Thousands mark the first International Day of Yoga
NEW DELHI: Weeks of publicity – TV spots, interviews with yoga gurus, press briefings and tweets by the prime minister – peaked yesterday as thousands of Indians stretched their arms, twisted their torsos and did deep breathing on their capital’s widest boulevard to mark the first International Day of Yoga.
Yoga, an ancient discipline first practised by Hindu sages thousands of years ago to attain samadhi – a super consciousness where the mind becomes one with God and nature – is one of India’s biggest exports, with millions of practitioners around the world. In its modern form, yoga, with some stylistic variations, is a compendium of postures combined with some rhythmic breathing and exercises in meditation aimed at gaining a fit body and peaceful mind.
In the run-up to the big day, the government unleashed a massive publicity drive and a huge jamboree which stretched from the New Delhi boulevard to the bank of the Thames in London, to the foreground of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and to the UN Plaza and Times Square in New York.
But will televising thousands of people standing at iconic spots across the world doing half an hour of yoga on the summer solstice really help the cause of yoga? Or is it, as some of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics say, little more than a show of national pride: a blitz for Hindu nationalism?
Shripad Naik, junior minister for health, thinks the need for focusing on yoga today is greater than at any other time, as millions suffer from stressrelated diseases. “Yoga is about the harmony of mind and body, man and nature… It helps in concentration and reduces stress.”
Naik was also excited by the prospect that the mega event of 35 000 people performing yoga on the Rajpath could make it into the Guinness World Records.
New Delhi-based yoga guru Nivedita Joshi was more pragmatic. “The international day events, they are just the first step, meant to showcase yoga and our heritage. But, from there, we have to move on to the next step, which has to be mindful of the responsibility of spreading it with more depth – yoga is a science, an art and a philosophy.”
Yoga can be a life-changing experience, as it was for Joshi, who fell ill at 15, confined to a wheelchair and hardly able to lift a newspaper. At 26, she was first taken to the late BKS Iyengar, a well-known yoga guru.
“In 12 sessions I was doing the adho mukha vriksashana, a downward facing tree posture, similar to a straight-arm handstand.”
Joshi underwent training at the BKS Iyengar school in Pune for five years and now runs a yoga school.
A few Muslim groups objected to the blanket request for participation in the yoga day events, saying yoga was rooted in the Hindu religion. Some asked why Muslims should do postures like the surya namaskar (salutation to the sun, a god for Hindus) or chant “om” like Hindu sages.
“Yoga is universal as breathing is universal,” said spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, of the Art of Living Foundation. “You don’t have to change your faith to practise yoga.”
Critics from political parties opposed to Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, like Laloo Prasad Yadav, of the Janata Dal (United), said yoga was a pastime for well-off people who could think of wellness, not the bulk of Indians who struggled to make a living.
Yoga practitioner Bimal, from the Bihar school, said it was good that the government was telling people about the benefits of yoga, but a true practitioner stayed away from loud publicity, as the aim of yoga was inner stillness.
Another practitioner, Thilakavathy, of the Integral Yoga Institute in Coimbatore, said no matter what Modi’s motive was, the hype would kindle interest. – DPA