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Super-speciality Patna  jathedar offers mumbo-jumbo treatment for

 diabetes, dizziness, headache, tension, depression, insomnia, impotency

Writes panacea book which teaches how to predict own death six months in advance

S P Singh

This, finally, is The Book. Written by one of Sikhism's top five clerics, it promises to be a panacea for all ills, physical or psychological. The cleric has turned a therapist, and his book expounds a therapy called 'Gurmat Yog'. Though he claims to have "attained" the expertise through 'kirpa' (blessings) of none other than the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, his fellow clerics are not happy with his efforts. In fact, jathedar of Akal Takht has slammed the treatise as being against the ideology of Sikhism. 

'Gurmat Yog', authored by Bhai Iqbal Singh, jathedar of Takht Patna Sahib, is no mean achievement, if one believes the author. "First print order was of 50,000 and the demand is still there. It is a small effort to give people a therapy that can tackle all ills," Iqbal Singh told The Indian Express as he presented a copy of the book to this correspondent at his Patna residence in the Takht complex. 

The author, indeed, is proud of his achievement, and is ready to fiercely guard his right to be identified as the prime proponent of the therapy. "Whosoever learns this Gurmat Yog must tell anyone he teaches it that he learnt it from Takht Patna Sahib. No one has ever used the phrase Gurmat Yog earlier, and as per the copyright act, whosoever now writes any essay or book using this phrase would be liable for legal action and may have to pay a fine of Rs one crore" Iqbal Singh writes at the very outset. 

At another place in the book, he again threatens legal action against anyone trying to quote out of context from the book and underlines the copyrights of the author and publisher, identified as 'Singh Sahib Iqbal Singh, Jathedar, Takht Sri Harimandir Ji, Patna Sahib'. 

Here's a sample of the therapy suggested earnestly by the cleric holding one of top five temporal seats of Sikhs: 

"Get out of bed at 3 am. Pray to God in a single breath. This should be a small prayer. Then do simran for 5 minutes. Take a good amount of water…Start the recitation from 'ek onkaar', inhale  deep down till your navel. Then, from the navel level, start exhaling, but slowly. Keep reciting. Thus, read the mulmantra once while inhaling, once while you hold your breath at the navel level (sic), and once while exhaling." This, the jathedar tells us, is Simran style number one. There are of course other styles mentioned in great detail. 

Simran style number two, for example, may help you predict your own death six months in advance. Here is how it goes: "Inhale till the point where there is a knot in the navel which holds all our breaths and which becomes untied six months before we die. A regular follower of this style can easily tell when his breath-knot has become untied and thus can accurately predict his death’s date and time."

There is an added benefit in following this style, the jathedar tells us. "If you are feeling any pain in any gland or limb then place both your palms on that part of your anatomy and do simran this way for ten minutes. The pain would vanish," the cleric has claimed. 

The 96-page book presents not just ways to tackle ailments like diabetes, dizziness, headache, tension and depression, insomnia, impotency and a host of others but also suggests sure fire ways to deal with heart attacks, high or low blood pressure, asthma and even cancer.  

"This book presents a big big philosophy and so far it is only a drop in the ocean. Several tomes can be written once one goes deeper into this philosophy," says the jathedar in the book, adding he learnt the techniques through 'apaar kirpa' of Guru Gobind Singh. 

Akal Takht jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti, when shown the book at his Akal Takht secretariat, said, "What more can I say except that it shows how this author’s mind works.” He said the 'Gurmat Yog' treatise was of course against Gurmat, but when asked whether he would take any action against the jathedar, said he would first like to study the book in detail. 

Vedanti, however, condemned the use of photographs of Takht Patna Sahib, of the weapons of Guru Gobind Singh and of a 'hukumnama' of the tenth guru on the book’s title pages, and said such a practice should be avoided. 

Several Sikh intellectuals have also criticised the jathedar’s book and demanded action against him and a ban on the book. ENDS■ 

December 10, 2000

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