, 100% yoga orientation of the nation):

  1. To choose patriotic and sincere people
  2. Unite patriots
  3. Boycott foreign goods and buy local goods
  4. To represent nationalist ideas in public and to be responsible for religious traditions such as Hindu, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism etc. in private
  5. To make the whole land yoga oriented and keep the society out of confusion

This is how the India out of Ramdev's dreams is to be created, which is characterized by five characteristics: 1. A healthy India, 2. a clean India, 3. an independent India through an Indian lifestyle, 4. an India freed from hunger, unemployment and poverty through birth control India, 5th India freed from political corruption with 100% voter turnout. The women are to be honored by devotion to the five mothers: the mother of birth, mother India, mother Veda, mother cow and mother Ganges. For Ramdev, the evils that confuse society include corruption, the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, sweet drinks and junk food, lack of sexual restraint among youth and homosexuality, a sexualised media culture, environmental pollution and lack of access to medicine. According to Sarbacker, the strongly conservative orientation of Ramdev's yoga movement could be a key differentiator from today's European and American, mostly much more liberal, yoga traditions.

Fonts

  • Yog: Its Philosophy & Practice. Divya Prakashan, Haridwar 2008 (first published in Hindi in 2002)
  • Jivan darshan: the philosophy of life: a complete guide to yoga culture, self culture and national ethos; along with Bharat Svabhiman: brief aims and objective, philosophy & principles. Divya Prakashan, Haridwar 2009 ISBN 9788189235710

literature

  • Rajesh Kumar: Anna and Baba Ramdev movements & election 2014. Surendra Publications, New Delhi 2012
  • Sandeep Deo: Yoga Guru to Swadeshi Warrior. The true story of Baba Ramdev . Bloomsbury Publishing India, New Delhi 2017
  • Priyanka Pathak-Narain: Godman to tycoon: the untold story of Baba Ramdev. Juggernaut Books, New Delhi 2017 ISBN 9789386228383
  • Stuart Ray Sarbacker: Swami Ramdev: Modern Yoga Revolutionary. In: Mark Singleton, Ellen Goldberg (Eds.): Gurus of Modern Yoga . Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2014, pp. 351–371

Web links

Commons : Ramdev  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert F. Worth: The Billionaire Yogi behind Modi's rise . New York Times 7/26/2018
  2. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 13
  3. ↑ Ben Crair: This Multibillion-Dollar Corporation Is Controlled by a Penniless Yoga Superstar. Bloomberg 3/15/2018
  4. ↑ Baba Ramdev to launch apparel and accessory store 'Patanjali Paridhan' in New Delhi on Nov 5. Tehelka.com November 5, 2018
  5. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 14f.
  6. ↑ Deo, 2017, p. 41
  7. ↑ Deo, 2017, pp. 50–54
  8. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 30f.
  9. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 29
  10. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 36
  11. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 354
  12. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 109
  13. ↑ "Teaching yoga to the masses in practical way, in order to help people achieve the good health, sound minds and great bliss", see: Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 37
  14. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 38f.
  15. ↑ Böhtlingk, Sanskrit Dictionary, Volume 7, 1875, p. 189
  16. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 41f.
  17. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 50-57
  18. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 356
  19. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 83-86
  20. ↑ Deo, 2017, p. 81
  21. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 75-80
  22. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 99-105
  23. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, p. 106
  24. ↑ Emma Cowing: Guru of Wee Cumbrae: I want to make Scotland the healthiest nation in the world within ten years. The Scotsman 9/12/2009
  25. ↑ Worldcat.org
  26. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 71-74
  27. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 116f.
  28. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 357
  29. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 117–119.
  30. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 364f.
  31. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 133-141.
  32. ↑ Ben Crair: This Multibillion-Dollar Corporation Is Controlled by a Penniless Yoga Superstar. Bloomberg 3/15/2018
  33. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 147–152.
  34. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 366f.
  35. ↑ "The Supreme Court has honored the sentiments of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and those who believe in morality." Shyamantha Asokan: India's Supreme Court turns the clock back with gay sex ban. Reuters 12/11/2013
  36. ↑ Kapil Sharma: Destabilizing Section 377: An Indological Approach to Gender and Sexuality . In: Postcolonial Interventions , Vol. II, Issue 1, 2017, pp. 142–156, here: p. 143 Zenodo.org
  37. ↑ Ben Crair: This Multibillion-Dollar Corporation Is Controlled by a Penniless Yoga Superstar. Bloomberg 3/15/2018
  38. ↑ Rahul Bhatia, Tom Lasseter: As Modi and his right-wing Hindu base rise, so too does a celebrity yoga tycoon. Reuters May 23, 2017
  39. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 42-45
  40. ↑ Pathak-Narain, 2017, pp. 97f.
  41. ↑ Rathna Bhushan: Patanjali wants to double turnover in a year; we have broken MNCs' monopoly: Baba Ramdev. Economictimes 5.5.2017
  42. ↑ Ben Crair: This Multibillion-Dollar Corporation Is Controlled by a Penniless Yoga Superstar. Bloomberg 3/15/2018
  43. ↑ Patanjali enters dairy business, launches curd, cheese, other milk-based products. Hindustantimes.com 7/23/2018
  44. ↑ Baba Ramdev to launch apparel and accessory store 'Patanjali Paridhan' in New Delhi on Nov 5. Tehelka.com November 5, 2018
  45. ^ "Practicing Yog revives our dormant energy. These exercises rejuvenate tissues and help new cell formation. Light Yogic exercises reactivate the nervous system, and regulate the blood circulation. ... With the practice of prānāyāmas and āsanas , the glands and muscles of the body contract and expand, and diseases get cured naturally ... Along with physical fitness, Yog also affects the subtle senses, the intellect and the mind. Yog controls the working of organs and helps the mind to detach itself. The follower of Ashtang Yog passes with great ease from the darkness of ignorance towards a joyous, peaceful and ever illuminated existence by connecting with the supreme soul. "Ramdev: Yog: Its Philosophy and Practice , 2008, p. 4, quoted in Sarbacker, 2014, p. 359f.
  46. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 361
  47. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 360
  48. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 361f.
  49. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 362f.
  50. ↑ Sarbacker, 2014, p. 359
personal data
SURNAME Ramdev
ALTERNATIVE NAMES रामदेव (hiS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian yoga guru, activist and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Said Alipur, Mahendragarh District , Haryana