More than 1000 followers of celebrity yoga master Swami Ramdev Ji arrived there yesterday to witness the celebrity guru bless his first retreat outside India.
Many had travelled from India, arriving on Cumbrae by inflatable boat, to see the man who reaches an estimated 20 million people a day through his TV routines.
He has caused controversy in his home country by judging homosexuality as “shameful and insulting”. Questions also surround his claims that he can cure those with cancer and Aids, and there is also disquiet about his supposed use of human bones in his herbal medicine collection.
But yesterday, in his orange robes and wooden sandals, Swami Ramdev Ji appeared in playful mood as the world’s press stalked him.
Halting for photographs, the guru lifted the orange robe that covered his otherwise naked body and began to roll his stomach. Next came the handstands and backward crabs, then the legs folded
and palms rose to the sky in meditation.
Swami Ramdev Ji was in Little Cumbrae thanks to two of his loyal supporters, husband and wife Sunita and Sar-wan Poddar from Glasgow.
Such is the effect that the guru’s teachings have had on the health of Mrs Poddar, 49, that she and her husband, 54, bought the island for £2m this summer so that the swami could establish his first retreat outside of India. It will be a five-star affair in terms of accommodation, but the yoga will be free.
The Poddars arrived in Glasgow 25 years ago, first settling in Barrhead. Through simple hard work they established a care-home business that now employs 400 staff and has a turnover of £7m.
But along the way, Mrs Poddar experienced problems with her blood pressure. Required to take 12 pills a day, she desperately sought an alternative to the conventional medicines.
It was then she turned to Yog, the ancient tradition of holistic healing followed by Swami Ramdev Ji.
She claims the mixture of herbal remedies and yoga cured her to the extent that she not only lost five stones in weight and became completely tablet-free, but gained ‘‘the inner strength and confidence to fulfil her desire to help others”.
This cathartic experience led the couple to throw their weight behind Swami Ramdev Ji’s Yog.
When the guru asked Mrs Poddar to look for an island suitable for a new centre, it was not long after that she first visited Little Cumbrae. “From the first step I knew it was right,” she said.
Mrs Poddar phoned her husband, who was in Canada at the time, begging him to let her buy it immediately. He refused at first, but eventually agreed to give it to his wife as a birthday gift.
The couple said yesterday they would build sites on the island for yoga teaching and prayer, but insisted they will respect the natural state of the land.
The retreat – which is being billed as a top class international destination – will have doctors trained in Ayurvedic medicine, which combines herbs, massage and yoga.
Up to 100 guests will be catered for and will receive instruction in yoga, detoxing treatments and laughter classes.
Mr Poddar, who studied at Strathclyde University, said: “The country has given me a lot of opportunities and this is my way of giving something back.
“We are not here to force this on anyone. We are just trying to promote a healthy lifestyle and we believe this place will become a pilgrimage for those who believe in what we are doing.”
The ambitions Mr and Mrs Poddar and Swami Ramdev Ji have for the island are nothing if not ambitious. The say that, initially, they would like everybody in Scotland to discover the health benefits of Yog, but ultimately they intend for all of the world’s 6.5 billion people to follow the grand yoga master’s examples.
One pilgrim – who flew from his home in India before getting a train from London to make the boat journey from Largs – described the effect of Swami Ramdev Ji in India. He is “just about as big as the Beatles,” he said.
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