Yoga Vs Placebo

Placebo: Placebo effect is the term applied by medical science to the therapeutical and healing effects of inert medicines and/or ritualistic or faith healing manipulations.[1] [2]. When referring to medicines, placebo is a preparation which is pharmacologically inert but which may have a therapeutical effect based solely on the power of suggestion. It may be administered in any of the ways in which pharmaceutical products are administered.[3] Regarding procedures drawing on the placebo effect, psychic surgery and faith healing are two possible examples. - from Wikipedia Yoga: Yoga (Sanskrit: योग Yoga, IPA: [joːgə]) is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. As a general term in Hinduism[1] it has been defined as referring to "technologies or disciplines of asceticism and meditation which are thought to lead to spiritual experience and profound understanding or insight into the nature of existence."[2] Yoga is also intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the other Indian religions. - from Wikipedia When Baba Ramdev burst on the TV screens three years ago, like many others, I was really sceptical of him and his modus operandi. Before Baba Ramdev took upon himself to sell Yoga to millions of Indians, my first thoughts were that he is a rogue and I ignored all the news relating to him. Gradually, he became so pervasive that it was impossible to overlook the obvious fact - people were beginning to become really health conscious, and it looked like that Yoga, as a practise, is beginning to get the respect it deserves. To begin with, everyone knows what Yoga can do to your health. However, for westerners, yoga is nothing more than physical exercise - which is perfectly fine and reasonable. Only thing wrong in western view point is that whenever they think about yoga or other oriental quasi-spiritual practises they tend to associate these with spiritual miracle; without really understanding the basic concept. For us, Indians, Yoga is a legacy of our glorious past. We have conveniently chosen to consign Yoga to books. Yoga is something sages practise. It is only after Ramdev's ascent as a modern age visionary that we have realised obvious benefits of Yoga; which is great!

So what did Ramdev did which others couldn't?

Iyengar took Yoga to west and still has thousands if not millions of followers in India. But, even he could not perpetuate Yoga to the extent Ramdev has done. Of course, Iyengar didn't have ASTHA network to help him to take his distinct version of Yoga to the masses. I believe, Astha channel is the single most important factor in the awareness that was created in masses about Baba's message. His singular sales pitch can be described as "Yoga is the Panacea for all ills". And people have lapped it up with open arms.

Some of Baba's claims are extraordinary - 5 sets of Parananyama (breathing exercises) can help cure most diseases including cancer and liver cirrhosis. Media, especially vernacular media, has embraced Ramdeva's sales pitch and has accorded Ramdev a celebrity status to Baba, which is unprecedented in India history. I can compare Baba's Ascent only to that of Swami Vivekananda, one of India's greatest luminaries of last 500 centuries. In last fifty years, no single leader, political or religious, has been able to leave such a great impact as Ramdeva.

Business magazines have dubbed Baba Ramdev as the greatest Salesman of modern India. It is ironical that Yoga is supposed to lead towards spiritual Nirvana, and not towards material gains. But that's the way it is. By Baba's own admission, his Dibyajyoti trust, which owns Patanjali Vidyapith, is valued closed to 63,123,343.01 USD. Baba Ramdev is aware of the questions that are being raised at the staggering rate at which his mission is growing. He quips in a vocabulary typical of marketing honchos, "My product is superior. World has come to accept the benefits of You, that is the only reason people come to my workshops."

Despite all sorts of criticism - mixing traces human and animal bones and other irragularities found by various committees in some drugs sampled from medicines being supplied by the Vidyapeeth - Baba Ramdev's carries on like a crusader. His zeal and fervour alone can be awe-inspiring. He brushes aside all allegations laid against him that anyone who wants to test the veracity of his claim should come and practise Yoga and then form any conclusions.

I am myself undecided about the 'unrealistic claims' made by Baba and other practitioners for one simple reason - I do not practise Yoga. Western Scientist reason that Yoga and other oriental practices induce placebo and that is the reason many people experience symptoms of well-being. Baba suspects that western drug manufacturers have their own agenda when they run down the benefits of Yoga. I would give credit to Yoga, even if it is placebo, it is acceptable to me.

Truth is Baba's campaign has single-handedly forced a generation of gluttons and lzay-bones into re-thinking and questioning their lifestyles. His tireless work and genuine enterprises has brough new found respectability to Yoga. He talks in different languages with different people. When he addresses the nation at large, he never forgets to remin the people that India used to be a great culture; treasure of our traditional knowledge is the key to the future of the world. His discourses in Favor of Yoga on national and International forums are nothing short of brilliant. Yoga doesn't cost money. It's focus is on being healthy in body, soul and mind.

To the modern world he may appear as conservative or a quack, but his effort to promote a healthy lifestyle, based on the principles of Patanjali, follows a very simple logic. A healthy boy and mind leads to release os stress and creates a lot of positive energy, which in turn affects the way human organs behave. Considering the humungous resources being dedicated to clinical research for development of newer drugs, if Yoga has even a fraction of positive impact on people's health, then we must make every effort to propagate Yoga as a unique lifestyle.