Nalin Verma
A senior journalist & Patna based special correspondent of The Statesman.

Mr Jan Mueller, a Czech citizen was suffering from cancer when he came to Patna in 1983 and began practising yoga which he believes has cured him of the killer disease.

Enamoured by the healing power of yoga, he changed his name to Swami Mokshanand and made the Chanakya gufa — a cave-like structure on the bank of the Ganga where Chanakya once used to stay — his home.

An automobile engineer in the Czech Railways, he now dons a saffron robe like any other sant and has been staying in the cave since 1983. "Now I am planning to return to my homeland, pen a book on yoga and teach it to my countrymen," he says. "Yoga can cure cancer, AIDS and several other killer diseases if it is practised properly."

Mr Mueller recalls his days at a hospital in Prague in 1980 where he battled with lung cancer for six months. He consulted several doctors at home and in Germany and England. All of them gave up hope. In 1982 he quit his job and started looking for a way out to save his life.

After reading a few books on yoga, Mr Mueller decided to visit India and practise it under the guidance of some renowned yogis. However, initial disappointment could not sink his spirit.

"I had visited not less that 70 ashrams from Amritsar to Kanyakumari. None of yogis including late Dhirendra Brahmachari, Swami Satyanand of Munger could help me."

Finally a chance meeting with a lecturer in Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh changed his life. "He gifted me a copy of Granth Samhita, a book on yoga. I studied its English version."

He later learnt Sanskrit and also read ancient books on yoga including Vashistha Samhita, Shiva Samhita and Gorakh Samhita.

"I read the books thoroughly which enabled me to learn the proper way of practising yoga. I came to Patna and was given shelter by one Swami Vedanand who was then staying in the gufa. It was sometime in 1983."

Even after the Swami left Mr Mueller continued to practise hath yoga in the gufa and according to him three years of regular practise fully cured him of cancer.

"Look, I am as energetic as a 16-year-old. You will live longer and happier if you exercise yoga in a proper way."

Villagers from far-flung areas would throng his ashram to learn yoga. "We are really sad to learn that baba will leave us," says a constable of the Chowk police station. "We will feel orphaned if the baba goes", says a local resident.

Mr Mueller only takes raw vegetable and fruits. "A true yogi should not eat boiled food," he says. All this he gets free from local vendors.

Born on 14 February 1941 in Prague, Mr Mueller lost his mother three years ago. "Some of my relatives also died during my stay here. Now I feel homesick."

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