Acharya Balkrishna (or Acharya Balkishan, आचार्य बालकृष्ण in Hindi and Nepali) is an Indian Ayurveda practitioner, author, entrepreneur and spiritual personality. As of 2018, Acharya Balkrishna is the executive director of Patanjali Ayurveda, a privately-owned company which he runs with yoga guru Baba Ramdev. Balkrishna also works as the vice-chancellor of the University of Patanjali.
According to Forbes magazine, Acharya Balkrishna is one of the richest people in India. According to the Hurun India Rich List 2017, he is the eighth richest Indian. Forbes magazine reports that, as of March 2018, his net worth is US$ 6.2 billion. Acharya Balkrishna owns nearly 99% of Patanjali Ayurveda, which produces a wide range of consumer products, including herbal toothpaste, cosmetics, ayurvedic medicines and food items, such as instant noodles and jams. The company has an annual revenue of more than US$ 1.6 billion and has recently started selling products through online retail giants, such as Amazon and Flipkart.
Early Life & Education
Acharya Balkrishna was born on 4 August 1972 in Haridwar, India to a Nepali family living in India. At the time of his birth, his father, Jaya Ballav, was working as a security guard in Haridwar, whereas, his mother Sumitra Devi was a housewife. Balkrishna’s parents moved back to Nepal when he was still a child. He spent his childhood in Nepal’s Syangja district and completed his primary education at a local public school. Balkrishna moved back to India as a teenager, while his parents kept living in their ancestral village in Nepal.
When Balkrishna returned to India, he joined Kalwa Gurukul in Haryana and pursued an education in ayurvedic medicine. That’s where he met yoga guru Baba Ramdev for the first time. Their first meeting took place in 1988, and since then they have become close friends and have worked together for a long time.
 | |||||||||||
 | NATIVE NAME: | आचार्य बालकृष्ण | |||||||||
 | BIRTHDAY: | 4 August 1972 | |||||||||
 | BIRTHPLACE: | Haridwar, India | |||||||||
 | EDUCATION: | Acharya/ Sastri | |||||||||
 | PROFESSION: | Entrepreneur, Yogi | |||||||||
 | NOTABLE BOOK: | Ayurved Siddant Rahasya | |||||||||
 | Notable AWARD | CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business | |||||||||
 | HEIGHT: | 5’ 8” | |||||||||
 | MARITAL STATUS: | Unmarried, celibate | |||||||||
 | NATIONALITY: | Indian | |||||||||
 | ETHNICITY: | Indian | |||||||||
 | RELIGION: | Hindu | |||||||||
 | SALARY | None | |||||||||
 | NET WORTH: | US$ 6.2 billion (2018) | |||||||||
 | FAMILY: | Father: Jaya Ballav | Mother: Sumitra Devi | ||||||||
 | CHILDREN: | None | |||||||||
 | FOLLOW ON: |
| |||||||||
Acharya Balkrishna As an Ayurvedic Master
After finishing his studies at Kalwa Gurukul, Acharya Balkrishna travelled across India, studying and testing the medicinal values of hundreds of plants. In the early 1990s, he went to live in a Himalayan cave in Gangotri, India with yoga guru Ramdev.
Since Balkrishna’s knowledge about herbal medicine and medicinal plants was phenomenal, people started flocking in to seek help from him. Under Ramdev’s leadership, Acharya Balkrishna founded Divya Pharmacy and Divya Yog Mandir in the mid-1990s.
Even though some critics have questioned Acharya Balkrishna’s educational qualifications, he has consistently said that he has a university (sastri) degree from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi.
Director of Patanjali Ayurved and a Billionaire
Acharya Balkrishna and Baba Ramdev established Patanjali Ayurved in 2006. Ramdev’s robust media presence helped the company to take off immediately. The company has produced a range of consumer products and promotes the use of herbal products for healthy living. Within less than a decade, Patanjali products became so popular that Acharya Balkrishna became a billionaire and one of the richest and most influential people in India.
Acharya Balkrishna with RamdevAs of 2018, Balkrishna oversees Patanjali Ayurved as its executive director. He is also involved in the research and development of herbal medicine and consumer products. His other activities include education and teaching as well as yoga promotion. He also works as the editor-in-chief of the Yog Sandesh magazine. Balkrishna, reportedly, supports the Hinduist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is an active supporter of the Swacha Bharat (Clean India) campaign initiated by the Indian prime minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi.
Books & Research Papers
Acharya Balkrishna has published numerous books and dozens of research papers. His books and research papers focus on ayurvedic medicine, healthy living and yoga. Some of his most popular books include:
- Ayurveda Sidhhant Rahasya (The Secret Principles of the Ayurveda)
- Ayurveda Jadibuti Rahasya (The Secret of Herbal Medicine)
- Bhojan Kautuhalam
- Bichar Kranti (Thought Revolution)
Personal Life
Even though a billionaire and one of the richest people in India, various media outlets report that Acharya Balkrishna lives an ordinary life. He, reportedly, works all year long and never takes a vacation or a leave. One media story reported that he doesn’t even own a laptop and his tiny office is barely furnished.
Acharya Balkrishna is not married and has no children. As a staunch Hindu religious practitioner, he will likely remain celibate for the rest of his life.
In October 2016, NDTV, an Indian news channel, reported that the luxurious Range Rover car and an iPhone were the only visible luxuries of Acharya Balkrishna.
Controversies
In 2011, Acharya Balkrishna was charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy by the The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) India. He was accused of producing fake degrees to acquire an Indian passport. Apart from the claim that his Indian passport was issued on the basis of fake high school and college certificates, the CBI also accused him of holding an unlicensed gun.
The CBI arrested him in 2012 from hiding. In the same year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a money laundering case against him. However, all charges against him were dropped and he was given a clean cheat in 2014. Some critics claim that the rise of the Hindu nationalist BJP party into power played a crucial role in dropping the charges against him. Balkrishna himself has denied the allegations and has accused the Uttar Pradesh government of conspiring against him.
Divya Pharmacy, which Acharya Balkrishna ran with Baba Ramdev, has been accused in the past of using human bones and animal parts in some its herbal medicines.
Acharya Balkrishna on Social Media
Acharya Balkrishna has been called India’s billionaire with most social media followers. As of March 2018, he has 6 million followers on Facebook. His social media accounts are regularly updated and his presence across different social media platforms appears very robust. Nearly a half a million people follow him on instagram and his teachings and videos with tips on Ayurvedic medicines can be found on his YouTube channel.
Acharya Balkrishna Quotes
On Life and Death:
“Strange is the man who every day sees death, but never notice it. Yoga compelled us to realize the science of human transition and confer a purpose to substantiate life with knowledge and virtues.”
