Ramdev clears air on Shankaracharya row

Yoga guru (teacher) Baba Ramdev ended the controversy over his statement on Adi (the first) Shankaracharya by garlanding the Hindu seer’s statue and apologising before local saints. SS Jaiswal reports.

Yoga guru (teacher) Baba Ramdev ended the controversy over his statement on Adi (the first) Shankaracharya by garlanding the Hindu seer’s statue and apologising before local saints on Thursday.

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The saints were so infuriated at Ramdev’s alleged comment, holding the Shankaracharya’s teachings responsible for India’s backwardness.

Clarifying his position before the representatives of 13 akharas (monasteries), office bearers of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) and several other saints’ organisations, Ram Dev said the controversy originated from a news report in a Hindi daily.

“I never said it... The report was based on a wrong understanding of my interpretation of the sage’s principle of Brahma satyam jaganmithya (Brahma alone is truth, and the world a falsehood),” Ramdev said.