A New Jersey based popular Ayurvedic health and life style portal is found to have been selling Jeevani, the controversial herbal compound of Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), for sometime, as a herbal tea with curative properties, in an other act of blatant trademark violation.

As per the claims of Himalayan Yoga Centre of Meditation, New Jersey (address: 285, Route 57, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865, Phone - 908 - 859 - 5457), 'Himalayan Herbal Tea, also known as Jeevani' is a herbal formulation developed by TBGRI under the guidelines of World Health Organization'.

Priced $29 for a jar of 75 gms, the herbal tea is prepared from 'life giving herbs of the Himalayas of Kerala' and is helpful to overcome fatigue and exhaustion and provides energizing vigour and stress free calmness, says www.yogaunity.com, the website of Himalayan Yoga Centre of Meditation. The site also advises to use the tea at least twice a day, with half teaspoon of herbal tea stirred in warm water, with sugar if needed. If sipped twice a day on empty stomach, it is a powerful energy booster and mind relaxing nutritional supplement, thus goes the claims.

The website also says the product has been authoritatively endorsed by the US based Herbal Holistic International, a leading comprehensive Ayurvedic B2B portal into diverse areas of Ayurvedic drugs, nutraceuticals, trade of raw materials, besides ISM consultation by experts.

The product has similarity to original Jeevani not only in its appearance, but also the ingredient details (Probably, the tea seller cleverly replaces the wrapper of the original compound with a strikingly similar wrapper with its own product details and claims). The literature elaborates the ingredients as: Trichopus Zylanicus, ssp. travancoricus 12 per cent (Also known as Arogyapacha meaning "Green Herb for Freedom from Diseases", from Agast-Hymalai, the Himalayas of Kerala, is anti-fatigue, energy boosting and immuno-enhancing herb), Withania Somnifera or Ashwagandha 12 per cent (Adaptogenic, anabolic, immuno-enhancing and Aphrodisiac herb traditionally used in Ayurveda.), Evolvus Alsinoides or Shankhpushpi 40 per cent - (Most powerful Memory enhancing and nerve tonic used in Ayurveda, also for mental calmness.), Piper Longum or Pippali 16 per cent (Used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicines for improving metabolic heat, Agni or fire, also known to improve sperm count and ejaculation, without causing any toxic side effects), binding materials 20 per cent etc.

Interestingly, most of the proverbs to describe the compound, mythical background of Aarogyapacha and attribute to WHO are clearly wrong information conveyed by the site. Even the people of Kerala and the whole world are enlightened by the New Jersey Meditation Centre that 'legendary Sanjeevani herb brought over from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka by Hanuman, who carried parts of the mountain on his shoulders, so that the fresh herb could revive Lord Lakshman, dropped on the way, on the hills of Kerala, known as Agast-Hymalai'. The popular myth is attributed to Maruthwamalai, in another part of the Western Ghats, at least 300 to 400 kilometers away from Agasthyar hills and is no way connected to Himalayas, located in the northeastern part of India.

Besides the Jeevani tea, the firm sells a variety of tea like Dia Tea made with Gymnema Sylvestre, Asthma Tea made with Adhatoda Vasica, Memory Tea made with Bacopa Monnieri, Slim Tea made with Garcinia Cambogia, BP Tea made with Rowalfia Serpentina, Vigour Tea made with Withania Somnifera etc., with the names indicative of its curing properties. Further, the centre offers nutraceutical products with medicinal property claims like Chyavanaprasha jam, mats and rugs with Ohm symbol for meditation and yoga etc. at various exorbitant prices.

The centre also trades an exhaustive list of innovative and interesting herbal medicines and nutraceuticals, most of them having roots in Ayurveda. Besides its yoga-meditation stuff, the firm offers a panel of expert Ayurvedic doctors for online consultation, most of them from India.

It is to be noted the Pharmabiz had revealed similar trademark infringement of Jeevani earlier. The issue is currently causing a lot of hot debate in Kerala and among experts of IPR and scientific community.