Yogariṣhi Swami Ramdevji was born to Smt. Gulab Devi and Shri Ram Niwas in a village of Haryana. He had his early education in a school in his village. At the age of 14, he was admitted to the Gurukul at Kalwa (near Jind, Haryana). There under the blessed tutelage of Ācārya Shri Baldevji, he studied Sanskrit and Yoga and earned a postgraduate (Ācārya) degree with a specialization in Sanskrit Vyākaraṇa, Yoga, Darśana, Vedas and Upaniṣads. He thoroughly studied Satyārtha Prakāśa, Ṛgvedādibhāṣyabhūmikā etc. Along-side the magnetism of Maharṣi. Patañjali as an exponent of Yoga, Sanskrit Grammar and Āyurveda continued to exert its influence on him. He was also inspired by the life and writings of Maharṣi Dayanand.
Quite early in his life, he had his goals cut out for him. He chose the path of celibacy and asceticism. After a stint as a teacher of Yoga, Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī and Patañjali’s Mahabhāṣya at Gurukuls, he set out on his journey to the Gangotri caves of lofty Himalayas, away from the distractions of mundane activities. Through deep meditation, ascetic discipline and penance, he was able to develop a clear vision of the work to be done by him:
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Propagation of yoga and Āyurveda.
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Reforming the social, political and economic system of India.
Luckily, he met with Ācārya Balkrishna, a kindred soul and a schoolmate, who was out there on a similar quest. They came together to launch this stupendous task from scratch.
Swamiji took upon himself the onerous responsibility of demystifying and popularizing Patañjali’s Yoga; Ācāryaji devoted himself to the task of restoring people’s faith in the efficacy of āyurvedic system of medicine. Swamiji’s focus was to make Indians, as well as the whole world, adopt yoga and Āyurveda as their lifestyle. His approach to treating ailments and disorders is pragmatic, undogmatic and non-sectarian. All people regardless of religion, caste and creed, have the same anatomy and physiology. Therefore, they can all benefit from yoga and ayurvedic therapy. He has explained in detail the benefits accruing from yoga in his two popular Hindi books on the subject:
1. Yoga Sādhanā evam Yoga Chikitsā Rahasya
2. Prāṇāyāma Rahasya.
In his yoga camps, attended by thousands of participants from all parts of the country, he emphasizes on performing eight Prāṇāyāmas (1.bhastrikā 2. kapālabhāti, 3. bāhya/ agnisāra, 4. ujjāyī, 5. anulomaviloma, 6. bhrāmarī, 7. udgītha, 8. raṇava), some sūkṣma (light) vyāyāmas; and some specific āsanas for various ailments, as also some simple home remedies and āyurvedic medicines. Within a short period, the results of yoga and āuyrvedic therapy have not only been encouraging but also astounding. People have taken to yoga in a big way; they are doing it under the guidance of yoga teachers trained and certified by Swamiji’s Patañjali Yogpeeth, and watching and following it on various Indian Television channels, like AASTHA, ZEETV, STAR, SAHARA etc. People are learning yoga from the CDs, DVDs, audio-video cassettes prepared by the yogpeeth. Swamiji has tried to explain the Yogasūtras of Patañjali in simple Hindi in his bookYogadarśana.
To give concrete shape to his dreams, Swamiji founded Divya Yog Mandir (Trust) in 1995 at Kankhal, Hardwar, Uttarakhand, India. It was followed by meditation Centre at Gangotri in the Himalayas; Brahmakalpa Chikitsalaya; Divya Pharmacy; Divya Prakashan; Divya Yog Sadhana; Patañjali Yogpeeth (Trust) in Delhi in 2005; Patañjali Yogpeeth, Hardwar; Mahashaya Hiralal Arsh Gurukul, Kishangarh Ghaseda, Mahendragarh, Haryana; Yog Gram and recently Bharat Swabhiman (Trust)in Delhi.
While yoga will take care of physical, mental and spiritual health, the degradation in the social, political and economic system of the country will be salvaged only through the patriotic zeal, fearlessness and strong character, of which he is a living example. Recently he has launched the Bharat Swabhiman Movement which encompasses all the ground realities of the Indian social, political and economic scene. He has given a clarion call to people to come forward and save the country and democracy. He wants to see an addiction-free, vegetarian, corruption-free India, proud of its swadeshi products.
While his mind may be soaring in the ethereal spheres of spiritualism, his feet are firmly planted on earth. He is very much alive to the mundane concerns such as treatment/ enrichment of the soil, cow breeding/cow protection, cleaning the Ganga etc.
For his epoch-making work, various honours/ honorary doctorates by universities have been conferred on him in India and abroad. On the invitation of Secretary-General of U.N.O., Swamiji has led the stand-up programme to pass a resolution against poverty eradication from the whole world, at United Nation Organisation’s head-quarter in New York, on 15 October 2006.