Ever heard of this lad called Swami Nigamanand who was fasting for 109 days for the closure of mining work on the banks of the river Ganga at Haridwar?
Some of you might have, most really haven’t. At least the ones for whom the blog is intended have hardly heard of this spirited young Indian who died fighting for a real cause.
Well another name crops up with the very mention of swami. How can I even forget the most famous of them all – Baba Ramdev!
And in this case most of you must have seen his saffron clad torso hogging all the air space on National television for a five star hunger-strike against black money and corruption in the country some time back. And if the numerous air-coolers, fancy carpets and decorations had enough to justify the five stars attached to the fast, the Baba’s arrival in his fancy private jet blew wind out of his claims of our politicians not adhering to austerity and indulging in all kinds of under the table stuff. If today, a known face and a mass leader (with reach no less to that of a politician) of the stature of Ramdev decides to fly in a private jet and then talk of corruption eating into the plates of the hungry, then I must take the trouble of pointing it out that a mere travelling by train instead of his private jet (which costs in millions) would save him 1000% costs and if that money donated to the nation’s wealth reserve, would be enough to feed a poverty stricken village with basic food items for nearly a month if not more. It’s not just his lifestyle and his empire worth billions; let’s talk about what he preaches: The Ramdev-form of Yoga. It made him a cult icon and the butt of all jokes at the same time, his form of yoga that is. He claimed to be harnessing the hidden powers of yoga that was discovered by the saints of our land hundreds of years ago. There are hundreds who crowd his yoga sessions and thousands who sit glued to their television every time he twitches a stomach muscle and dances like a man with ants in his pants. They feel that it cures them of all diseases and rightfully so, it’s true that so many people have actually benefitted from following Ramdev but then does the Yoga guru actually practice what he preaches?
What’s with all this yoga business and immaculate health status when a certain Nigamanand (a non-commercial, more traditional guru) could survive without food for 109 days and Mr. Ramdev gave up on his fast with a whimper, that too in just 9 days when he had promised of a long haul initially. Did the health of supposedly the healthiest man in the country fail? Or was it just eye wash from Day One?
It’s the curious case of preachers one may say. They seldom practise what they preach and in most cases get away with it. But it just exposes the shades of the hypocrite hidden within their character. Why just Ramdev? Let’s talk about any random person for that matter.
Mr. Vijay Mallya preaches for support to his Green Movement. He makes his IPL team wear green and gold in support for the environment and then the very next moment flies around his jet and runs an Airlines business whose functionality depends on the burning of fuel. What happened Mr.Mallya? Is the fuel of Kingfisher Airlines also eco-friendly now?
Shah Rukh Khan declares in joy, his unending love for the icon of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly. Even goes to the extent of dedicating a victory to Kolkata’s prodigal son. But sadly enough all this drama comes after treating Ganguly like garbage during the IPL auctions and post that phase. Does it remind me of hypocrisy again?
All flag bearers of the society indulge in some form of hypocrisy or the other. Some openly, some not so openly. It’s the curious case of preachers, they seem to be the wisest men around when it comes to suggesting and issuing directions to others, when they are required to follow their directed paths, all they get are weak knees.
There might be one preacher hidden within you as well. Try and remember the last time you said something or asked someone to do something you would never have managed to do had you been in that person’s shoes. Trying to be the pathfinder is perfectly find, trying to lead is also fine, but leading by example is the difficult bit. Doing what you advocate is as difficult as what is being advocated. Human beings err in this department repeatedly, yet never decide to learn from their past mistakes.
If what differentiated animals from human beings were emotions, then the will to do what one sermonizes would be something that would differentiate humans from just beings.
well nowadz ppl are double minded, you see a preacher and a businessman and even a social worker in the same human being...... ramdev baba has shown quite contradicting signs of his own motion against removing poverty from India but what we can't avoid is the stature of this man.
ReplyDeletelets say there is a stage high above the reach of normal man, and a gong is placed parallel to that of the statue a the same height. the work u need to do is simple, hit the gong so that they hear you.
so there are only 4 ways you can do that
1) you create a stature big enough to reach that gong, and the way to so that is corrupt yourself..... and the perfect example is the above one, no one knew abt what was the name, yeah swami nigamanand coz he couldnt reach the gong, whereas baba ramdev had didnt require any wrk, and u can consider those ac's and jets as a security of not falling and crack opening his head.....
2)way is that you keep trying to hit that gong for 50 years coz till that time u will have enough popularity amongst media personals that they will take time to come to interview you, like anna hazare, i neva heard of that name before but when i google it, tada, there he was in his kurta, topi and gandhi glasses with his name in golden alphabets amongst the greatest social activist....... and i never had heard of him(shame on me i'll say)
3) way you bring in a bunch of hot chicks inside the parliament so that the minister would hit the gong to make sure that they arent dreaming..