Baba Ramdev was born on 11th January, 1971 to Gulab Devi and Ram Niwas, in Alipur village of Mahendragarh district in Haryana. He was named as Ramkrishna Yadav. He took formal school education up to 8th standard. After that he studied Indian scriptures and yoga and Sanskrit in various gurukuls. The prominent one was the Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidayalaya. Before that he joined Kalva gurukul in Jind district of Haryana and taught yoga to villagers. After going through a rare book written by Aurbindo Ghosh and translated by Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, he went into caves of Himalaya and practiced yoga and meditation and led an extremely disciplined and tough life.
It was in the year 1995 when he started Divya Yoga Mandir Trust with Acharya Karamveer and Acharya Balkrishna, he came into lime light. It is situated in Kankhal, Haridwar. He started featuring on various religious channels and had a long VIP list of his disciples. He had taught Yoga to various eminent personalities in India and abroad. Besides he also taught yoga at British Parliament. Over the time, he has become a global brand ambassador of yoga.
He also made his political presence felt by talking against black money holders. He has repeatedly emphasised over the matter. He asks to identify the main culprits who have deposited millions of rupees in foreign banks. Though, his demand is in favour of the national economy and general public but the steps explained by him are far more practicality to be implemented.
He also voiced his opinions against the bigger international fast food and cold drinks brands. He strongly asked his followers to stop consuming aerated soft drinks in particular. On the other hand, he advocated taking Indian drinks and home-made recipes. In a way, he advocates that this will improvise the self sufficient status of the nation. According to him, improvising the conditions of farmers and bringing back the black money will strengthen the economy of the nation.
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He had to face various controversies also. He was served a warning by Union Ministry of Health Affairs regarding his exaggerated claims of curing cancer and AIDS through yoga and meditation. He later clarified his position by saying that he was misquoted and claimed to improvise the quality of life of suffering patients rather than curing such medical ailments.
He started an agitation in Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on 4th June against the rising corruption in country. Initially government authorities tried to persuade him but later the agitation was curbed in the midnight hours. Baba Ramdev was taken from venue to his Patanjali Yogapeeth at Haridwar. Government action was condemned by a larger section of media and public.
In March 2005, he had to face an agitation from the employees of his trust citing labour law violation and use of animal products in medicines. The matter is yet to be resolved.
Baba Ramdev had set up a huge yoga empire under the name of Patanjali Yogapeeth in Haridwar in the year 2006. Since then it is one of the largest centre of research in yoga and Ayurvedic medicines in the country. Patanjali Yogapeeth has an overseas set up at a Scottish island which was donated by an Indian origin family presently residing in Scotland.
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Baba Ramdev have authored several books primarily written on yoga and Ayurveda. He claims to have no personal political ambitions but also emphasise that it is important to take a stand against various social ambiguities.