Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will hold camps in New York, New Jersey and Chicago during his two-week visit to the United States from June 30.
Ramdev, who is carrying out research in the curative benefits of yogic exercises and Ayurvedic drugs, will give demonstrations of the techniques and speak about Indian heritage at the camps.
The yoga guru, who has a huge devoted television audience among Indians in the United States, will hold camps for two days in New York, which will have four sessions, and for five days in New Jersey which boasts a huge population of Indian Americans.
The registration fee will vary between $100 and $500 and all the money collected would be used for research and charitable purposes, Animesh Goenka, president of Heritage India Group, which is organising the visit, told reporters on Thursday.
The trip will cost $350,000, including rent for the halls where Ramdev will hold camps, he said, adding that the entire cost is being borne from voluntary donations and no part of money collected from registration would be used to meet the expenses.
Asked which projects or charities will benefit, he said organisers estimate that they would collect half a million dollars and it would mostly be used in carrying out research in Amla, possibly in the United States itself. The aim, he said, is to develop products for which patent can be taken out, he added.
Goenka admitted that they are finding it difficult to get advertisements and sponsorships from corporations, including Indian, because they say they have difficulty in financing religious functions.
However, he contended that they would welcome people all religions at the camps and stressed that camps are not for propagation of any religion but to advocate how people can keep themselves healthy by using simple yoga techniques, which are a part of Indian heritage.
He parried the question as to why he was talking about patenting the products of amla and haldi (turmeric) when the Indian government is opposing patents on traditional products, which have handed down from generation to generation.
