Baba Ramdev

Some Lesser Known Facts About Baba Ramdev

• Does Baba Ramdev smoke?: No

• Does Baba Ramdev drink alcohol?: No

• In childhood, he remained silent most of the time. He was not obstinate and always remained content.

• He suffered a paralytic attack in his childhood due to the adverse effect of a medical incident that seriously affected the left side of his body, leaving him paralyzed. He credits yoga for his miraculous recovery from it.

• According to his parents, once upon a time, some saints came to his village and they recited the messages of Saint Paramhansa. Since then, he decided to be a saint.

• In a TV reality show, Ramdev disclosed that he used to study by second-hand books. He always stood 1st in the class. He used to keep books clean and the next year, he sold all the books with more price than the market price.

• When he was 6 years old, he fell off the roof while playing with his sister. He injured his head and bleeding occurred for long. He was almost dead, however, after medication, he recovered soon.

• When Ramdev turned 7, he faced another life-threatening incident while playing with his friends in a pond. he began to drown in that pond. Upon hearing the commotion of children, a villager saved him.

• In childhood, he was overweight. Everyone used to tease him. When he was 8 years old, he got boils on his skin and faced difficulty while walking, then he started practising yoga.

• Once upon a time, when he was in school, somebody accused him of stealing oil. Ramdev’s father beat him up without knowing the truth.

• A teacher of Ramdev used to smoke in his class due to which Ramdev got teased. At that time, he could not make that teacher quit smoking but later, when he became a hermit, he used to tell that anecdote to other people while delivering speeches on tobacco and alcohol. One day, a letter came to him on which it was written that his teacher has quit smoking now.

• Ramdev attended school till 8th standard, after which he joined a gurukul where he learnt Sanskrit and Yoga.

• He was the student of Acharya Baldev Ji in Gurukul Kalwa and learned yoga from Guru Karanvir, a member of Arya Samaj.

• He met Acharya Balkrishna in the 1990s, at Tripura Yoga Ashram, Kankhal, Haridwar. Later, they both went together to study in the Himalayas, where Ramdev focused on yoga and Balakrishna on Ayurveda.

  

• After becoming a ‘Sanyasi’ (Hermit), Swami Shankar Dev Ji changed Ramdev’s name from Ramkishen to Ramdev. Thus, he was called Baba or Swami Ramdev.

• Baba Ji has done a deep study of Hindu scriptures and even taught them in different gurukuls in Haridwar.

• In 1996, he established ‘Divya Yog Mandir Trust’ along with Acharya Karamveer.

• In 2003, he started featuring on Aastha TV’s morning yoga slot.

• The Pranayama programs he teaches consists of 7 key breathing exercises (in sequence): Bhastrika Pranayam, Kapal Bhati Pranayam, Bahaya Pranayam, Anulom Vilom Pranayama, Bhramri Pranayam, Udgeeth Pranayam, and Pranab Dwani.

• He considers Ram Prasad Bismil and Subash Chandra Bose as his inspirations.

• In 2006, he established “Patanjali Yogpeeth” in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, which is considered as the world’s biggest centre for Ayurveda and Yoga, with a capacity of around 6000 people.

  

• The name of his business enterprise was taken from the name of ‘Maharishi Patanjali,’ who is considered the father of yoga.

  

• He does not eat grains. He only eats boiled vegetables, fruits and cow milk.

• Baba Ji is a workaholic as he wakes up at 3 ‘o’ clock in the morning and works around 18 to 20 hours a day. He starts his day by having Amla Juice (Gooseberry) because he thinks that Amla is a top immunity booster among Ayurveda medicines.

• He has been honoured with Doctorate degrees from 4 universities across India. He was bestowed upon honorary doctorate by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

• He does not possess any stake in Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd., instead, Acharya Balkrishna holds a 94% stake in Patanjali Ayurved, but Balkrishna doesn’t take any salary. Rest 8% is given to Sarwan and Sunita Poddar, a Scotland-based NRI as they gave Ramdev and Balkrishna, the first loan to start the business. Ramdev has also acquired an Island in Scotland named Little Cumbrae.

• Ramdev’s brother Ram Bharat, his brother-in-law, Jasdev Shastri, Swami Muktanand, a disciple of Swami Shankar Dev, are the people who form the core of Ramdev’s management.

• He proposed the health ministry of India that sex education must be replaced with yoga education to fight AIDS.

• He wears a wooden footwears and sleeps on the floor.

• His daily two-hour session in the morning has been the most-watched show in India since 2003, taking the attention of an average of 26 million viewers, beating news programs, movies and reality shows.

• He has taught yoga to many celebrities including, Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty and others. He has also addressed Muslim clerics at their seminary in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh.

  

• Ramdev has inspired many people across India and abroad. One of them is Yogi Haider, a Muslim Yogi of Pakistan who teaches yoga in Pakistan and called “Baba Ramdev of Pakistan.”

  

• The 14th Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi also admires Baba Ramdev. They often meet each other in programs.

  

• His very close friend, Acharya Balkrishna owns 94% shares of Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd. and his net worth is around $5.1 billion. ^[12]Forbes

• He likes to speak about Indian Politics, Black Money, Indian History, Social and Economic Issues of India, etc. He protested against the Indian National Congress many times and also sat on a protest with Anna Hazare in his fight to compel the govt. of India to launch Jan Lokpal Bill in 2011.

  

• On 30 January 2024, a wax statue of Baba Ramdev was unveiled by Madame Tussauds New York at an event in Delhi.