Baba Ramdev

18th May, 2008

Recently God fulfilled my wish. An important one. Out of overwhelming thankfulness, I told him, now I grant you one wish. Any one thing, that you want me to do, I will do it. Promise, promise I will. He told me to start doing yoga.

Well, alright. I shall begin today. And so I did. I put Baba Ramdev's DVD, which I had purchased in Toronto for $5, into the player. It had a menu, several messages warning against piracy, an intro montage with graphics of a silhoutte yogi and English language option. Very neat. Very fancy. Its only a matter of time before Indian yogis will have their own podcasts for a satsang on the move, I observed and played the DVD.

He sat on the river bank with a cordless lapel mike attached to his daushala and demonstrated such simple breathing techniques - that are supposed to cure paralysis, heart blockages, deformities, uterus related issues, depression, High BP - I thought the man coudn't be serious.

But as I watched through the course of the DVD, I got more and more drawn to his confidence in the yogic asanas. He also claimed that millions of people were benefitting from the asanas.

I thought of a certain Mr. Kakaji, the person who started Bikanerwala Sweets in Delhi. He lives across our house in Delhi and every time he saw any one of us kids, he prompted to do pranayam.

My sister got her hair colored burgundy. We were walking in the park and as he walked behind us, he said, "Eww, what is wrong with you, your hair is so dull and colorless. You must do pranayam, 5 minutes daily." And he began to demonstrate how.

Then, before marriage we used to make fun of his obsession with yoga, but watching Ramdev now, sitting miles away from India, I think of Kakaji fondly. Where else but in India do people care so much about others?

So if Baba Ramdev's breathing techniques - actually not his, but written in ancient Indian shastras - are applied, I could get a glowing skin, a sharp and focused mind, I will be able to rid myself of all that is bad and imbibe from the universe all that is pure and Godly.

I tried it yesterday and if not anything else, felt great. Today, I am again a bit late in rising up, but hell, who cares. Air is still available, my nose can still breathe and my mind can still do what it had promised to God.

Love,

Radhika