|
SWAMI Ramdev has made a mark where few Yogis have
dared to venture --- in the Guinness Book of Records. In terms of popularity
and participatory exuberance his yoga camps match big political the
diminutive yogi claims to have initiated publicly is legion indeed.
So what does it augur for brand India and its soft power? Is the world about
to be taken over by Ramdev groupies initiated on or by Doordarshan? Imagine
everybody huffing and puffing in unison to blow away opponents! Sounds more
like a parody of a big brotherly plot than a script for global salvation.
More in triguing is the question whether what Baba is doing conforms to the
classical yogic canon.
Interestingly, the canon also warns about charlatans in yogic
disguise out to hoodwink the janata with trickery camouflaged as magical
siddhis . Such a warning also means the dilution or takeover of the yoga
brand is hardly a new phenomenon.
At one level Baba Ramdev would seem to be doing what his
illustrious predecessor, Swami Swatmarama, did in the middle ages,
namely, bring ' authentic' yoga to the uninitiated sons of the soil. For,
according to the third verse of swatmarama's classic, "The compassionate
author held up the Lamp of Hathayoga ( the text, Hathayoga- pradipika) for
those ingnorant of Raja Yoga, wandering about in the darkness of too many
opinions." But in the very next breath, the great Yogi issues a warning
against the spotlight of publicity: "Yoga should be kept top secret (param
goppya) by the yogi who wants success," he exhorts. "It becomes potent when
concealed and impotent when revealed (nirvirya tuprakashita)."
Exposure is absolutely deathly for yoga, Swatmarama insists.
socialising destroys it. Solitude strengthens it. Similarly, the Gheranda-
Samhita warns the wannabe yogi against practicing in the human forest
(jana-aaranya) as also in the real forest because both mark the yogi
vulnerable.
It's possible to argue that what Baba offers on TV is a subspecies
of physical culture, one that is eminently suitable for practice on BSF
grounds rather than the lofty practice of mind-body control (nirodha).
This can only be pursued in an ekanta mathika (lonely hermitage)
that yogic masters insist upon. Dressing, talking, acting like a yogi is no
big deal, they add. Being one is. Admission is extremely restricted, for the
attrition rate is a killer. |
