Yoga passes secularism test in US

[RangerPK]

Yoga originated in times of mythology back then there were no states there was only Bharatha. States came in to existence only later after hundreds of years.

How long do you think that was? I am asking for rough estimate of years...

 

[blood]

in china yoga is popular for women to learn it.

never see a male learn yoga

when the doctor prescribes a medicine do you ask him is it is for male or female ..
yoga is good for you mind and health, it is just like a medicine
i remember i was not good in maths and use to attend remedial classes in 10th std , my teacher asked me to do yoga for one hour every day in the morning i found these immediate changes in me
my concentration increased, so did my memory power
at the same time its a very good cure for anxiety and impatience, after doing yoga or meditation you feel like you have complete control over your mind and thoughts.

dont reject something which is good in your blind hatred.

 

[bornmoron]

What do u mean by " times of Mythology back"

Yoga originated in times of mythology back then there were no states there was only Bharatha. States came in to existence only later after hundreds of years.

 

[INDIC]

Sub continent is a vast region, which includes many diverse ethnicities, nations and states. I do not know where exactly it originated. As far as I know, it is completely absent in our culture (Pakistan), and no body really knows anything about it.

Yoga evolved across centuries throughout India and there are different types of Yoga. The Indus valley seals shows the Yoga type meditation. But meditation is too just one type of Yoga.

 

[navtrek]

WASHINGTON: Yoga enthusiasts in the US got a big boost this week when a California judge ruled that the practice which originated in India is now a ''distinctly American cultural phenomenon,'' while dismissing complaints from some parents that teaching it to school children amounted to ''an unconstitutional promotion of Eastern religions.''

Weeks of testimony from yoga practitioners and opponents, including live demonstration in courtroom of poses taught to children, came to a convoluted finale on Monday when Judge John Mayer agreed that yoga ''at its roots is religious,'' but pronounced that the kind introduced by a school district near San Diego, which was the subject of the litigation, passed the test of secularism. "A reasonable student would not objectively perceive that Encinitas School District yoga does advance or promote religion," he said.

Parents of some children had sued to stop the school district from teaching yoga maintaining it is a religious practice that surreptitiously promoted Hinduism. Funded with $533,000 from the K.Pattabhi Jois Foundation, which is backed by Jois acolytes, hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II and his wife Sonia, the school district introduced a three-year pilot yoga program in 2011, with twice a week classes in addition to regular physical education.

While some 30 families pulled their children out of the classes, saying teaching of yoga in schools blurred the line between church and state and "represents a serious breach of the public trust," many parents backed the program, which the school said was also aimed at curbing aggressive behavior and bullying. School authorities said in court that they had removed all religious elements from what was taught to the students, including the use of the word Namaste and substituting Sanskrit name of asanas with English ones. For instance, Padmasana, usually called lotus pose in English, became ''criss cross apple sauce'' in Americanese to appeal to children.

In fact, Judge Meyer, who had told the court early in the case that he himself had taken Bikram yoga classes, went so far as to observe that the yoga taught in Encinitas schools was no different from exercise programs like dodgeball. He was also irritated that some of the plaintiffs were not really informed about yoga as taught in the Encinitas schools and had simply got their information from dubious sources on the internet. ''It's almost like a trial by Wikipedia, which isn't what this court does,'' he observed.

The petitioners have said they will appeal against the court's ruling, but for now, yoga enthusiasts are celebrating the victory because it sets an important legal precedent for expanding yoga in school programs. In fact, some observers seemed pleased at the judge's seeming cultural appropriation of yoga while observing that it was as American as apple pie, noting that yoga came to the US more than a century ago with the arrival of the first Indian mystics and spiritual figures.

Paramahamsa Yogananda lived in the US in the 1920s, and is in fact, thought to be the first Indian pubic figure to be entertained at the White House in 1927 - by President Calvin Coolidge.

Source

Interesting. Not sure what to make of this. what do you guys think?

At a high level I think as long as they give proper credit to Indians for its evolution we shouldn't have any problem how they do it. Also how much benfit is lost by removing chanting or Hindu practice in Yoga. Esentially I don't really know since I don't do it. But would be interesting to get some thoughts from practitioners.

I have been practicing yoga for 10 years now (right from class 6) for me yoga is not exercise its about connecting to my spiritual side.

Yoga has eight stages if i am not wrong and each stage takes you one stem closer to realizing your soul most people in India would have heard about Jeevantha Samadhi which is the last stage of Yoga where one attains Enlightenment.

There are many Sages like Sai Baba and Swami Vivekananda who have attained such a stage.

But the sad part is people even Indians think of yoga as a exercise to keep good health which is true but there is a deeper meaning and stages. Yoga is not religious it is spiritual. After years of practice i sort of know the difference it makes to life.

Stress levels are low, Even in a hectic development environment of the company i work in calm, I have always been happy and cheerful in all the thick and thins.

I strongly recommend yoga to everyone. The concept of Yoga(Hinduism) is simple it says there is god withing everyone of us in the form of our soul and the aim of life is to realize the soul within.

A Muslim can practice yoga to realize Allah who is within him, the same with a Christian who can see Jesus residing within him
This in one line is Hinduism which is a way of life to realize the soul.

That is why we say Hinduism deals with the Spirit.

Forgetting this truth i find people in India dragging Hinduism everywhere apart from where its required.

 

[RangerPK]

Yoga evolved across centuries throughout India and there are different types of Yoga. The Indus valley seals shows the Yoga type meditation. But meditation is too just one type of Yoga.

So basically no body knows when it was invented and where it was invented.... the only evidence of its "origins" are found in Pakistan of old remains of carved drawings on a stone, which can be interpreted in any way.

Edit1: It can be a drawing made by a 5 year old of of a guy just sitting....you never know.


I am not convinced.

 

[navtrek]

How long do you think that was? I am asking for rough estimate of years...

Yuga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Its pretty old buddy cant exactly say but according to Hindu mythology its as above.
(I know the numbers mentioned above are unbelievable but then a lot of things can be proved they are just there)

Yoga has its origins in Satya yuga. Currently we are in the Kaliyuga.

 

[my2cents]

I see. I guess for some reason it never really reached the region of Pakistan or at least never got popular here... Most people here are oblivious to what yoga is, and never have heard of it. Only educated people are familiar with the term, but that is mostly because of American pop culture and how it is promoted through television.


PS: You know when you watch American television, there is this one clichéd episode, there is a guy who goes through a phase in which he tries to make a superficial attempt to be "spiritual" and he picks up yogo. etc.

I don't think Yoga would have been popular in the west, if it was promoted as Hindu. It was a concerted effort of various gurus who went westward who took its hindu elements out, to make it easy to undersand to their audience. They presented it has a spiritual discipline which can be practiced by any religious person of any denomination.

Yogananda who went to united states in 1920's initiated many disciples to his cause. His disciples opened centers and called them centers of self realization. His was mostly Kriya (meditation) yoga.

From 1924 to 1960 there was virtual ban on Indian immigration. Most students of yoga went east to seek knowledge.

It was initially western practitioners of hatha yoga who learned yoga from various masters in India, who promoted its cause in the west. After 1960's, after the relaxation of immigration visas, new wave of Indian gurus went west to promote their version of yoga. They found a way to make it palatable for secular minded people by taking out the Hindu connotations from usage and made it a huge success.

Close to 20 million Americans do some kind of yoga according to Yoga journal. There are 30,000 Yoga workshops spread across united states.

In case of Pakistan, enough people know its origins and hence would not venture to take its hindu elements out. Anything Indian or in particular Hindu spiritual practices would be vehemently denounced in Pakistan and would be termed shirk.

 

[doremon]

Yoga is universal a friend of mine in Spain goes to classes every week its everywhere in the west now but they should never try to claim it from us! like they took our Swastika and twisted its meaning

arey yar swastika was not just a hindu symbol of good luck it was also a christian symbol of goodluck,even today u can find this symbols in chruches of europe ,did u know hitler got the idea of swastika for his political party not from hindus but from chruches in germany where he was a choir boy for few year before the start of his poitical career...

 

[itaskol]

when the doctor prescribes a medicine do you ask him is it is for male or female ..
yoga is good for you mind and health, it is just like a medicine
i remember i was not good in maths and use to attend remedial classes in 10th std , my teacher asked me to do yoga for one hour every day in the morning i found these immediate changes in me
my concentration increased, so did my memory power
at the same time its a very good cure for anxiety and impatience, after doing yoga or meditation you feel like you have complete control over your mind and thoughts.

dont reject something which is good in your blind hatred.

not because yoga itself. to hire a yoga teacher for your own is expensive.
if you go to public yoga course. you will probably be the only male in the course. and the female member will laughing at you for sure.

 

[third eye]

So basically no body knows when it was invented and where it was invented.... the only evidence of its "origins" are found in Pakistan of old remains of carved drawings on a stone, which can be interpreted in any way.

It can be a drawing made by a 5 year old of a guy taking a dump....you never know.

I am not convinced.

With responses like these why would anyone try to convince the likes of you ?

A poster posts images of the IVC and thats what you see it.

BTW such things are not invented - they are evolved.

 

[doremon]

its hardly matter bro weather it is develop in Pakistan or Indian............yoga practice is good for health......we should not mix with religious thing..................you can name it any thing............it is purely design for individual ...........to reach extreme level of self actualization or spirituality as well health body and brain.......every buddy must get benefit out of this

yes ur right as a christian myself i was also taught yoga in convent even nuns and chruch fathers are taught yoga,my friend who is a muslim also used to pratice yoga,but his parents complained the school authorities not to practice surya namaskar because they believed that we are praying to sun god

 

[navtrek]

So basically no body knows when it was invented and where it was invented.... the only evidence of its "origins" are found in Pakistan of old remains of carved drawings on a stone, which can be interpreted in any way.

It can be a drawing made by a 5 year old of a guy taking a dump....you never know.
I am not convinced.

Their origins are in holy texts called as puranas.

The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are 196 Indian sūtras (aphorisms) that constitute the foundational text of Rāja yoga. Yoga is one of the six orthodox āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, which, according to the Yogatattva Upanishad, is divided into four forms – Mantrayoga, Layayoga, Hathayoga and Rājayoga.

Although the Yoga Sutras have become the most important text of Yoga, the opinion of most scholars is that Patañjali was not the creator of Yoga, which existed well before him, but merely a great expounder.

So basically no body knows when it was invented and where it was invented.... the only evidence of its "origins" are found in Pakistan of old remains of carved drawings on a stone, which can be interpreted in any way.

It can be a drawing made by a 5 year old of a guy taking a dump....you never know.


I am not convinced.

The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj' which essentially means to join or unite. The union referred to is that of the individual self uniting with Cosmic Consciousness or the Universal Spirit. Yoga is a means to achieving this goal.

Born in India, almost 26,000 years ago, Yoga is believed to have evolved during the period of the ‘Satya Yuga’, also called the Golden age. This period became known as a time of everlasting peace and abundant blessings, filled with seekers of the Eternal Truth. That is why, probably, even today we associate yoga with sages and hermits.

It was not until the discovery of the Indus- valley civilization, the largest civilization, that knowledge about the origin of Yoga surfaced. Excavations give evidence of yoga’s existence during this period; yogi -like figures engraved on soapstone seals have been unearthed. In fact, it was the Aryans, migrating from the north- west, who were instrumental in discovering yoga.

Read more: Origin of Yoga | Medindia http://www.medindia.net/yoga-lifestyle/yoga-orgin.htm#ixzz2Y3CvSSHy

 

[RangerPK]

With responses like these why would anyone try to convince the likes of you ?

A poster posts images of the IVC and thats what you see it.

BTW such things are not invented - they are evolved.

I am sorry if you found that offensive, but my point being, vague, obscure drawings can be interpreted in any way, so I don't see the point in reading too much in to them. In the end, they are quite meaningless.

PS: I edited that line.

 

[INDIC]

So basically no body knows when it was invented and where it was invented.... the only evidence of its "origins" are found in Pakistan of old remains of carved drawings on a stone, which can be interpreted in any way.

It can be a drawing made by a 5 year old of a guy taking a dump....you never know.


I am not convinced.

The posture looks like the Meditation, during meditation, the body should be kept straight and the straight hands should be placed over the knee-cap in the sitting position.