Bengaluru: Madhava Raju(72) is a former state government employee who worked with the Karnataka Silk Marketing Board. Maybe it could merely be his formal and inappropriate description of his interesting personality. He has been teaching yoga for free for the past 17 years to the residents of Hebbal Kempapura, Hebbal Coffee Board Layout, Hebbal Bhuvaneshwarinagar, Hebballa Dasarahalli, Mariyannapalya, and surrounding areas! He also owns the Patanjali Stores, near the Kempapura Jain Public School.
Took up yoga to improve health: These days, you have multiple yoga courses starting from Certificate, Diploma, Degree, Post-graduation, PhD, apart from any number of short-term and crash courses. But Madhava Raju did none of them. Instead, he got into yoga primarily to improve his own health, as he was challenged with many health-related issues. Earlier, he was in the habit of taking pills even for minor ailments. Once, he had a serious gastric problem, and it was at this stage that he thought of taking up yoga.
Siddha Samadhi Yoga Course: To begin with, Madhava Raju got trained at the Siddha Samadhi Yoga Centre, under the leadership of Rishi Prabhakar Guruji. After completing formal training, Madhava Raju also became a yoga teacher there. He started teaching yoga for free to the children of Hebbal Kempapura village, along with free yoga camps as well in surrounding villages.
Teacher training course under Baba Ramadev: Later, Madhava Raju did a yoga teacher training course at Haridwar, under the tutelage of Baba Ramadev. It was from 2009 onwards that he started the mission of teaching yoga for free, although he formally retired in 2014. Initially, he started the daily yoga classes at the Government Primary School of Hebbal Kempapura, and he did this for 10-11 years. Due to a paucity of space in the school and an increase in the number of participants, he requested the management of Sunrise School, which readily agreed to accommodate the same. He has been continuing free yoga courses in that school from 05.30 AM to 07.30 AM daily.
More than 1,000 people benefited! Thanks to Madhava Raju's permanent free yoga sessions, more than 1,000 people have benefited so far. These sessions have helped the participants to improve their health conditions, as they also keep giving their feedback after attending the classes continuously.
Doing it for my sake! When inquired about the rationale of doing the yoga classes for free, Madhava Raju submits humbly: "The participants' feedback, informing about improving health gives more satisfaction to me. So, beyond that, I am doing this service as it is my sadhana. Actually, I am doing this for my own sake, and along with that I am also taking interested people along with me so that they are also mutually benefited".
Yoga not as a practice to make money: When pointed out about the present situation of many people teaching yoga to make money, Madhava Raju preferred to differ. He asserted: "I have never ever thought about that, because I had my own job as a government employee. I started as an Accounts Assistant, became a Junior Accounts Officer, and was later an Accounts Officer, and after completing my service, I retired in 2014".
Baba Ramdev's motivation to teach for free: "While undergoing a yoga training course at Baba Ramdev Ashram, he called upon the future trainers to spread this knowledge free of cost. In fact, it was his motivation to people like me to conduct free yoga classes, contrary to many others charging for teaching yoga", told Madhava Raju.
A secret knowledge! Madhava Raju, recalling his days with the Siddha Samadhi Yoga(SSY) organisation, revealed that "When I was doing my SSY class, I had to pay money for the same. However, teaching the yogic exercises was considered to be something like a top secret, and whenever we thought of teaching the same to others, we had to take prior permission".
Teaching for free Guru Dakshina! "But it was a complete turnaround with Baba Ramdev. He never talked about any restrictions, forget putting conditions. His theory was candid and clear: Spread the message of yoga to the general public free of cost. Whenever he was asked about Guru Dakshina, Baba Ramdev retorted by claiming: Teach at least 100 people free of cost, and that is my Guru Dakshina. He also took an oath from all of us in this regard", recalled Madhava Raju.
10 times more than what Baba Ramdev advocated: When brought to his notice that he had done more than 10 times what Baba Ramdev had advocated, Madhava Raju just smiled. He also informed that hundreds of people suffering from BP, diabetes, overweight, arthritis, and gastric problems had recovered from the ailments.
At times, only two or three people! Madhava Raju also explained the peculiar situations when there would be hardly two or three people for the free classes! But all such odds never deterred him from continuing ahead with his sadhana. He exclaims: "I keep teaching to whoever keeps coming, and irrespective of the numbers, I continue to do so, as this exercise is a sadhana for me, more than anything else. Now more than 30 people are coming regularly to the classes".
More than 25 trained to teach: To a query on the number of people he has trained to teach, Madhava Raju replied: "Thanks to the word-of-mouth publicity on the advantages of doing yoga, many people keep coming. So far, more than 25 students have been trained to become yoga teachers, but not all of them are into teaching. But 10 people are already conducting classes elsewhere, and whether I am there or not, the classes keep continuing unabated. Preparing a teacher is a more satisfying feeling for me, as many people will benefit in due course".
Teaching yoga for free in Germany: Madhava Raju became elated while describing the accomplishments of his former students. He informed: "One of my lady students is running classes at Kengeri, while another lady is doing so in Germany.
Yoga has an answer for every health problem: When his attention was drawn to treatment for BP and diabetes, Madhava Raju was categorical in his stance: "Yoga has an answer for every health issue, provided you keep practising it continuously. Yoga should become part and parcel of your life, so that everything ailing can be attended to and cured as well. Not just BP and diabetes; even psychosomatic diseases can also be cured".
Yoga, pranayama, and satsang: Madhava Raju signed off by saying: "We just don't end up doing yoga and pranayama; we also keep doing satsangs regularly, which will be helpful for overall development of your personality, physical, and mental".
-Manohar Yadavatti.
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