Why One Powerful Yogi Has Turned to Politics

It’s not often that you come across a well-known yogi, who has a flourishing yoga empire turning to politics.

I suppose most established yogis practice and teach their students with the premise that life has no limits. So perhaps it’s not so surprising to find that Swami Ramdev, who is India’s most influential gurus having reintroduced yoga to India’s masses wants to dip his toe into his latest passion: politics.

Swami Ramdev says he aims to clean up India’s democracy in ways similar to the ways we clean up our bodies. Last month he announced that he would form a political party that would field candidates for each of the 543 parliamentary seats in India’s next general election in 2014.

In many ways Swami Ramdev has the same values as India’s earliest leaders basing his current message on self-reliance, national pride and Indian values. But he’s also a product of the modern India with his far-reaching vast yoga empire with thousands of followers on the television, the internet and from his organisation the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust.

Swami Ramdev has recently been seen on the international yoga circuit leading large yoga classes to huge crowds in Nepal, Japan and the USA.

We’ve yet to see if Swami Ramdev’s political message will find a wider audience. India’s political system because it seems to nurture those who are Indian from birth. We’ve not yet seen how a mere handful of film stars, business tycoons or religious leaders have tested the waters in politics, and none have met with any real success.

Still only time will tell and exciting times too to see if a spiritual guru can transform himself into a political leader.

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