“If you sweat this much in the morning, you will never get old.”
Guess that guru! Nope it’s not Bikram. It is none other than India’s foremost Yoga Hero, Baba Ramdev. Not for nothing, but we kinda knew this guy was a big deal (we’ve mentioned his yogevangelism, cleansing of the gays, curing cancer, and plans to take over the world, starting with Scotland!) The man is on a divine mission of Vedic proportions to bring the Yoga back and reclaim “Indianness”. “Yoga can rescue India,” says Ramdev and he’s gone straight into human-neti-pot mode in order to “cleanse” the country, with sights now set on sweeping the snot of political corruption.
Via NY Times:
“We clean up our bodies,” he cried. “Then we will clean up our democracy!”
Swami Ramdev plans to do for the body politic what he has already done to the country’s creaky physiques: whip it into shape. He announced last month that he would found a political party that would field candidates for each of the 543 parliamentary seats in India’s next general election in 2014.
Don’t think he could pull it off? Watch him. The Times calls the Swamster “a yogic fusion of Richard Simmons, Dr. Oz and Oprah Winfrey, irrepressible and bursting with Vedic wisdom.” Yowsers. (pretty funny since we dubbed him the next Dr. Phil in ’08). Now, we don’t pretend to be experts on the Indian political innerworkings, but could this be good?
Via Reuters:
“He also stresses upon the idea of nationalism and believes that there should be ‘Indianness’ in everything; in clothing, in language and in sentiment.
Claiming that he has a follower in almost every household, Ramdev says he has already earned the love and respect of people that a prime minister or president of a country gets.
Devotees at his yoga camp in Haridwar, a small but important holy city in north India, with an expression of awe admitted they will not only vote for him but also devote their entire life in his service.”
It’s true, Ramdev has millions of followers thanks to his 24/7 yoga channel and virtual omnipresence. Kinda makes Bikram’s Mc-franchise, foray into politics and run for the Olympics seem like pretty small fries. For the sake of comparison, in the scale of Yoga Don-ability you’re looking at someone who has mucho more command (religious, no less) than a dude with megaton balls and a herd of Rolls Royces.
Earlier…Swami Ramdev Founds Scotland ‘Peace Island’, Challenges Bikram for Title of Yoga ‘Don’
Yogevangelist Swami Ramdev Protests Homosexuality, Claims it a ‘Defect’ ‘Cured’ with Yoga
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I’d say the outspoken homophobia makes him more Pat Robertson than Richard Simmons. And I can’t help wondering if the “Indianness” is the equivalent of Sarah Palin’s “real Americans”–meaning, in the Indian context, “not-Muslim.”