The 1st International Day of Yoga to be celebrated worldwide on June 21st is being seen as the International Acknowledgement of Yoga by the World Community; as well as an Additional Tool for Marketing Yoga as Commodity. It depends upon our perspective.
Sometime Back, Al-Jazeera aired two shows on Yoga. I am very much surprised as well as disturbed by the comments made by the prominent that Yoga is “this” and also “that”. I believe they are referring to the present, unfortunate state of Yoga, as it is turning into a commodity. There can be no two, no different definitions of medicine or economics or mathematics. The basic definition of each of those and other disciplines is one and the same. It is the same with Yoga.
Unfortunately, Many Who are Engaged in “Selling” Yoga are not even familiar with the texts such as Yoga Sutras (the prime most text), Bhagavad Gita, and Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
I am very much disappointed in THOSE (featured in the Al Jazeera shows) who have become part of the commercialisation of Yoga and meditation. They don’t mean what they are saying. The way they defend the so-called “certified yoga teachers” selling yoga as commodity is unfortunate.
Although, i have a very high regard for them and their achievements, but their stand saddens me. They are forgetting their roots, forgetting the very purpose of Yoga, as defined by Patanjali who systematised it, or as given in the Bhagavad Gita or Hatha Yoga Pradipika. To discard all those texts and given to egoistic notion that one can learn Yoga without referring to them is purely tamasika. It betrays one’s ignorance.
