Ramdev: Misleading miracles?

Allahabad, Dec. 25: A week before Kumbh mela, “yoga guru” Swami Ramdev’s posters stare from every wall along the riverbank. His aides, cellphones strung together and worn like garlands round the neck, flit busily to and from the Baba’s tent — the largest on the fair grounds.

But to the naga (naked) sadhus and mahants arriving from the akharas across the country, Ramdev is not so much a star but what they scornfully call an “item boy”.

And like the Centre, which has gagged Ramdev, they want him to stop claiming miracle cures on behalf of their spiritual discipline.

“Cure cancer through yoga? How can you do that? So many sadhus die of cancer... they couldn’t even help themselves,” scoffs mahant Dadhichi Giri in Sector 4 of the makeshift tent city, set up on the Ganga’s dry riverbed 7 km from the city.

Giri, from Ramdev’s home state of Haryana, drips sarcasm for the man “misleading people with his greedy campaign”.

Professional jealousy? Neither Giri nor Swami Omkaranand in sector 5 will have any of that.

“You can teach asanas but you can’t open ayurvedic shops and claim you can cure heart ailments,” Omkaranand says at the Geeta Mandir camp.

“See, the aim of yoga is spiritualism; but Ramdev is the least spiritual of yogis,” Giri says.

“I studied Vedanta in Varanasi, mastered yoga and spent years meditating in the Himalayas,” boasts the 46-year-old who has been a naga sadhu for the past two decades, wearing nothing but his flowing beard.

“I’m not sure if Ramdev can perform the guptakriyas (some of yoga’s most difficult acts, such as drinking through the nose) or any of the 84 most difficult asanas.”

He stands up on his toes, folds one leg and raises his folded hands up to demonstrate the lingasana. He then quickly manoeuvres his body into a Ganeshasana pose before finishing with the siddhasana in a meditative posture.

“I don’t perform these to earn my bread or massage my ego. This is a way of life with us. It’s good if it helps people, but it’s despicable to sell it.”

Naga Baba Shivraj Giri, from Goleswar Narmadeswar Mahadev Mandir Math in Madhya Pradesh, is the bitterest.

“There were great yoga masters in the past, too, but they didn’t put it on the market to earn a quick buck,” he says. “I challenge Ramdev to perform the lingasana before me.”

At Ramdev’s tent, where a group of sadhus are climbing into a swank car, Achyutanand Swami brushes off the criticism. “We don’t want certificates from anyone on the Baba’s gifts. Whatever we are doing is for the sake of public health.”

The swami denies Ramdev ever said yoga could cure cancer. Asked about the claim on his website, he says it must be the handiwork of an “over-enthusiastic” follower.