I kinda agree but when he sucks in his phepde (dear gawd.. sometimes I amaze myself at my knowledge of hindi) it is unnatural. And his two sidekicks give me the creeps. Also, maybe my dislike stems from my dad insisting everyday on the phone that I do bhastrika and prandayam. boo.

Some of the links are broken.

Here is an another great link about the discrimination in Middle East. http://mezba.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-do-you-want-to-return.html

lingus lingus… that’s mean! In my last visit to India I saw his TV show. The man is definitely charismatic, extremely well-read, and very telegenic. He leads yoga sessions every morning and they need stadiums to manage the crowds that show up. dont know about his pharmacy – but everything i heard him say made sense – heck anyone who hears him would admit he is talking sense – i also saw a show called people’s court or something like that and he was asked to defend himself against the charges on tv – and he made a very good argument – i am as leery of indian godmen – but this guy is talking sense in respect to the environment, personal health, lifestyle management – and in a language that is very very accessible – so – even if the charges around his pharmacy are true – i would still say the value he is bringing to india (yes… he has universal appeal from chennai to delhi) is immeasurable
On a personal note, I find it galling that there are athletes and celebrities who hawk smokes and pop and chips … and it was refreshing to see this one person stating the obvious and in such passionate terms. Anyhow,… just wantedto put it out there.

Personally I get more of a kick out of Baba Ramdev who refers to Coke/Pepsi as toilet saf karne wala pani

Oh sheet, that is so funny. He’s the dude with the pharmacy that supposedly makes ayurvedic meds out of animal products and never pays his employees. Baba Baba much be stupid rich to be able to wash his toilets with pop.

Personally I get more of a kick out of Baba Ramdev who refers to Coke/Pepsi as toilet saf karne wala pani. There you go. I have just opened the Pandora’s box to hindu spirituality/charities/cultism/dhakosla. It would be interesting to see a piece on all the Babas and Gurus that are around.

PS: Please do not take me to be flippant about hindu spirituality… I tend to mock things I am ignorant about.

The Swadhyay organization is in serious crisis in India where it is centered in Gujurat and Maharashtra. My grandparents were really into it at one point and used to take me to meetings when I was a child. My parents freaked out about this because they had some very different views on the org and the massive trusts they had built up in India by recieving a percentage of every member’s material worth. My personal experience with the Dubai branch was great, albeit a little exclusionary (not too many non-gujus about). However, a few of my family members in Ahmedabad have had their generous donations burned by Swadhyay politics. Hence my conditioned skepticism of associating Swadhyay donations with charity.

Rumors of extortion, exaggerated claims, undeclared income, and god complexes surrounded Pandurang Shashtri’s death, his adopted daughter tried to claim all donations of cash and land as her own as she was appointed Swadhyay leader but I think this caused a huge divide among the Swadhyay kendras in India.

Anyway, I tried to look up the Dubai Swadhyay’s activities but got nothing. Nor could I find anything regarding programs to help workers. I bet they exist but people are probably just too scared to be open and online about it. Also, UK-based group Mafiwasta is also out there petitioning for the UAE to allow collective bargaining and free association for workers.

Badmash, I was in Calgary in ’92 so I missed them riots!