THE YOGA Rishi is a well known sanyasi all over the world. Some citizens know him as Swami Ramdev Maharaj and others address him as Baba Ramdev. His name is a household word in India and overseas. Some foreigners call him the great Yogi who has positively influenced lives of young and old alike. In making the world a better place to live in and in leading men and women on the path of health and happiness the Yoga Rishi is unique.
He is a consummate exponent of Maharishi Patanjali’s Ashtang Yoga. No wonder the high and the mighty as well as the man in the street is equally a beneficiary of his Arsh Vidya. Indeed it was his magnanimity that he gave me an interview lasting an hour and a half for the Aastha Channel TV. This article is based on that interview that was recorded in Hindi.
A Rishi is a great soul, a charitable person who cares little about self and devotes his time to the welfare of the society. He pays attention to common man to bring a smile on morose faces. A Rishi thinks of years to come and how mankind will live a happy life now and in the future. It is the human society that takes precedence over self for a sanyasi. He will be constantly at it till the aim is achieved. Never say die and never call a halt but keep going on and on – that is what a seer thinks and acts upon. The Yog Rishi Swami Ramdev Maharaj is one such personality as described heretofore. He obeys the Vedic order –Charaiveti Charaiveti.
A positive person
Swami Ramdev Ji never says ‘No’ to a person or a project where the good of the human society is in focus. He is equally concerned about the welfare of animals and protection of vegetation. He is a vegetarian and advocates vegetarianism and abstinence not only to protect human beings but to save the planet Earth from global warming leading to extinction of several species and loss of life and property. The Yoga Rishi has a positive approach to life and letters. Well versed in the Vedic Thought and Sanskrit language, he frequently quotes from ancient scriptures and sacred texts of yore. With his Gurukul background, the Yoga Rishi is a staunch supporter of health leading to happiness by practising abstinence from alcohol, drugs, hashish and similar intoxicants. Indeed Yoga and his trump card – the PRANAYAM provide the golden key to open the lock leading to Moksha. If one does Pranayam regularly for the prescribed period, one will be free from diseases and all types of ailments both physical and mental.
As a devotee of the Vedic Thought, Swami Ramdev Ji may be termed as an indirect disciple of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, the great sage and seer and founder of the Arya Samaj. Thus the Vedas are a source of strength for the Yoga Rishi of today.
Health is a positive and a basic aspect of a good life. Mere absence of ailments is not Health. The Yoga Rishi had Yoga for common man in mind when he founded the Patanjali Yogapeeth at the Maharishi Dayanand Gram in a suburb of Haridwar. The benefits were tremendous. The rich and the poor alike were beneficiaries of the grand plan. Money was no constraint and future expansion came in the natural fashion. Located a few kilometres before Haridwar on the Delhi Haridwar highway, the Patanjali Yogapeeth has been making fabulous progress day by day. Vaidyaraj Acharya Balkrishna has been practising and promoting the Ayurveda system of medicine with great success. His sincere efforts have blossomed into a university functioning on the premises of the Yogapeeth and Acharya Balkrishna Ji is the Kuladhipati or the Chancellor.
A mention may be made of the Phase Two of the Yogapeeth that has come up beautifully across the main highway. This complex also houses the devotees of the Yoga Rishi who come from far and near and are billeted and dined here. An impressive grand auditorium has been built on this campus and it can seat as many as 8,000 persons comfortably.
Bharat swabhiman
How can a true Sanyasi not care for the country of his birth in the first instance and the entire world subsequently. Indeed Swami Ramdev Maharaj is a great believer in the dictum that the entire world is a great family. He quotes what is also inscribed on the wall right above the entrance to the central hall of the Parliament House. The Sanskrit sloka runs thus:
Ayam nij parovaiti, garana laghu chetsam,
udaar charitanam tu vasudhaiv kutumbkam
It is the narrow minded who count what is theirs and what belongs to others, the broad minded persons treat the whole world as their own family.
Our shastras enjoin on us to work for the mankind and not for one’s own immediate family. However, a beginning has to be made with the basic unit and thence to the village, district, the province and the country. It has been seen that some citizens do not take pride in the country they live in. We should be proud of our country and work for its betterment. One can work for betterment of the country when one takes pride in its name and fame. This pride in self is Swabhiman and pride in the country is named Bharat Swabhiman. If we sincerely believe in this concept we will work for it and make an endeavour to change the order of the day to bring in a better disposition. This is called Vyavastha Parivartan. This change can be brought about by changing the thought process of the common man through Yoga and Pranayam is a part of Yoga.
Yoga and Pranayam generate a tremendous amount of energy.
That energy can be suitably utilised in changing the existing social and political order through peaceful and constitutional means, so says Swami Ramdev Ji. At present he is focussed on Bharat Swabhiman and Vyavastha Parivartan to ameliorate the hardships – financial, political, legal, educational - and so on of the common man. Unless the social and political order is changed, the common man will continue to suffer. Swami Ramdev is a pragmatic seer and he has seen that in the six decades after independence, not much has been done to provide food, fodder, medicines, books etc to the poor and they continue to languish in the abject poverty that they had inherited from their forefathers of the British era.
The British officers considered maintenance of law and order as their prime task. Welfare of the common man was not a part of the charter of duties. The same political and administrative order is surviving with mere cosmetic changes that have not brought a smile on the face of the poor and the ignored sections of the society. Apparently the old order brought into force by the British administrators has to yield to a new one for the good of the common man. Swami Ramdev Ji has named it as Vyavastha Parivartan or changing the existing administrative order. Indeed it has to be done by our Parliament. Thus the members have to be chosen and elected in such a manner that they are committed to changing the present order for a better one for the common man.
Swami Ramdev Ji is of the opinion that the Yoga, including Pranayam that we do in the morning will produce a tremendous amount of energy. This energy may be utilised in the daytime to work for the upliftment of the country and to bring in a new social and political order. The new order of society and government will work for a welfare state and not a police state. Only a welfare state will take care of the poor and the have-not sections of the society. When the common man is well fed, clothed and housed, he and his family will care for the country and take pride in their nationality.
Swami Ramdev Ji will thus help his compatriots achieve the twin aim of ‘Pride in the Country’ and constantly bringing a new order to establish a ‘Welfare State.’ Let us all wish the Yoga Rishi a roaring success in his noble mission and carry his good word to every nook and corner of the world.
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