Ramdev

Baba Ramdev  pronunciation  (born as Ramkrishna Yadav in Haryana) is a yoga teacher known for his contributions in Ayurveda, politics and agriculture. He is best known for popularising yoga among Indians through his mass yoga camps. He founded the Patanjali Group of Institutions. Ramdev has more recently become a vocal advocate on Indian political issues.

Early life

Ramdev was born as ramu yadav to Ram Yadav and Gulabo Yadav in thakurwadi city of Mahendergarh district, Haryana, India in 1965. He studied Indian scripture, Yoga and Sanskrit in various gurukuls. He became a sanyasi and adopted the name Baba Ramdev. While living in Kalwa Gurukul in Jind district, Haryana, he offered free yoga training to villagers for some time. He then moved to Haridwar in Uttarakhand and spent several years studying ancient Indian scriptures at Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya.

Career

He founded the Divya Yog Mandir Trust in 1995. In 2003, Aastha TV began featuring him in its morning yoga slot. There he proved to be telegenic and gained a large following. A large number of people and many celebrities in India and abroad have attended his yoga camps. He has taught yoga to many actors including Amitabh Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty. He became the first non-Muslim to publicly address Muslim clerics at their seminary in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh and has taught yoga in countries including Britain, the USA and Japan. In 2006, he was invited by Kofi Annan to deliver a lecture on poverty alleviation in a United Nations conference.Yogi Haider considered the face of yoga in Pakistan, says that his ambition is to emulate Ramdev Baba and popularise yoga amongst Pakistanis.