It is going to be a weekend with a difference at Bajaj Auto’s corporate headquarters at Akurdi near Pune.
January 10 and 11 will see a mega seminar on homeopathy, ‘From Sensation to Synergy’ chaired by Dr Rajan Sankaran, renowned global thinker on the homeopathic system of medicine. There will be at least 500 doctors and students present on the occasion.
And for someone whose passion for the science is well known, Rajiv Bajaj has no hesitation in declaring that Dr Sankaran is the best homeopath in the world. “He is truly the pioneer and has taken it forward which includes all the latest advances in the last 20 years. He is now our doctor and a very close friend,” the Managing Director of Bajaj Auto told Business Line.
It is this bonding that has spawned Prana, the first centre in the world to combine yoga and homeopathy. Dr Rajan operates his own institute in Mumbai, The Other Song (TOS) and the Pune initiative is being supported by Bajaj Auto.
In Prana, the patient meets a homeopath to discuss his problem and get the appropriate remedies. He/she can then just walk across to meet the yoga teacher who will suggest the asanas or pranayamas. This could perhaps include making dietary changes to improve things.
Both yoga and homeopathy act on the immune system to make it better. “By combining the homeopathic remedy and the asanas, you can become a healthier person,” Bajaj says.
And what motivated the Bajaj Auto chief to get into this? It was a no-brainer considering his comfortable access to the masters of these two fields. For yoga, it was BKS Iyengar in Pune who passed away recently. “He was my teacher and his student, Amit Pawar, is now my teacher and looks after the yoga side of Prana,” he says.
Creating good teachers, doctors
Likewise, the equivalent of Iyengar in yoga is Dr Sankaran in homeopathy who is less than 200 km away in Mumbai. It is this bridge between Prana and TOS which has paved the way for the Pune seminar this weekend.
“There is no doctor like Dr Rajan and his ability to get it right the first time is unbelievable. To talk to him for an hour is an experience. This was equally true for Guruji,” Bajaj says.
The entire emphasis at places like Prana or TOS is to create good teachers and doctors. And if the results become repeatable, people will begin to take it seriously, he adds. Eventually, survival of these sciences depends on results and here is where teachers/doctors need to be really good.
“Guruji’s entire emphasis was to create good teachers of yoga. Dr Rajan’s (emphasis), beyond research and treatment of patients, is to train and educate good homeopaths,” Bajaj says.
Allopathy is more mechanical
According to him, allopathy is more mechanical whereas truly great things in life like yoga and homeopathy are more artistic. Yoga takes into account the person’s constitution, strength and accordingly, the asanas or pranayamas are defined. Any artistic process, he adds, is routed in individualisation.
“By definition, artistic things cannot be scaled up like mechanical things be it pizzas, burgers, gyms, fitness centres and the like,” Bajaj says. And this is where homeopaths sometimes err in the pursuit of growth and everything becomes commercial.
“They try to scale up homeopathy on the lines of allopathy but it cannot be done. It requires understanding the person for which the skills required are so intricate and subtle with so many nuances that it is much tougher and will take years,” Bajaj says.
Way forward
The challenge, therefore, is to create good teachers and doctors but also recognise that it cannot be scaled up. How does a homeopath then make a living? He could scale up and see hundreds of patients but then could go wrong because it takes time understanding a person. The wiser option is to see just 10 people but “charge the sun, moon and earth”.
Herein lies the problem with homeopathy where doctors typically charge a patient only Rs 100-200 and find it hard to make a living. “You need to charge more not because you want to fleece someone but because this is the nature of the beast. The business model will have to change and we have to move that way,” Bajaj says.