Ramdeo Baba: Wonderful Marketer of Yoga

 (This hub is published on 
  May 19, 2008.)

Swami Ramdeo or Baba Ramdeo has been established as a magical person in India. Perhaps he is the most popular celebrity of the country nowadays. People are mad about him. He has motivated Indian people for Yoga. The whole media has taken him hand on hand. His camps are full. Millions of people are following him. No one in recent past make people so crazy.

He is a Yoga teacher, as known in general, but he is a very good marketing person too. He has got an idea, a wonderful idea of marketing Yoga, the ancient treasure of India. I admire his capability of marketing very much. I appreciate his efforts to bring the Yoga into the center of attraction of everyone. He knows the pulse of general mass. People are suffering from mental and physical problems. The modern life style and present economic crisis and financial problem only enhanced it. Junk food, easy going life style, lack of physical exercise etc are contributing to physical diseases like heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes, indigestion, gastric problems, acidity, mesothelmia and cancer. This life style also leads to mental problems such as stress, tension and restlessness. People are so busy for their livelihood rather lifestyle that they actually forget the life. They, when tired, go to release their tension and stress at places of amusement and entertainment. Alas! All in vain. They do not find any solution to their stress and anxiety.

(Update On 12 August 2009)

In an unexpected move, Baba Ramdeo has opposed Adi Shankaracharya. Adi Shankaracharya is known as an extremely respected saint in whole Hindu community. He had been the founder of Adwaitvaad branch of Vedanta in Hindu Philosophy. Hindus take his name with respect even after two thousand years.

There are four Maths (Shrines) in four sides of India. Puri in East, Dwarika in west, Shringeri in North and Kanchi in South in the name of Shankaracharya. The present saints are also called Shankaracharyas and they are regarded as one of the highest authorities in Hindu religion.

Adi Shankaracharya established a doctrine (Brahma Satya Jaganmithya) that became land mark in Indian philosophy. Baba Ramdeo has recently opposed this doctrine and told thatthe statement of Adi Shankaracharya is not true. It is worth noted that Adi Shankaracharya was a great Yoga Guru too. There is a famous story about his miracle (Parakaya Pravesh) through Yoga.

There is a hue and cry about statement of Ramdeo baba. Large number of Hindu saints and people at large have opposed Ramdeo's statement. Ramdeo Baba is not suppose to oppose Adi Shankaracharya, according to them. Some people also speaking that Baba Ramdeo is speaking like this out of his ego.

Indian Yoga has become very popular in western countries. Western people started witnessing mental and psychological problems long before the Indians because of their lifestyle. They adopted Yoga to get peace of mind. But in India itself yoga was not very popular even in the recent past.

Swami Ramdeo has realised the situation very well. He understood it much better than any one else. He took the opportunity to encash it. He does not go to the finer details of the Yoga, that India is renowned for. He has just made it t popular. He started teaching Yoga and arranged camps where large number of people have joined it. He educated the mass in yoga. He introduced common people to it. Initially he taught free in his camps, as all good marketing persons or companies do. As camps become popular, he has started charging for it. Does it not look like perfect strategy of marketing?

Electronic media, that is growing in a fast pace in India, has played a vital role to popularise him. He used the electronoic media to market his idea. The Media have also needed a person like him to popularise their channels. This has been proven as very good combination that worked for both.

He teaches very simple Yoga, simple Pranayama (Rechaka, Puraka and Kumbhaka), Asana, Bhastrika etc. Those are very easy to practice even by a layman. These are the preliminary processes, known even to the primary learners of Yoga. Yoga is known in India for centuries for preparing grounds to meditation thus salvation. Yoga teachers never thought of popularising it in a mass scale. They had been practicing it to achieve higher levels of Samadhi and Meditation.

Swami Ramdeo is a tough man. He has not hesitated or given up when challenged by the medical professionals and scientists.The mass backed him. So the politicians also backed him. Normally politicians do not like to loose a vote bank. All these combinations worked for him. He is able to find his fortune.

Ramdeo Baba has done a wonderful job by awakening mass to Yoga. He has contributed a lot to revive this ancient therapy. Some people have got rid of their mental stresses and agonies. He has minted money seling his services that people needed. He is also trying to revive Ayurveda, the herbal therapy of India. He has served people but it is now high time to evaluate the whole process. Researches should be done on the effect of so called Yoga taught.

There can be reparcations.There are different medicines for different patients (though same disease). One can not apply same medicine to every patient. It can be applied in personal supervision of a medical practitioner only. Similarly one can not practice same yogasana as another. It can only be applied in the supervision of a specialist. As mass medication is not allowed, so as to yoga.

But who listens? People are following him blindly. If some reaction or reparcation comes, normally no body blames him. If some one blames, no one listens.

It is advisable that the scientists, the universities and the intellectual groups at large should come forward to conduct comparative study of yoga in the light of Patanjala Yogashastra (original ancient  Indian text about yoga) and modern science. It is in the best interest of everyone to conduct an unbiased study, that would unfold both pros and cons of the feature.

To conclude, we have all rights to enjoy the fruits of his teachings. It will save our interest if we become aware and conscious of the harms. We should not be mesmerised with his teachings. We should not be a blind follower but an enlightened one.