The celebration of International
Yoga Day 192 countries on June 21st to invoke the power of Yoga is a
remarkable achievement for a 1.25 billion strong nation. It is a moment of
intense pride and honour for the country. India the seat of one of the oldest
civilisations can now proclaim its rich heritage and revel in high spirits for
generously conferring the knowledge of Yoga to the World. But instead of revelling in the new glory and
pride unsolicited disgruntlements, disingenuous statements and cacophonous
rancour from various corners has taken sheen off the Yoga Day celebrations.
While critics attributed the
increasing spate of disingenuous statements to the vast diversity the very
essence of yoga of exuding positive spirit is lost in these dissatisfactory
rumblings. The zeal of the Yoga Day was dampened by the disenchantment of
various political parties who lashed out ruling party for usurping the old
Indian heritage for self-promotion and propaganda. In the meanwhile,
intelligentsia in reputed Universities intensified signature campaign against
the government for failing to invest in the preventive and curative health
care. This event has provided platform for orthodox religious leaders who
profess that yoga is privately practised by every Hindu and it is solely linked
to Hinduism. The inimical statements of scholars and religious leaders clearly extenuate
the impassioned achievements of patriotic saints like Swami Vivekananda,
Paramahamsa Yogananda and others who
carried the knowledge of yoga and pranayama to western countries extolling
the inclusiveness of Indian tradition and heritage. Unfortunately the nation
instead of rejoicing the fete of International Yoga Day, aimed at fostering
harmony and annihilating tensions is prying hard to extricate fissures of
disharmony.
The declaration of June 21st
as the International Yoga Day by the UN in a short notice is unprecedented.
Modi in his maiden address to the UN General Assembly on Sept 27th
2014 spoke about Yoga and its significance in this war-torn world. The proposal
which was soon followed by the Indian Ambassador at UN yielded significant
results with as many as 176 nations obliging to be co-sponsors. The resolution
received highest ever approval in a body containing 193 countries. This
international event has been instrumental in projecting India as an upcoming
soft power in the global platform. Invariably this astounding achievement augmented
India’s soft power diplomacy.
It is weird that India bequeathed with the knowledge
of more than 5000 year old tradition instead of taking pride is squabbling over
the claims for restoring new identification to it on global platform.
Controversial statements pertaining to yoga on the very occasion of
international celebrations gravely reflect the cynicism of the political leaderships.
It clearly sends message that anything intrinsic to India must be viewed with
suspicion and not worth footing it on global arena.
While there is no dearth of
Western celebrities promoting Yoga Indian apprehensions are contemptible. In
the US Yoga is $ 87 billion business proposition. Interestingly the fledging
forms of yoga like the Hot Yoga which are becoming increasingly popular in the
US are not incongruent with the Indian yoga. Now is high time for India to
promote its heritage and lay claims on the knowledge which has offered succour to
millions who practise religiously. In this context it is important to elaborate
that the newly evolved forms of exercises under the banner of yoga in the US
and Europe are grudgingly different from the traditional yoga. The emphasis on
regulated breathing which forms the basic backbone of Yoga is ostensibly
missing in some of the Western forms.
India as a flag bearer of the
traditional knowledge should establish centres of excellence in yoga and
establish standard yoga practices. Trained yoga practitioners can then
perpetuate the correct practices. While there is no dearth of doctrines and
people who question the necessity of yoga for people who thrive on bread labour
but as proportion of people engaging in futile rat race has been on rise the
need for yoga and its stress-relieving effects are more relevant than ever. Yoga
enunciated by our ancient sages and yogis is a practice that aims at bringing
about integration between body and soul. This process of transformation and
liberation of human kind and an insight into the inner self can relieve a
person of the stress. Yoga can offer relief to people encumbered by stress and
depression.
In the modern day context Swami Vivekananda
once said that: “We claim that concentrating powers of mind is the only way to
knowledge. In external science the concentration of mind is- putting on
something external; and in internal science, it is- drawing towards one’s self.
We call this concentration of mind yoga. Yogis claim that by concentration of
mind every truth in the Universe becomes evident to mind, both external and
internal truth”. Concentrating powers of mind or meditation is inextricably
linked to Yoga. Needless to say, imminent gains made by individuals through
yoga would bring about a propitious change in the society. India is the
treasure trove of ancient knowledge and it is high time that its leaders
appreciate the potential of the invaluable gains of yoga and refrain from
petty squabbling.
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