Newspapers used to keep morgues of old clippings (I suppose the Web has largely replaced them), and I had the feeling of being dusted off, if not revived from the dead, when my name appeared in a New York Times article about the current kerfuffle over Yoga. The Hindu American Foundation is as mad about the "brand" running out as they were a year or two ago, and their claim is just as unfounded. There was bread and wine before the Last Supper, flies and frogs before the curses that Jehovah visited on Egypt and Yoga before Hinduism.
The text usually cited as the definitive source for Yoga is Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, but the familiar poses that are part of Hatha Yoga are generally traced to Shiva cults, the god Shiva being its founder. The problem that is being swept aside is that exact dates cannot be assigned to any of these texts. Nevertheless, what is certain is that ancient Vedic culture, which lays claim to being the first written spiritual tradition in the world, is much older than the loosely formed religion, Hinduism, that sprang from it. The spiritual practice of Yoga was part of Vedic culture long before Hinduism. In the interests of generosity, maybe we should refer to a famous Sanskrit aphorism, Vasudev Kutumbukam: "the world is my family." Yoga is India's gift to the world, and it would be a shame to bring back the phrase Indian giver, now banished from polite conversation, with a new meaning.
I don't know to what extent the "Take Back Yoga" campaign is an innocent attempt by the Indian diaspora to get some respect. I sympathize with them taking offense at the "caste, cows and curry" stereotype. Polish Americans want us to know that they are a group with dignity who are offended by Polish jokes; Italian Americans hate the Mafia stereotype. I suppose the price of a pluralistic society like America's is that it's an equal-opportunity offender. Indians would do well to lighten up. With a burgeoning economy at home and a return to importance on the world stage, Indian pride is getting more than its share of strokes.
Having written about spirituality for many years, I'd like to point out that the whole point of Yoga is to achieve enlightenment, and that the most revered practitioners, whether known as yogis, swamis or mahatmas, transcend religion. In fact, even if Yoga were granted a patent or copyright by the U.S. Patent Office, there is no denying that enlightenment has always been outside the bounds of religion. That's where the spiritual path leads, not into the arms of priests or Yoga instructors. Before Hindu Americans complain about Hatha Yoga being deracinated, they might want to promote the ideas that are the very essence of Indian spirituality, which preceded Shiva, Krishna, cows and castes. The nobility of Indian spirituality elevates Hinduism to a unique place in the world, something that religious partisans forget all too quickly.
Deepak Chopra is the author of "Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet" and more than 50 books translated into over 35 languages, including other numerous New York Times bestsellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories.
Chopra's "Wellness Radio" airs weekly on Sirius/XM Stars, Channel 102 and 55, focusing on the areas of success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being, and spirituality. He is founder of The Chopra Foundation.
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Yoga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hindu Group Stirs Debate in Fight for Soul of Yoga - NYTimes.com
Indian-American Hindu group stirs a debate over yoga's soul - The ...
Nobody can own yoga….You can’t. I can’t. No one can.
1——YOGA is a gift to the mankind from Hinduism.
2——Any one who wants to say otherwise is making a big mistake.
3——Today Yoga belongs to the whole world, since YOGA is universal in nature.
2—–”Truth, God and Salvation ” etc are UNIVERSAL.
4——No country, no Culture, no religion, no temple, no church can MONOPOLIZE universal truths. Nobody can take copyrights or patent UNIVERSAL TRUTHS.
5—–Hindu Rig Veda the very first book of Hindus written at lest 2000 years before the Bible states ” Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadani” [ TRUTH OR GOD IS ONE; BUT LEARNED DESCRIBE IT IN MANY WAYS].
6—-–The greatest as well as the very best book of Yoga by sage Patanjali states
” Yoga Chitta Vrithi Nirodha” means
” SALVATION OR UNION WITH GOD MEANS STOPPAGE OF ALL THOUGHTS” which is a very universal idea which can be accepted and respected by every one, irrespective of one is a Hindu or not.
7——-We Hindus should be over joyed that every one is deeply interested in YOGA and the idea of copyrighting or taking patent on Yoga sounds very silly.
http://edviswanathan.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/10/a-bird-s-eye-view-of-yoga-of-east.htm
http://www.sandeepweb.com/2010/12/03/deepak-chopra-does-it-again/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suhag-a-shukla-esq/the-origins-and-ownership_b_791129.html
I believe the intent of HAF and Hindus worldwide is to clear misconceptions about Hinduism rather than claiming ownership of Yoga or offending beliefs of others.
Namaste! (I bow to the divine soul in you!).
Peace. Peace. Peace.
I do not want to comment about HAF, Yoga and its relation to Hinduism as I believe that as long one is doing Yoga, Meditation and progressing towards health, peace and realization, the purpose is solved. I just want to throw some light on Sanatana(Hindu) Dharma followed even today.
It makes me wonder what Hinduism Chopra ji is talking about. How can the Vedanta, Upanishads, Gita not be related to Hindu Dharma? If he means the rituals, idols, customs etc then they form only a preliminary and a small part. These are necessary symbols and concepts for beginners on the spiritual path just like a reference to Apple is necessary for toddlers to learn alphabet 'A'. But one has to grow from this symbolism to more profound concepts of Atman and Paramatman, Jiva and Shiva etc and understand more subtle meanings behind the idols, symbols and authentic customs.
Elephant God (Ganesha) represents our buddhi or intellect which should always control his vehicle, the mouse of desire.
Food is considered as God (Annam Brahma) because we are what we eat, including our thoughts hence the concept of Ayurveda.
Indian women wear bangles and toe rings because of principles of Acupressure and Nadis.
In Indian weddings a mixture of jaggery and cumin is put on top of head as the main custom (like 'I do') because of Sahasrara Chakra.
The bindi put on forehead by Hindus is symbolic to Ajna Chakra or third eye.
Holy Basil or Tulsi is kept in every house and worshipped because it purifies the air and being around it even for some time is very good for health. You will find it in holy water given in temples.
The concept of fasting on festivals is now well known to everyone as detox.
Lamps lit with cow ghee in homes and temples purify the air and fill it Prana Shakthi which is a boon for health.
The meaning of 'Namaste' is that I bow to the Divine in you.
The symbol of AUM or Pranava represents the three stages of consciousness and sleep with the top crescent being the enlightened state of Turiya.
I believe the concern of Hindus is that the best concepts of the ancient Indian sprituality have been universalized which is good but the flaws have been assigned to Hinduism.
To know more about Hinduism please read these the article below or watch the videos:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_1/Addresses_at_The_Parliament_of_Religions/Paper_on_Hinduism
In short video - Though the voice is not of Swami Vivekananda, the text is the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUzKoIt5aM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fN_n1nGLLU&feature=related
In conclusion, I believe people should take up or continue doing Yoga no matter what they believe about its origins because the goal of Yoga far exceeds the limitations of our minds and intellect.
Who owns breathing? Who owns stretching? Who owns meditation? Who owns air, water, fire, earth? Who owns space? Who owns the Hindu American Foundation?
.
Any system that doesn’t incorporate the physical, mental and spiritual is not Yoga, and shouldn’t be calling itself Yoga under the guise of appealing to more people.
Respect and acknowledgement should be shown to Hinduism for conserving Yoga. But we should also be careful of the ego yelling to be recognized by certain fundamentalists, because that’s one of the facets of human nature that Yoga tries to move beyond.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_2/Practical_Vedanta_and_other_lectures/Sankhya_and_Vedanta
Exactly. Thank you, Dr. Chopra.
The relationship between spiritual practices and enlightenment is that of the map, and that of arriving at the destination.
However, for some time now, mainstream religion has been holding the map upside down.
http://www.swamij.com/mysticism-yoga-religion.htm
Hence all the trouble.
http://livingunbound.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism
"The religion of the Vedic period (also known as Vedism or Vedic Brahmanism or, in a context of Indian antiquity, simply Brahmanism[1]) is a historical predecessor of Hinduism.[2] Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites that often involved sacrifices. This mode of worship is largely unchanged today within Hinduism;
The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra, chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. The priests performed the solemn rituals for the noblemen (Kshsatriya) and some wealthy Vaishyas. People prayed for abundance of children, rain, cattle (wealth), long life and an afterlife in the heavenly world of the ancestors. This mode of worship has been preserved even today in Hinduism, which involves recitations from the Vedas by a purohita (priest), for prosperity, wealth and general well-being. However, the primacy of Vedic deities has been seconded to the deities of Puranic literature."
From Wikipedia:
Many Indian intellectual traditions were codified during the medieval period into a standard list of six orthodox systems, the shaddarshanas (şaddarśana), all of which cite Vedic authority as their source:
Nyaya, the school of justice
Vaisheshika, the atomist school
Samkhya, the enumeration school
Yoga, the school of Patanjali (which assumes the metaphysics of Samkhya)
Purva Mimamsa (or simply Mimamsa), the tradition of Vedic exegesis, and
Vedanta (also called Uttara Mimamsa), the Upanishadic tradition.
Check this link and the schools tab on the right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
The modern day Hinduism is an aggregation of different schools (Astika, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya , Vaisheshika, Purva mimamsa, Uttara mimamsa (Vedanta) (Dvaita, Advaita, Vishishtadvaita), Nastika, Charvaka).
The subtle and complicated part is that it even includes Atheism (Charvaka, Nastika). What does it tell you about Hinduism? It does not fit in to the term 'Religion' as defined in modern terms. That's why it was called Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law) to attain Moksha (Liberation of Soul). It is imperative that before the relation between Yoga and Hinduism can be decided, the real essence and meaning of both should be understood.
Moksha/Nirvana are Shramanic concepts that were later borrowed by hinduism. You don't need the priestly caste of hinduism performing ritual sacrifices to attain Moksha do you?
The ancient Vedic religion involved something completely contradictory to Yoga:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism
" The religion of the Vedic period (also known as Vedism or Vedic Brahmanism or, in a context of Indian antiquity, simply Brahmanism [1]) is a historical predecesso r of Hinduism.[ 2] Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administer ing rites that often involved sacrifices . This mode of worship is largely unchanged today within Hinduism;
"The subtle and complicate d part is that it even includes Atheism (Charvaka, Nastika). What does it tell you about Hinduism?"
It tells me that vedic brahminism has borrowed without rhyme or reason from other traditions in order to perpetuate its indefensib le "revealed" /sruthi religion. Maybe you should also claim that atheism has "hindu roots"? :)
It is intellectu ally dishonest and absurd to claim that philosophi es that reject the authority of the Vedas, which is the revealed scripture of Hinduism, are part of hinduism. It is also dishonest to claim that philosophi es that vedic brahminism has borrowed from shramanism have their roots in hinduism.
Mainstream hinduism or brahminism revolves around vedic rituals and sacrifices , puranic idol worship and casteism. Yoga is independen t of such a religion. It is dishonest of casteist hindus to claim that Yoga is an "essential part" of their religion. If you believed in Yoga you would not believe in the efficacy of sacrifices to external gods, or in casteism.
It is mischievous to use Brahmanism when one talks about the Vedic society; because there were four varnas in the society. And Brahmins did not control the society, they were sandboxed into priestly & religious affairs. The businesses that generated money was controlled by someone else, the state affairs by someone else, the wars were fought by some one else.
So anybody who uses the term Brahmanism is clearly ill-informed or is parroting the agenda created by the Christian Missionaries during the Colonial days of India.
It tells me that vedic brahminism has borrowed without rhyme or reason from other traditions in order to perpetuate its indefensible "revealed"/sruthi religion. Maybe you should also claim that atheism has "hindu roots"? :)
It is intellectually dishonest and absurd to claim that philosophies that reject the authority of the Vedas, which is the revealed scripture of Hinduism, are part of hinduism. It is also dishonest to claim that philosophies that vedic brahminism has borrowed from shramanism have their roots in hinduism.
Mainstream hinduism or brahminism revolves around vedic rituals and sacrifices, puranic idol worship and casteism. Yoga is independent of such a religion. It is dishonest of casteist hindus to claim that Yoga is an "essential part" of their religion. If you believed in Yoga you would not believe in the efficacy of sacrifices to external gods, or in casteism.
If you want to know why Hindus are outraged its because our guiding principle, if we agree on nothing else is tolerance and a profound belief that our thoughts and actions have consequences. When ppl like you or Deepak Chopra try to commercialize our belief system and repackage our philosophies as your original thought, we cannot help but react. You portray us look like idol worshiping, cow loving, 3rd world weaklings when the most lasting contributions of our philosophies and beliefs have inspired civilizations all across the globe. No other religion would stand for the plagiarization you practice but you expect us to "take it"? I think not.
And just because you can cite a few references in scripture does not make you an expert in the beliefs of millions of people all over the world. Lastly, using the term cult in relation to Hinduism is insulting to say the least.
Never heard of this... not sure what you mean.
Better don't write about the Beatles at Woodstock.
Specifically, Chopra should address the following: Is the spiritual dimension of yoga separable from karma, reincarnation and moksha? I maintain it cannot, because the deconditioning/deprogramming that yoga seeks is of karmic impressions called sanskaras. These are not entirely formed in this life but also carry forward from prior ones.
The Nicene Creed cannot accept that the state of moksha or unity consciousness is available to humans. Thats why all saints recognized by Christianity have to be dead before they can get recognized as saints, for living enlightenment of humans threatens the institutional authority on which Christianity is built. Yoga promises that every human has the same potential as Jesus and rejects the Creed's requirement that Jesus is the ONLY incarnation of God in all history.
Of course, many Christians reject the Nicene Creed. But this Yoga/Creed incompatibility is the core issue.