RAJASTHAN: On the International Yoga Day on June 21, Puran Mal Jain (64) held a special yoga session in Udaipur. At Bhateshwar, a village about 30 km from Udaipur, Jain displayed his poise at a Shiva temple and urged people to adopt yoga as a part of their lifestyle.
Besides displaying a range of asanas in his hour-long session, Jain also showed the Plavani Pranayama at the village lake. Through this special technique, the practitioner can experience as if one is quietly afloat, symbolizing how yoga can bring about harmony and balance between physical, mental and emotional aspects of our life.
Jain is a successful lawyer in Udaipur but is better known as a free yoga trainer. His son and four daughters are also yoga experts. Jain had a keen desire to learn yoga ever since he was 10 and lived in Bhateshwar village. With the help of yogic and other exercises, Jain performed various ‘stunts’, such as stopping a motor vehicle with his bare hands and letting the vehicle loaded with passengers to drive over his chest.
In nearly five decades of learning and teaching yoga, he claims to have trained over 10,000 people in the Patanjali discipline of yoga. Though many of his students have turned into yoga trainers and charge a lot of fees, Jain has never thought of making money from yoga.
A reason for not charging anything for yoga training stems from an accident that Jain suffered nearly three decades ago. Though he was saved, a speeding car had badly smashed his legs in the accident. Doctors in Udaipur said he would need crutches to walk for the rest of his life. He underwent an operation in an Ahemdabad hospital where he had to stay for over a month.
“When I returned home from the hospital, I cried a lot, worried as I was about how I would take care of my family if I couldn’t walk again. But then I gathered courage and my yogic training helped me to gain mental strength. With the help of meditation and support of my family, soon I realised I could walk alright again.”
“My doctor at Ahemdabad had said that I wouldn’t be able to walk for six months. But two months later, when I went to meet him walking on my own, the doctor was overjoyed. From then on, I decided to dedicate my life to yoga which I believe saved my life,” says Jain.
Jain’s 32-year old daughter, Reena who teaches law at the Sukhadia University and also trains in yoga, remembers: “I was barely 10 when my father had that horrific accident. He never lost hope and trusted his will power. When we saw the miracle of him walking again, our whole family decided to dedicate our lives to yoga.”
Today, Jain trains around 150 people in yoga and meditation in the daily classes he holds in Udaipur’s famous Bhopalpura ground. Besides youngsters who come to enhance their fitness, there are many sick people who come to seek a cure or improvement in their condition.
Jain says the lesson he has learnt in life is simple: if you want to live a disease-free life, practise half-an-hour yoga daily. “A person should always remain positive. Yoga offers you a chance to remain in good mental shape. So, if you never want to see a doctor, just integrate half-an-hour of yoga into your routine.”
Teaching Yoga TO 10K PEOPLE
In nearly five decades, Puran Mal Jain claims to have trained over 10,000 people in the Patanjali discipline of yoga. Though many of his students have turned into yoga trainers and charge a lot of fees, Jain has never thought of making money from yoga