PROPER POSITION

Muslim and Catholic nations joining the World Yoga Day celebrations signals that it has little to with religion

June 21, 2015, is the first International Day of Yoga. Extensive celebrations have been planned—37,500 yoga mats have been laid out at Rajpath, Delhi, in an attempt to set the record for the largest yoga group ever. At Siachen, perhaps another record will be set when ar my personnel contort themselves in asanas (yoga postures) at the highest battle-field in the world. But the achievement of note for yoga would be that long after it transcended physical boundaries—it is immensely popular in Wester n nations as a for m of exercise and therapy for de-stressing— it seems that it has started transcending mental boundaries, too.

Though it was through Modi’s efforts that the UN recognised June 21 as the International Day of Yoga, India’s plans to mark the day became mired in controversy when a few organisations and clerics claiming to represent the views of religious minority groups claimed that the government was pushing a Hindutva agenda in asking its educational institutions to arrange for students to do Surya Namaskar (salutation to the sun), a specific set of asanas. But, as it turns out, Muslim and Christian nations have made it clear that yoga has little to do with religion by making plans to celebrate the day. Some Muslim-majority nations have, in fact, timed their celebrations to after Iftar, the breaking of the daily fast observed all through the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which has just started. It bears highlighting that only 10 of 57 nations in the OIC did not co-sponsor the UN resolution on Yoga Day. At the same time, while a minister in the government of Kuwait will be inaugurating an event in the Gulf nation, the Indian embassy in China has planned several events across the country.