Amid controversy over surya namaskar, Haryana’s brand ambassador for yoga and ayurveda, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday made it clear that surya namaskar is an exercise and it has nothing to do with any religion and it could not be related to worship of surya (Sun).
Few people are in the habit of creating controversy… Several Muslim organisations are going to participate in the celebrations of International Yoga Day on June 21 and I appreciate them for this, said Ramdev while talking to the mediapersons on the sidelines of two-day preparatory yoga session held at Sector 3 Tau Devi lal Stadium in Panchkula.
Various Muslim groups have been opposing surya namaskar and recitation of Om mantra while performing yoga asanas. The Muslim law Board had also opposed implementation of yoga and surya namaskar in schools saying that surya namaskar was against the teachings of Islam.
“I have never asked anyone to perform this exercise while facing sun and reciting mantras,” stressed Ramdev. On recitation of Om mantra, Ramdev said that Om is just a word of Sanskrit and language has no relation with religion.
He added that it is a matter of pride for all of us that out of total 177 countries which have supported the proposal in UNO regarding global celebration of yoga, 47 were Muslim countries.
He said that several Muslim organisations will participate in the celebrations of International Yoga Day. Yoga not only brings concentration but also cures various diseases, said he adding that the success of Yoga depends on four factors including method, timing, continuity and concentration.
Ramdev said that today about 700 crore people in the world started understanding Yoga. About the two days yoga training camp, Ramdev said that during the training camp, people would be imparted training in those yoga practices also which have been included in the Yoga Protocol of International Yoga Day.
He also thanked the Chief Minister Manohar lal for giving yoga due recognition and a dignified place in the State. Notably, Ramdev had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Haryana Government and had announced to open as many as 10,000 yoga training centres in the State within next two years with the assistance of State Government so as to impart yoga training to the youth.