Promoting yoga

Sir —

The controversy over the need for the Indian Government to push yoga on everyone notwithstanding, the Modi regime continues to be fascinated by the idea of promoting mega events. Such an approach is both advantageous and disadvantageous. After all, once hype is created, it has to be translated into results. The storm over the omission of the name of Vice President Hamid Ansari from the official list of invitees for the yoga day function, was just a pointer to the problem of politics of protocol getting the better of the proceedings.

Nonetheless, all credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for turning Rajpath into Yogpath on the International Yoga Day, with his charismatic presence at the gathering of performers responsible for the large attendance. So much so, the Rajpath event created a new Guinness world record, with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue simultaneously and 84 nationalities being part of the function. 

Do we detect traces of a ‘saffronised motive’ behind thisIJ According to the great sage, Maharishi Patanjali, who systematised and codified the then existing yogic practices, “Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.” It is mentioned that yoga is essentially a spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body.