SY flounders as Baba Ramdev's subtle system cures attracts 80 million worldwide

[Guest guest]

>

> Shri Mataji promised that She will establish Sahaja Yoga before She

> leaves. By that She meant the Great News of the Resurrection and

> Last Judgment, not the subtle system. So just keep your attention

> at all times on helping Her accomplish that. Everything else is

> distraction and if SYs are against/ignoring/bothering you, (it is)

> negativity. Thanks.

>

 

Scottish island to become ashram

Monday, 28 September 2009

By Catrin Nye

BBC Asian Network

 

Bought by two of his devotees from Glasgow for £2m, the tiny North Ayrshire

island of Little Cumbrae is being converted into an international yoga camp

after a blessing from India's most popular lifestyle guru Baba Ramdev, also

known as Swami Ji.

 

After comparing the west coast island to the Himalayas and the banks of the

Ganges, Baba Ramdev led a procession accompanied by bagpipes across the island,

trying not to trip over the fans who jostled to touch his feet.

 

In a traditional Hindu Hawan blessing the swami, surrounded by bright petals and

grains, chanted and poured ghee onto an indoor fire watched on by his followers

from around the world.

 

With that Baba Ramdev officially started the transformation of the previously

uninhabited 700 acres of rocky land into Peace Island.

 

'Cancer treating'

 

It will now be an international pranayama yoga base and teaching centre and " a

centre of great pilgrimage " .

 

Baba Ramdev's special brand of yoga has attracted a following of 80 million

worldwide.

 

He is praised for his charisma, his straight talking and the health benefits of

the strict vegetarian diet, stretching routines and the circular breathing

techniques that he promotes.

 

At the sell-out camps he holds around the world, crowds arrive hoping for cures

to diseases like multiple sclerosis and many will stand up to declare how he has

changed their lives.

 

Indeed on Little Cumbrae the stories poured in from those who say their life has

been changed by Swami Ji.

 

Sunita Podder, 49, the island's new owner, says before pranayama she was

overweight and taking 12 tablets a day.

 

Dhruv, who came from Mauritius for the occasion, says he was stressed on his

diet of alcohol and meat and says now nothing can trouble him

 

Eric Ross, from Bolton, is among a new breed of non-Asian British followers.

Eric has been doing the yoga for three months and says it is already helping his

diabetes.

 

Eric believes in the cancer-treating claims made for pranayama.

 

" I believe it 110%. It's been going on for thousands of years but it's new to

westernised people. I'm going to India so I can learn how to do it myself and

teach it. We can cure ourselves from within. "

 

Sam and Sunita Poddar have lived in Glasgow for 32 years after moving from

India, and made their fortune in care homes.

 

'Straight talker'

 

Mrs Poddar is dedicated to pranayama and says it changed her life.

 

Baba Ramdev faced plenty of questions about the claims his breathing exercises

can help sufferers of cancer and leukaemia.

 

In front of the flashing bulbs of a massive press pack and in a combination of

broken English and Hindi he answered them with the help of Mrs Poddar.

 

" We have cured hypertension, thyroid problems, asthma, arthritis, [and on

cancer] the cancer cells cannot survive in an oxygenated environment - this is a

scientific truth, " said Baba Ramdev.

 

" With Swami Ji's pranayama your actual intake of oxygen increases to 10 times.

So when you have more oxygen in your blood cells the cancer cell does not

thrive, " added Mrs Poddar.

 

" I was a bit sceptical before. But now because I have experienced the benefit, I

know. I had several ailments, I was overweight and on 12 tablets a day and

(after practising pranayama) they were all taken away. "

 

The swami wouldn't be drawn though on comments in the Indian press that he is

anti-homosexual.

 

Mrs Poddar translated his Hindi response to a question on whether they " needed

treatment " , saying it is not something Baba Ramdev would comment on outside

India.

 

The Hindu lifestyle guru is a straight talker - in his TV shows he has called

people who sell things like alcohol, tobacco and meat criminals and berates

indulgent parents for damaging their children.

 

The rest of the Poddar family told the BBC they want to share what they have

learned from the swami with the rest of Scotland.

 

Mrs Poddar, in fact, says she is on a mission to use Swami Ji's yoga as part of

a 10-year campaign to clean up the poor health of the nation.

 

And of course, the kids, and the grandkids have a new island to play on.

 

" My daughter is turning around and saying to everyone, 'my grandfather's bought

me Cinderella's castle and I'm the Cinderella who's going to live in it', " says

Deepak Poddar, 28.

 

" I think that sums it up. It's a dream that's come true and every time we come

here we fall more in love with the place. "

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8277970.stm