Hyderabad, Aug 29 (Representative) Swami Sivananda, a 126-year-old yoga guru, known as the oldest Indian participated in the concluding day of three-day Sports Expo held at Hitex, Madhapur here on Sunday. He showed his Yoga skills by demonstrating a few asanas –Paschimottanasana, Sarvangasana, and Pavanamuktasana to name a few to the 1000-plus Yoga enthusiasts at a yoga program called Yoganamami. While talking to the media on the occasion, he said it was his maiden visit to the city. Hyderabadis are lovely people by heart and soul. I wish them to practice more Yoga. In reply to a question, he said his date of birth is August 8, 1896. He has given a brief personal life profile and a colour photocopy of his Aadhar Card. Revealing the secret behind his long life, he said, it is a simple life. Life without money, no donations, no desire, no oil, salt, milk, fruit, no day sleeping, and guru Omkarananda Goswami’s Kripa, all led to disease-free 126 years of life.
I started practising Yoga at the age of nine. Sarvangasana and Matsyasana rejuvenate life. Do those Yogas for youthfulness, he said. Sharing more details about his personal life he said I practice an ancient way of living. I eat early and sleep early and rise early. I rarely eat breakfast, if all I do, I eat boiled potatoes. I just have lunch and dinner, both in a very limited quantity. I eat two chapatis, boiled potato, puffed rice, and barley. porridge. I eat only two times.I eat less and in limited quantities. I don’t eat tasty food. I stay away from fast food, he shared.I don’t have any favourite food of my own, he added. A lot of people live to eat, but I eat to live. I travelled for 40 long years across six continents. Once immigration officials in the Middle East after seeing my date of birth on Passport were shocked to know my age, Padmasri Swami Sivananda revealed.
I met Prime Minister Modi. I like the yoga forms of Ramdev baba. I like him. What he is doing is good, he said. I met Subhas Chandra Bose whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians. He was my boyhood friend, Swami Sivananda shared. When asked about Yoga 100 years ago and now, since he has been practicing Yoga well over 100 years, he said, it is all the same. It is more popular now than in the past. It is more popular in the west than in the place where it is born. When asked why people are confused with so many different kinds of yoga, he said, whatever the name or nomenclature they may give, the Yoga fundamentals or the essential components of a yoga practice such as breathing, meditation, intention, asanas, and relaxation are the same.