He received his primary education in his hometown and studied till 8th standard after that he joined gurukul to study Sanskrit and yoga. He used to study by second-hand books and always stood 1st in the class. He would keep books so clean that he could sell them at more price than market price.
In his childhood, he suffered a paralytic attack that affected the left side of his body. He credits yoga for the miraculous recovery from it. While living in Kalwa Gurukul in Jind, Haryana, he started giving free yoga classes to the villagers. Later, he moved to Haridwar, Uttarakhand. In , he laid the foundation of Divya Yog Mandir Trust. In , Aastha TV started featuring him in its morning yoga slot. Gradually, he began to be popular. Many celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty also taught yoga from him.
Over a long period of time, he became the face of Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd. Baba Ramdev going out of Ramlila Ground. Since Ramdev had taken a vow of asceticism, the lion's share went to Balkrishna. Fresh-faced and chatty in his signature all-white outfit of a sarong and tunic, Balkrishna expounds on controversies surrounding the business and its brand ambassador. The first big one came in Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India accused Divya Pharmacy, a business unit of the charitable trust, of paying workers poorly and of using dubious materials in its medicines.
Others suspected it was merely repackaging products made by established firms. The company denied the allegations. Divya had just set up a new lab, and in response to the media frenzy that followed the charges, Balkrishna recalls, the company showed its modern operation on camera.
Demand jumped. In Patanjali Ayurved was registered and within a year started manufacturing products at Haridwar such as gooseberry juice, shampoos, soaps and toothpaste in plants aided by state tax breaks given to manufacturers. A second major row took place in when a Congress Party-led coalition was in power and the current Indian government's Bharatiya Janata Party was in opposition.
This was the summer of discontent when, after a wave of political scandals, activists from across India joined together to protest corruption. Ramdev was among them though Balkrishna exaggerates Ramdev's role as being central. One night police surrounded Ramdev and his supporters. To evade arrest, he swapped his saffron robe for a woman's traditional outfit but was caught on camera, resulting in a rare moment of public ridicule.
The company says there was a plot to assassinate him and his attempted getaway was to avoid that. At the time, Ramdev swore to find a way to defeat the Congress Party and says he was instrumental in nominating the current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Others say Modi's Hindu nationalist allies have given Ramdev a critical boost. Soon after the midnight police bust, scores of charges were filed against Patanjali and its management, with allegations ranging from money laundering to tax evasion.
Balkrishna was imprisoned for a month on charges of carrying a false passport--the government said he was a Nepali passing himself off as an Indian. Some of these cases, including the tax evasion and the false passport, are ongoing.
The company denies the charges. Although some charges were dropped after the Modi government swept into power in , Patanjali and its management had a trying time. Balkrishna recalls a phase when, out of fear that the government might plant drugs in the factories, he hired sniffer dogs to scout not only the premises but also employees' lunch boxes to ensure no one was attempting sabotage. Today Balkrishna tells these anecdotes with a triumphant laugh.
We grew, thanks to these politicians. The feeling was that had we been wrong, we'd have been finished, but because we're still standing that shows we weren't wrong and our products were good. The company employs nearly 20, people and sells products in 11, of its own stores.
It recently tied up with one of the largest retailers in the country--entrepreneur Kishore Biyani's Big Bazaar. But this can give rise to complications, warns Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors, consumer products and retail consultants.
There's no way that you can grow at this pace and have your supply chain grow with you. Later, in a reply to the health minister, Ramdev said that he was taking back his words. Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishan.
Baba Ramdev established Patanjali Yogpeeth. Shilpa Shetty doing yoga with Baba Ramdev. Yogi Haider, Baba Ramdev of Pakistan. Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.
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