Why India Wants to Make Yoga a Mass Movement
Yoga being a passive exercise makes you lazy and lethargic, although modern Yogis try to falsely convince themselves that they are getting healthier.
By Rakesh Raman
A minister in the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shripad Yesso Naik, has asked people to participate in the International Day of Yoga celebrations being held in Chandigarh on June 21, 2016 in order to make Yoga a mass movement.
The minister also said that Yoga is being made as part of syllabus and curriculum at Indian school, college, and university levels. He said that a two-day International Conference on Yoga for Body and Beyond will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 22nd and 23rd June, 2016.
But why is the BJP government so eager to promote Yoga? Yoga is largely a Hindu-only exercise, as it was first practiced in ancient India by Hindu Sanyasis (or ascetics) as part of their lifelong practice of self-denial.
However, the Hindu politicians in India – in their attempt to spread Hinduism or the poison of religion across the world – are trying to deceptively position Yoga as a universal human need.
Recently Rajnath Singh, another BJP government minister in India, said that Yoga has a universal appeal and it cuts across all religions. He was speaking at a three-day International Yoga Fest in New Delhi.
Rajnath Singh also expressed that Yoga is getting popular because of the “vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi” who is a Hindu politician.
As nearly 80% of the 1.3 billion people of India are Hindus, it becomes a virtual compulsion for all political parties to woo Hindu voters. Politicians, therefore, play all types of tricks to bind Hindus with a common thread. Yoga is one of them.
[ Read: 10 Reasons Why Yoga May Not be Good for You ]
The Modi-led BJP, which is an overtly Hindu party, has gone to an extreme to make India a Hindu Rashtra (a nation only for people who belong to the Hindu religion).
धर्म क्या है? What is religion?
भाईयो और बहनों। क्या कभी कुत्ता कुत्ते को काटता है? नहीं। क्या कभी साँप साँप को डसता है? नहीं। क्या कभी शेर दूसरे शेर पर हमला करके उसे मारता है? नहीं। लेकिन आज पूरी दुनिया में आदमी आदमी को मार रहा है। और इस मार–काट का सबसे बड़ा कारण है धर्म और धर्म में लोगों का अन्धविश्वास। क्यों करते हैं आप धर्म पर विश्वास जो आपको दूसरे आदमी का दुश्मन बना रहा है? सिर्फ मानवता ही एक धर्म है जो हरेक इंसान को दूसरे इंसान से जोड़ता है। आइए सिर्फ मानवता को ही अपना धर्म बनाएं।
Humanity is the biggest and the purest religion. Any organized religion that believes in any identifiable God keeps people away from people by promoting religion-based groups. And organized religion has always been the cause of the most heinous crimes and killings in the world. Can we adopt only humanity as our religion?
Recently, Modi and BJP joined hands with a Hindu leader who is commercializing Yoga and selling it as a properitary service. Modi even participated in the Hindu event which was mostly attended by hired singers, dancers, and the workers of RSS, the parent organization of BJP.
While Hindu leaders of India are spreading Hinduism under the garb of Yoga, there is hardly any scientific evidence that says Yoga is good for human body. It is a dull drill that does not even warm your body up.
[ Hindu Groups Attacking Human Rights in India: Amnesty ]
Actually, doctors and scientists suggest that physical exertion with sweating is a must if you want to stay fit. That’s why athletes, players, and physically fit actors go to gymnasiums. They don’t sit like a tortoise on a jute mat to perform Yoga.
Yoga being a passive exercise makes you lazy and lethargic, although modern Yogis try to falsely convince themselves that they are getting healthier. Hindu Sanyasis in ancient India never performed Yoga as a physical exercise. They adopted it as a mind-control method, which was part of a series of actions toward self-discipline and selflessness.
[ Spirituality to Know the Truths of Life ]
In fact, self-denial is a prerequisite to perform Yoga. In the current world full of greed and selfishness, Yoga is an utterly useless practice and therefore it will be difficult to find any person around you who is eligible to perform Yoga.
But Modi and his friends – with their eyes on Hindu votes – are trying to create a country-wide Hindu group tied with the falsehood of Yoga. Similarly, they want to draw the attention of Hindus who are spread across the world by saying Yoga has a universal appeal.
It is only a hogwash. Let’s stay away from the Yoga being preached by the Hindu politicians and fraudsters related to them.
By Rakesh Raman, the managing editor of RMN Company
Photo courtesy: Press Information Bureau
