Aim for a happy, healthy, and transparent India, Swami Ramdev.

[Guest guest]

Swami Ramdev's six day Yoga Camp held at

Janata Maidan, Bhubaneswar.

From 01.01.2007 to 08.01.2007.

Report by Jagannath Chatterjee.

To be distributed freely, unchanged and in its entirety, for the benefit of

mankind.

The State of Orissa in India was fortunate to have Swami Ramdev at its midst

from the first of January, 2007 to the 8th, thanks to the initiative taken by

the Orissa Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) and the many trained

yoga teachers and their associations who are engaged in the admirable task of

spreading Swamiji's brand of yoga and pranayama in the State. It was an

excellent way to start the new year.

There was a near stampede when the Swami alighted at the Biju Pattnaik

Airport. Shouts of " Swami Ramdev ki Jai " rent the air as people jostled to

garland the Swami and shower him with flower petals. The ladies sounded the

" huluhuli " a chant used to welcome heroes. The Swami, taken aback by such a huge

and enthusiastic welcome could only manage to smile and waive at the crowd as

camera flashes lit the air around him.

His caravan made its way round to the Governor's House as he was accorded the

status of a State Guest. He had tea with the Governor and both of them were soon

engaged in a conversation. The Hon'ble Governor H E Rameshwar Thakur, a

septuagenerian of great learning, took very keen interest in the Swami and

discussed both yoga and ayurveda with him.

The Swami then proceeded to Hotel Swosti Plaza where he met the journalists

and apprised them about his work and future plans. He was a hit here too as the

journalists left their seats to jostle for a close view and clicked away

merrily. The TV cameras rolled to capture his frank smile and winking left eye,

the remanant of a paralysis he had suffered when young and which was cured by

yoga. It was then that he took a vow to spread the merits of yoga to help the

suffering population.

The next day the Swami visited Puri to have a darshan of Lord Jagannath. Here

too a huge crowd greeted him with utmost enthusiasm. Gajapati Maharaj, the

ex-officio Maharaja of Puri held a long discussion with him before the Swamy had

another tete a tete with the local press.

The next day began the six day long Yoga Camp at the spacious Janata Maidan.

Having a capacity of around 10,000 people it hosted 36,000 in the morning and

evening sessions. In total over a lakh people thronged to the camp. The

ayurvedic OPD centre catered to over seven thousand patients each day and is

still administering to their needs as people continue to throng the centre.

Already a permanent ayurvedic centre has been arranged at Bhubaneswar bowing

down to pressure from the public. It will start operating from 15th January'

2007.

The whole programme was telecast on Aastha channel. The Swami said more than

10 crore people saw his entire programme everyday, besides the half hour yoga

capsules broadcast by many a national channel. His programmes are also beamed to

the UK and the USA.

" I have brought to you a package of seven simple breathing exercises, " Swami

Ramdev announced as he began his Camp, " these are enough to tackle all

diseases " . " The healthy can practise for two hours daily while the sick will

have to put in more efforts " . He urged the people to be moderate in their

attempts and not over exert. He asked them to reduce medication as their health

improved and not to stop medications all of a sudden. He also prescribed some

simple stretching exercises to exercise the whole body.

" Do not go in for medication, " was his constant refrain. " Whether it is

allopathy, ayurveda or homeopathy, medicines should be the last resort if you

wish for permanent relief. You cannot achieve good health without some physical

effort on your part. Even those taking medicines should continue with the

exercises. We are all being constantly bombarded with pollutants; without

detoxification by way of deep breathing you cannot stay healthy " .

" It is breath that keeps you alive. Nobody has died while breathing. Life and

death is in God's hands but let us not hasten our end by neglecting the breath.

The breathing exercises provide oxygen to the cells, rejuvenate them, and takes

away toxic waste. It regulates, digestion, assimilation and elimination. My

brothers, take deep breaths, follow my advice of healthy food, high thoughts and

a simple life to be happy and lead a productive, patriotic, altruistic life.

Poverty is not the absence of wealth, it is the absence of humane qualities,

lack of manly abilities, and the absence of the desire to serve humanity. "

" These breathing exercises will clean you at all levels. Disease will fall off

and also your bad habits and passions. Good thoughts will replace your

destructive tendencies. Patriotism and social skills will improve. Your ability

to work hard will improve. All sloth will go, your body and minds will feel

light, you will be filled with energy and become model citizen. But my brothers

you have to practise what I tell you. It will not do if you just sing my paens

and crowd around me for blessings. Baba Ramdev does not cure anyone, pranayam

does. I am not here to preach, my yoga is not oratorial, it is practical. Do the

yoga and feel the benefits. "

What are these seven breathing exercises? They are;

1. Bhastrika : Take deep breath and release. Do it effortlessly, fill up your

lungs and force

the entire breath out. Do it with a rhythm. Imagine that

all the energy of the

Cosmos is entering into you. Feel that all your poisons

are being expelled. Do

it for 5 minutes if you are relatively healthy. Repeat

for another five minutes

if you are ailing, but gradually as you get accustomed.

Bhastrika is very

important for all kinds of skin problems, however serious

and however

strange. Not only leucoderma but also people suffering

discoloration due

to burns have benefitted from sincerely practising this

pranayama everyday.

2. Kapalbhati: Take in air into your stomach and push it out with a jerk. Only

your stomach

should move and not your body. Your outbreath should

cause the adams

apple to move as it pushes through the throat. Normally

one should do this

for fifteen minutes, five minutes each three times.

People with cancers and

other chronic diseases should do this twice a day

totalling 30 minutes.

Swamiji places a great importance on this pranayam which

he says will

help diabetes, regenerate insulin producing beta cells

and also help the

organs in the stomach, the lungs and the heart. It will

open blocked arteries

in the heart.

3. Bahya Pranayam: Take a deep breath and release. Completely push the stomach

in

as you force the breath out and hold. Move you head

downwards till

the chin is fully in touch with the upper portion of the

torso. Hold this

position for 15 seconds and then move the head up as you

breathe in. This

is to be repeated five to 11 times.

4. Agnisar: Take a deep breath, pull the stomach in as you breathe out.

Now hold the

breathe as you move the stomach in and out in a rhythmic

fashion for 15

seconds. Then breathe in again. Repeat this three to five

times. This helps

a lot with the digestive and eliminative process.

5. Anulom Bilom: Another very important pranayam. Sit straight, close the

right nostril with

your thumb. Place the forefinger on the forehead, then

breathe in deeply

with the left nostril. Now close the left nostril with

the third and fourth fingers

joined together and breathe out through the right

nostril. Take a deep breath

again through the right nostril, close it with the thumb,

release the left nostril

and breathe out. This is one cycle. Repeat this cycle

continuously for five

minutes. In total do it for fifteen minutes five minutes

at a time three times.

This pranayam recharges the entire body, opens all closed

apperatures,

sets right the entire flow of energy within the body and

activates the chakras.

6. Bhramari: Close the ears with your thumbs, with the second third and

fourth fingers

close the eyes, rest the first finger on the forehead,

keep the mouth closed.

Now take a deep breath. Release the breath through the

nose while making

a loud humming noise with the throat. The noise should

reverbate through the

entire body. Repeat the exercise five to 11 times. You

will quite enjoy this

pranayam which will relax you and activate all the glands

of the head.

7. Udgeeth: This is also a very enjoyable pranayam. Take a deep breath and

release the

breath through the mouth making the sound " Om " . Repeat

this five to 11

times. This puts you in touch with the divine element

within you.

" Finish the pranayam exercises with a short contemplative meditation. Thank

your Guru and God. Request the divine for a healthy, productive life. Then raise

your hands, rub the palms to generate some heat and then place your palms on the

face as slightly massage your face. This is the package of the seven pranayams. "

People with vata dosha should do pranayam very carefully and should never

overexert themselves.

" Do this daily. Take care to see you do not overexert yourself in any manner.

Do it according to capacity but follow the minimum routine to get the benefits.

These pranayams are a talisman that will help you and besides ensuring a disease

free life will lead you towards the ultimate goal of life, samadhi or merger

with the divine. While you do your aerobic exercises with loud western music do

you pranayams interspersed with thoughts of the divine and prayers on your

lips. "

The Swami also suggested some simple stretching exercises and proposed some

yoga asanas, namely, vajrasana, makarasana, bhungasana, naukasana,

utthanpadasana, jogging standing at one place etc, to exercise the spine and

keep it flexible and also to reduce flab. The pranayams and the exercises, noted

the reporter, did not result in any tiredness or weariness rather they left one

fresh and energised. The Swami also pointed this out as a measure to know

whether one was doing them correctly. He also taught and demonostrated the Surya

Namaskar.

He said people from three years to 90 years all could do the pranayam.

Children should perform the Bhastrika, Bhramari and Udgeeth for two minutes, the

Kapalbhati and Anulom Bilom for five minutes. Bahya Pranayam and Agnisar also

for two minutes. He showed many intricate exercises for the children to perform.

He urged all children to master yoga as their bodies were supple and they

could easily master the science. He also asked them to respect parents and

elders, stay away from bad habits, burgers, pizzas, noodles and colas. He urged

all to become vegetarians. " Children, honour the simple lintels, roti and

vegetable dishes your parents serve at home. Do your studies instead of watching

dirty programmes on TV. Go to temples instead of parties. "

For further information the Swami started the entire exercise routine with

three rounds of Omkar, reciting the Gayatri mantra, the Mahamrityunjay mantra,

the prayers Shaha na bhabatu, Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, and the Vedic shanti path.

He finished with a bhajan.

He gave many tips to lead a healthy life. One should start ones day before

sunrise and wake up from sleep with the name of the Lord on ones lips. Before

stepping on the ground one should pray to the Mother Earth. Then one should take

two to three glasses of luke warm water. One should fill ones mouth with cold

water and throw cold water on the face and eyes. Then one should evacuate the

bowels and bladder.

" Life starts with pranayama, the child is made to cry and perform the first

pranayam, bhastrika, as it takes a deep breath and starts crying. This ensures

blood flow to the brain as well as oxygen. The nervous system and the brain

depends on oxygen for optimum performance. It is pranayam that ensures adequate

oxygen supply. "

" Within nine days of practising pranayama the biochemistry of the body begins

to change. In nine months of sincere practice the genetic element changes for

the better. This is similar to the way a child gets a shape in nine days and the

complete body in nine months. Pranayam gives a completely transformed body mind

complex. It gives a person a new life. "

" The ghrihastha or the householder is the greatest. It is the householder who

provides for the needs of all the other Ashramas. The householder should live a

life of dharma so that he is never far away from God's grace. There is no need

to run after money. For the householder who intends and strives to live an

honest and pious life all the money he needs will seek him out. God will use him

as an instrument to serve the planet. "

The Swamy urged the people to educate themselves about the health benefits of

various vegetables, herbs and spices. That way one could have the benefits of

ayurveda and make it an integral part of ones life. The people should not hanker

after neither the doctor nor medicines, but by learning yoga, pranayama, and

the preventive aspects of ayurveda one should take charge of ones own health and

life. It is only under extraordinary circumstances that one should go to a

doctor and take medicines of any kind.

" The body has within it the capability of healing itself. Learn meditation,

accupressure, and such other natural methods so that you yourself can be your

own guide. The system has made you dependant and unsure of yourself. The

perverted medical system has made you a slave to further its own interests.

Break free and be independant once again. "

" The system wants you to be a swechchachari, a debauch, so that it can have

you in its clutches. If you can control your food, thoughts and passions, you

will realise your own worth and the truth will be revealed to you. Whatever you

do, how you live your life, how you behave towards others, determines your

destiny. All this is in your hands, nobody can do this for you. Wake up from

your sloth and sleep and make your own destiny. Do not be afraid of troubles for

if you live a good, devoted life, you will get the strength to overcome all

obstacles, the world will be at your feet. If all Indians take up pranayama in

earnest we will soon have a happy, healthy and transparent India. That is what I

am aiming for. "

" Take three tulsi leaves daily. Plant a tulsi shrub at your home. It will ward

off disease and also the evil eye. It will correct the vastu problems of your

home. Once a week take the juice of sweet gourd, this will keep away high blood

pressure, heart problems, acidity and cholesterol. Ensure that the gourd is not

bitter, that will have a negative effect on you. " He was not referring to bitter

gourd or karela but a type of gourd that is bitter.

" For problems of the heart take the bark of the Arjun tree with pudina and

pepper. Make tulsi, ginger, turmeric, pudina, jeera, sesame, sesame leaves and

pepper your friends. Amla, harada, haritaki, ashwagandha, tejapatra are

essential herbs. Take curd instead of milk. Dump tea and switch to herbal tea. "

" Ashwagandha, Shilajit, Triphala Churna, Chandraprabha Vati, Trikatu,

Panchkol, Brikakdosharapatha Kadha, are some medicines all should have some idea

about. If you acquire this knowledge the doctors will fade out of society. The

system has made the whole world a hospital. Fight it to regain control of your

health and wealth. "

" For the children a juice of gourd, carrot, and apples makes a wonderful

health drink. "

" I am researching on AIDS. I don't think it is a great problem. I have already

had successes in this area. I have raised CD4 counts in AIDS patients from 19 to

400. This year I will declare the cure for AIDS. Aloe Vera, Neem, Gehun ka

jwar, tulsi, a healthy lifestyle and pranayama with some simple exercises do

wonders for AIDS patients. These people have made a big business out of AIDS.

They want me to stay away. It seems they alone have the contract to talk about

AIDS. This is ridiculous. This is the real face of perverted medicine. And all

the while they do not even know what AIDS is, everybody is groping in the dark. "

" I am not afraid of anybody. I am disgusted at the way things are going on in

the health sector. I wish to make a change and God willing the changes will be

made. " In the press conference the Swami had already made his displeasure felt

by calling the health ministry the allopathic ministry, the Health Minister the

allopathic minister and the WHO the world allopathy organisation.

" It is the breath, the gift of God, that is the ultimate medicine. It is the

perfect nano medicine. It reaches all corners of the body and cures all

ailments. It is the ultimate detoxifier and also the ultimate regenerator as

with the breath comes prana, the vital force. This prana takes care of the body,

the mind, the emotions, the five elements and also the five bodies that make up

our presence in this world. It is a great force, a great teacher, a great guide.

One who has control over prana can control anything and everything. "

At the camp people narrated on camera how they had benefitted from pranayama

and helped control obesity, diabetes, nervous disorders, skin problems, various

forms of cancers, brain tumours, eye problems, urticaria, fibroma's, muscular

dystrophies etc.

People were in tears while narrating their woes and their experience with the

mainstream medicos who had carried out experiments on them and then turned them

away saying that they had a few days or months to live. They recounted how they

had then turned to the Swami's TV programmes, done the exercises on their own,

visited his Ashram at Haridwar for medicines and recovered. One old gentleman

revealed how he was paralysed from cancer and left to die but later recovered,

thanks to pranayama, and now is completely independant and has resumed driving

his motorcycle. A lady narrated how the doctors had removed many of her organs

one by one and now she depends upon pranayama for her active life.

The Swami also narrated how he had met patients with some very rare and

strange diseases and helped them with diet, changed lifestyle, yoga and

pranayama. " I don't do anything. It is pranayama that cures people. "

Many doctors also attended the Camp and disclosed how they and their families

had benefitted from his yoga package. The senior doctors blessed him and said

they were convinced he was doing the right thing. The juniors insisted the Swami

should not talk of cures and that his followers should not stop taking

medicines. One of them tried to argue with the Swamy in an attempt to expose his

limited knowledge of the human anatomy.

" It is only those who do not know about yoga who speak against its merits, "

countered Swami Ramdev, " but when they start practicing and derive benefits

they then start singing its praise. I do not blame anybody. People speak

according to what they are taught. The medical community should learn that

disease management is not the last thing they should aim for. Cures are possible

and they are happening. If something can be destroyed it can again be

regenerated. Our scriptures have spoken in depth about these things. "

On the last day the Hon'ble Governor of Orissa, H E Sri Rameswar Thakur

attended the Camp and narrated his own love for yoga and ayurveda. He showered

blessings on the Swami and praised his devotion to the cause as well as his

untiring efforts. He presented the Swami an intricate silver jewellery depicting

the images of Lord Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra. The Swami presented him

books and the figure Om in return.

" I will come back again in December. I will never forget the people of Orissa,

this holy soil ruled by Lord Jagannath. Similarly you will also remember this

Camp and this meeting with me. You are all very close to me. There are so many

who do not bother to come. They do not realise that I have taken the pain of

going to the nook and corner of this great country. Practise what I have said

and done. I will come again and see the improvement. I will build a huge base

here in Bhubaneswar in line with what I am doing in Haridwar, Patna and Ranchi. "

The crowd hung around unwilling to see the last of him. Cries of " Victory to

Swami Ramdev " rent the air. The Swami stopped them. " Do not say victory to Swami

Ramdev. Say Victory to Mother India. We all owe our life and experiences to this

Mother, " signed off the Swami.

The ladies again burst forth with their " huluhuli " as a mark of respect for

this great hero. As a mark of gratitude three Maruti Vans, a TV, speakers, a

public address system and a large TV screen was presented to the Swami by two

yoga associations of Bhubaneswar to help spread the message of yoga to rural

India.

Orissa and Swami Ramdev are now poised to realise the Swami's dream of a

happy, healthy and transparent India.

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Jagannath Chatterjee, jagchat01@.... If there are any errors in this

article they are entirely mine.

" We have allowed (the drugs) industry to subvert the rules of science. We have

watched quietly as governments and academics have colluded with industry to hide

information critical to our patients. We have remained silent as our medical

schools have churned out graduates who have no knowledge of the dilemmas and

scandals of medicine. We have allowed many of our medical journals to become

corrupted and timid, " - Dr Aubrey Blumsohn

---------------------------------

Everyone is raving about the all-new beta.