BHARATIYA YOG TEACHER WHO MESMERIZED THE U.S.
Dr. Jai Maharaj
Indo-Asian News Service
The Hindustan Times
Washington, September 2, 2003 - He is flamboyant and
controversial, but Kolkata native Bikram Choudhury can
easily be credited as a pioneer of Yog in the U.S.
He began teaching Yog in California in the early 1970s.
And today the proliferation of his Bikram studios around
the country is an example of Yog's booming popularity.
Today Yog is not only recognised as a means for total
fitness but also as a modern practice that can bring
peace to body, mind and spirit.
Nationally, it's been estimated that nearly 18 million
people in the U.S. take some kind of Yog class, up from
seven million in 1998, according to Yog Journal
magazine.
Choudhury seems to make no bones about the fact that his
aggressive marketing and promotion have helped him to
live in fancy houses and drive expensive cars.
"I live like a king," he told the Portland Oregonian, a
news magazine published from Oregon, earlier this year.
"Why not? What's wrong with that?"
But, according to some, Choudhury's aggressive business
approach is pulling Yog away from its spiritual roots,
toward mass marketing.
Articles in magazines such as Yog Journal have
questioned whether Choudhury is more a showman than
teacher, more a salesman than guru.
But the real issue isn't Choudhury himself, says Patricia
Townsend, a teacher at a Yog Centre in Amherst,
Massachusetts, who has high praise for the abilities of
Yog instructors who practice his method.
As Yog has gone increasingly mainstream, it inevitably
has taken on the less savoury aspects of American life,
she said.
As the back and forth about the politics of Yog goes on,
Anemone Guenther and Karen O'Neil of Noho Yog Centre,
Massachusetts, say they are simply trying to offer their
students the type of Yog they have both come to love,
according to a report in the Gazzettenet.com, a website
on health news. Guenther gave up an office job for Yog.
Both of them now own and operate a Yog studio in
Greenfield, Massachusetts.
With their Yog mats in hand and bottles of water at the
ready, each person pays $12 to spend 90 minutes doing a
series of 26 Yog postures - and sweating profusely.
It's a scene being duplicated in several hundred studios
in the United States now offering Bikram Yog. Of those,
13 are in Massachusetts, with three more coming.
Choudhury is the founder of the worldwide California-
based Yog College of India.
Born in 1946, he began Yog at the age of four with
Bishnu Ghosh, brother of Paramahansa Yogananda, founder
of the Self Realisation Fellowship in Los Angeles.
He practised Yog 4 to 6 hours a day at Ghosh's College
of Physical Education in Kolkata and at the age of 13 he
won the National India Yog contest. He was undefeated
for three years.
At 17, an injury to his knee during a weight-lifting
accident brought the prediction from leading European
doctors that he would never walk again. Not accepting
their pronouncement, he had himself carried back to
Ghosh's school.
Six months later, his knee had totally recovered.
Choudhury was asked by Ghosh to start several Yog
schools in India. There Choudhury came into his own. The
schools were so successful that at Ghosh's request he
travelled to Japan and opened two more.
He has since brought his curative methods of Yog therapy
around the world. His wife Rajashree also teaches with
him.
In Bikram Yog, the teacher doesn't do the postures, but
talks the class through the sequence of breathing
exercises and 24 positions.
Choudhury, who has copyrighted his method, claims it is
the way they are put together in a choreographed sequence
that separates his classes from others.
The Choudhurys are planning a huge event - a Yog Expo -
at the Los Angeles Convention Centre later this month to
celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of their guru
Bishnu Ghosh.
Read the complete news at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com
News Plus
http://www.mantra.com/newsplus
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Panchaang for 7 Bhadrapad 5104, Tuesday, September 2, 2003:
Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Dakshinaya Jivana Ritau
Singh Mase Shukl Pakshe Mangal Vasara Yuktayam
Anuradha Nakshatr Vaidhruti Yog
Vanij-Vishti Karan Saptami-Ashtami Yam Tithau
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kasha
check out the faq before you spend your $$$$$$ on the rube trap
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Naila
Remember rajnesh?
This one will be kicked out soon.
Naila
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" <use...@mantra.com> wrote in message
news:Bharat-231...@news.mantra.com...
Dr. Jai Maharaj
"Naila" <Naila...@hotmail.com> posted:
> As I recall the last yogi that mesmerized USA was deported from USA.
> Remember rajnesh?
>
> This one will be kicked out soon.
Why do you say that Rajneesh was a Yogi?
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
> Dr. Jai Maharaj wrote in message
Dr. Jai Maharaj
kasha <steph...@sympatico.ca> posted:
> [...]
A previous name and address of the con artist "Kasha":
"Stefan Anderson" <shu...@sympatico.ca>
Current address:
"kasha" <steph...@sympatico.ca>
Posts from:
HSE-MTL-ppp69489.qc.sympatico.ca
HSE-MTL-ppp69210.qc.sympatico.ca
End of advisory
Jai Maharaj
Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Reginald Perrin
> check out the faq before you spend your $$$$$$ on the rube trap
>
> http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
And also:
From: Paulo Joe Jingy <pauloj...@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,alt.fan.jai-maharaj,misc.writing.screenplays,soc.culture.usa,alt.religion.hindu
Subject: You're a liar, Jay/Jai.
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 06:58:58 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.192.226.4
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" wrote:
> In article <dc401971.02102...@posting.google.com>,
> tsor...@attbi.com (Tsorovan) posted:
> > . . . Actually, the corporation which you claim to own . . .
>
> You have proved yourself a liar, anonymous coward/
> I have not claimed to own a corporation, as you falsely claim.
Explain this, liar
From a Hawaii state web site:
-----
=======================================
NAME: MANTRA CORPORATION
STATUS: A
CONSENT:
SIM-NAME:
DATE-INC: 11/30/1990
TERM: PER
DATE-EXP:
ADDRESS: P. O. BOX 1919
WAIANAE HI 96792 6919
PURPOSE: BUSINESS CONSULTING, MARKETING,ADVERTISING AND RELATED
SERVICES
SEC DEALER:
VOTE:
VOTE DATE:
REPORTS=> CURR-YR: LAST-YR: 1993 PRIOR-YR: 1992
DELINQUENT:
OFFICERS AS OF 11/30/1990
------------------------------------------
STEVENS,JAY R POSITION: *P/S/D
MILLER,JOAN E POSITION: *V/T/D
STOCK AS OF 11/30/1990
---------------------------------------------
COMMON SHARES: 1,000 PAID IN:
1,000
PAR-VAL:
TRAN-DATE--ST-TYPE-REMARKS
-----------------------------------------
11/30/1990 C ART ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
=================================
-----
From: http://www.uwhois.com
-----
Registrant:
Mantra Corporation (MANTRA-DOM)
P. O. Box 1919
Honolulu
HI,96792-6919
US
Domain Name: MANTRA.COM
Administrative Contact:
Maharaj, Jai (JM225) j...@FLEX.COM
Mantra Corporation
P. O. Box 1919
Waianae, HI 96792-6919
US
(808) 581-8808
Technical Contact:
Wong, Del (DW403) d...@FLEX.COM
FlexNet Inc.
P.O.Box 22481
HONOLULU, HI 96822-2481
US
(808) 539-3790 (808) 539-3793
Record expires on 24-Apr-2006.
Record created on 23-Apr-1994.
Database last updated on 25-Oct-2002 00:57:19 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.VIRTUALWEBSITE.COM 206.126.0.254
NS2.VIRTUALWEBSITE.COM 206.126.0.253
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to
http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: MANTRA.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS2.VIRTUALWEBSITE.COM
Name Server: NS1.VIRTUALWEBSITE.COM
Updated Date: 05-nov-2001
>>> Last update of whois database: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 16:57:48 EDT <<<
-----
Well--shazam--that's the same address and corporate name, isn't it,
liar? But one says "Jay Stevens" and the
other says "Jai Maharaj". Hmmm... well,
well--*wonder* what that means?
Here's one of *your* web page urls, liar.
http://hometown.aol.com/Jyotishi/
<on the bottom of the page>
Copyright © 1997 Mantra Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Why is this Copyright notice at the bottom? It's not on the Mantra
web site. It's on AOL. Why would you
Copyright your *writing*, with the Mantra Corporation
name, on a web site *not* related to mantra.com? We may never know.
Here's another one of your web page urls, liar.
http://www.flex.com/~jai/
<on the bottom of the page>
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Mantra
Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The information
contained at this site may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, or stored without prior
written authority of Mantra Corporation.
Same thing on this page. Why is that, liar? It's not on the Mantra
Corporation web site, is it? No--it's on
flex.com. Why copyright it under the Mantra
Corporation name? How does that work, liar?
Cut the bullshit, liar. Mantra Corporation and mantra.com are your
creations. When you set up the
corporation, you did it with the name Jay Stevens. Now you
call yourself Jai Maharaj. But both names have the same stench,
because both names have the same source. Go
ahead--deny it--lie again, liar.
You're nothing but a fucking fraud and a fucking liar. But you
already know that--right--liar?
--
Paulo Joe Jingy
Kunal Singh
> In article <8ac861c35052c063...@news.teranews.com>,
> "Naila" <Naila...@hotmail.com> posted:
> >
> > As I recall the last yogi that mesmerized USA was deported from USA.
> > Remember rajnesh?
> >
> > This one will be kicked out soon.
>
> Why do you say that Rajneesh was a Yogi?
For the same reason why idiots think that Bikram Chaudury is a yogi!