Param Pujya Yogrishi Swami Ramdev Ji Maharaj

Param Pujya Yogrishi Swami Ramdev Ji Maharaj was born to Smt. Gulab Devi and Shri Ram Niwas in a village of Haryana. He had his early education in a school in his village. At the age of 14, he was admitted to the Gurukul at Kalwa (near Jind, Haryana). There under the blessed tutelage of Acharya Shri Baldevji, he studied Sanskrit and Yoga and earned a postgraduate (Acharya) degree with a specialization in Sanskrit Vyakarana, Yoga, Darsana, Vedas and Upanisads. He thoroughly studied Satyartha Prakasa, Rigvedadibhashyabhumika etc. Along-side the magnetism of Maharsi. Patanjali as an exponent of Yoga, Sanskrit Grammar and Ayurveda continued to exert its influence on him. He was also inspired by the life and writings of Maharshi Dayanand.

Quite early in his life he had his goals cut out for him, so he chose the path of celibacy and asceticism. After doing a stint of teaching Yoga, Paṇini’s Aṣṭadhyayi and Patanjali’s Mahabhaṣya at Gurukuls, he set out on his journey to the Gangotri caves of lofty Himalayas, away from the distractions of mundane activities through deep meditation and ascetic discipline and penance he was able to develop a clear vision of the work to be done by him:

  1. 1. Propagation of yoga and Ayurveda.
  2. 2. Reforming the social, political and economic system of India.

Luckily he met with Acharya Balkrishna Ji, a kindred soul and a schoolmate, who was out there on a similar quest. They came together to launch upon this stupendous task from scratch.

Swamiji took upon himself the onerous responsibility of demystifying and popularizing Patanjali’s Yoga, while Acharya ji devoted himself to the task of restoring people’s faith in the efficacy of ayurvedic system of medicine. Swamiji’s main focus is on making the people of India as well as of the whole world adopts yoga and Ayurveda as their lifestyle. His approach to treating ailments and disorders in pragmatic, undogmatic and non-sectarian. All persons whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, have the same anatomy and physiology. Therefore they can all benefit from yoga and auyrvedic therapy. He has explained in detail the benefits accruing from yoga in his two popular hindi books on the subject:

  1. Yoga Sadhana evam Yoga Chikitsa Rahasya
  2. Pranayama Rahasya

In his yoga camps, attended by thousands of participants from all parts of the country, he emphasizes on doing eight Pranayamas

  1. Bhastrika
  2. Kapalabhati
  3. Bahya / Agnisar
  4. Ujjayi
  5. Anulomaviloma
  6. Bhramari
  7. Udgitha
  8. Pranava

Some uksma(light) vyayamas; and some specific asanas for various ailments, as also some simple home remedies and ayurvedic medicines. Within a short span of time the results of yoga and auyrvedic therapy have not only been encouraging but also astounding. People have taken to yoga in a big way; they are doing it under the guidance of yoga teachers trained and certified by Swamiji’s Patanjali Yogpeeth, and watching and following it on various Indian TV channels, like AASTHA, ZEETV, STAR, SAHARA etc. People are learning yoga from the CDs, DVDs, audio-video cassettes prepared by the yogpeeth, Swamiji has tried to explain the Yogasutras of Patanjali in simple Hindi in his book Yogadarsana.

To give concrete shape to his dreams, Swamiji founded Divya Yog Mandir (Trust) in 1995 at Kankhal, Hardwar, Uttarakhand, India. It was followed by meditation Centre at Gangotri in the Himalayas; Brahmakalpa Chikitsalaya; Divya Pharmacy; Divya Prakashan; Divya Yog Sadhana; Patanjali Yogpeeth (Trust) in Delhi in 2005; Patanjali Yogpeeth, Hardwar; Mahashaya Hiralal Arsh Gurukul, Kishangarh Ghaseda, Mahendragarh, Haryana; Yog Gram and recently Bharat Swabhiman (Trust) in Delhi.

While yoga will take care of physical, mental and spiritual health, the downslide, in social, political and economic system of the country will be salvaged only through the patriotic zeal, fearlessness and strong character, of which he himself is a living example. Recently he has launched Bharat Swabhiman Movement which encompasses all the ground realities of the Indian social, political and economic scene. He has given a clarion call to the people to come forward and save the country and the democracy. He wants to see an addiction-free, vegetarian, corruption-free India, proud of its swadeshi products.

While his mind may be soaring in the ethereal spheres of spiritualism, but his feet are firmly planted on earth where he is very much alive to the mundane concerns such as treatment/ enrichment of soil, cow breeding/cow protection, cleaning the Ganga etc.

For his epoch-making work, various honours/ honorary doctorates by universities have been conferred on him in India and abroad. On the invitation of Secretary-General of U.N.O., Swamiji has led the stand-up programme to pass a resolution against poverty eradication from the whole world, at United Nation Organisation’s head-quarter in New York, on 15 October 2006.