The humble life and times of yoga guru Baba Ramdev :Frugal life and fruitful habits

July 20 :Baba Ramdev, yoga teacher known for his work in Ayurveda, politics and agriculture.He has been instrumental in popularizing yoga and credited to have founded the Patanjali Group of Institutions. Recently he has been the on the cover page of India Today in a yoga pose with a story inside that describes how Baba Ramdev turned spirituality emerge as a economic , political, and cultural brand.

These are  details of his life from an interview by Mark Manuel at HuffPost in Mumbai ,10 years before the popularity of Patanjali Ayurveda when he cleverly used Aastha TV. The same year ,he was invited by Kofi Annan for a lecture on poverty alleviation at a United Nations conference.

Before the conference,Baba Ramdev chose to spend a week in Mumbai by conducting a six-day yoga camp at Bandra.

The journalist met him in a high rise residence of a benefactor at Pali Hill .The lady of the house talked about Baba Ramdev’s simple habits of sleeping on the floor.

His drinking habits dissuade him  from  having any tea or coffee the only food consumed by him are fruits and milk.

The benefactor chose to receive him extravagantly and the women in the house were waiting in various states of nightdress with cell phones out to take Baba Ramdev’s picture.

Even though Baba Ramdev’s flight  was late,as he finally arrived dressed in orange; a lithe and energetic man who showed no duress of the late hour or the delayed heartily headed towards the author

Ignoring the food laid out for him, he came straight for Mark and apologized for being late .Mark was aware of the rates that he charged for a session and wornders what Baba will ask him to pay for the interview.”I couldn’t make the plane fly faster,” Baba joked.He heartily laughs, throwing back his head, and running his fingers through his mangy flowing beard.

The jovial mood put Mark at ease as Baba humbly starts explaining about his work.He quips that he treats his yoga work like worship-which includes mostly pranayama breathing and less of physical exercise .

He talks about the way he works with yoga that he relies mostly on improving the systems in the body like nervous, digestive, reproductive, skeletal and muscular rather than the symptoms like aches,pains that aggravate in a disease or ailment.

To question whether the television as a teaching medium for yoga, is safe  ,Ramdev further goes onto say that there can be can be direct and indirect ways of gaining knowledge like the internet.

On being asked what he does while not teaching yoga,Baba Ramdev shrewdly answers that he hardly has  any free time and if he had some , that doesn’t include reading books, watching movies or listening to music.

He does however listen to religious and patriotic songs,while traveling in cars.Baba says that he can drive a car very fast and can sing despite not learning both of these.

Amid the thronging of devotees to dive at his feet for blessings,Baba turns back and says that he wants to deliver a message to India as a nation. He goes on to say that India,a superpower, because of its youth ,is  very strong and can achieve great heights.

He talks about the importance of introducing yoga education in schools and that spirituality in education is the need of the hour.

To the question ,”Do you possess anything else besides your knowledge of yoga?” Baba Ramdev answers with a wicked grin that has has nothing but four sets of clothes, a kettle to warm water, two sets of khadavs, and a clock to beaware of time.He does not however own a cellphone.Not sure that Mark was convinced he invites mark to check his bag.