The
last month was filled with very interesting and exciting developments. Even as
this editorial is being written European Union has backed Indian Prime
Minister’s call to observe International Yoga Day. "EU supports your
initiative for a Yoga Day," the EU President Herman Von Rompuy told the
Prime Minister during their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. About
130 countries, including the US, Canada and China, have signed for a
co-sponsorship of a draft resolution which India's UN mission is preparing for
declaring June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
Interestingly
the November 2014 issue of ‘Scientific American’ has the benefits of meditation
as its cover story. Written by French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard and
neuroscientists Antoine Lutz and Richard Davidson, the cover story in the
premier American science magazine shows how meditation creates changes in the
brain to improve focus and reduce stress. For long the West has been fascinated
with Yoga and meditation as health techniques to be integrated with the fast
life culture of the consumerist society. Reduction in stress to increase in
attention to many correlated physiological and psychological benefits, Yoga and
meditation have been viewed as treasures obtained from the exotic West. Curiously
except for the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Vedanta school and the school of
Buddhism many Indian Gurus of Yogic techniques have often used these benefits
to ‘market’ Yoga and build their own personality based cults. The result has
been that Yoga has been reduced to a specific set of practices for inner
wellbeing in a fast moving consumerist society.
It
is in such a context that the voice of Indian Prime Minister becomes very
important. The context in which Prime
Minister referred to Yoga was when he was talking about climate change and
going back to basics. As a person
inspired by Swami Vivekananda our Prime Minister rightly pointed out that Yoga
is not just about fitness or exercise, it is about changing one's lifestyle.
Moving away from consumerist lifestyle towards a green eco-friendly
earth-friendly lifestyle is what is needed and Yoga should become an instrument
towards achieving that. The only other person who has been advocating such a
connection between the inner and outer culture through contemplation is His
Holiness Dalai Lama the venerable Buddist leader. Both Vedanta and Buddhist
meditation traditions emphasis that the quieted mind becomes peaceful and hence
non-predatory. When a civilization is built on such a cultivation of mind then
that civilization becomes non-expansionist and non-exploitative either of the
fellow human beings or of the nature around us.
This
has been dramatically brought about by the recent findings of National
Geographic magazine. In its study of the planetary friendly consumer behavior
of ordinary people from the world nations, which the magazine team conducted during
2008-2014 it consistently found the Indians performing well. India with a score
of 61.4 tops the world. As the study says: “Indians' Greendex score has
increased very considerably since 2012 and they remain in 1st place overall.
Their Housing score has increased greatly, and their Food score has also
increased. Their Transportation score has also seen a modest increase.” In the
vital area of food consumption the six years based study reveals the following:
·
Indians are among
the least frequent consumers of imported foods, and consumption of such foods
has decreased since 2009. They are among of the most frequent consumers of
self-grown food.
·
They are much
less likely to consume beef or pork than are consumers in the other countries
surveyed.
·
Indians are among
the most frequent consumers of fruits and vegetables.
It
is clearly the cultural impact of Indian life that has led to the eco-friendly
food habits of the Indians. This in turn has to be related to the core yoga
values that form the Indian cultural and social life – namely moderation in
consumption and self-reliance rather than looking for external sources. So when
the Prime Minister wanted an International Yoga Day he wanted not just a
symbolic act of enacting a mental and physical exercise.
The
assertion of Indic roots of Yoga even as we take it globally is very much
important for another reason as well. Because there is a two way attack on Yoga
– one is deconstruction and another is appropriation. Anti-Hindu academics like
Meera Nanda had argued that Yoga itself was only created in recent times based
on certain western exercises. Laughable as it is this kind of assertion merely
stems from a deeply enslaved mind. Another danger is the appropriation of Yoga
by straight jacketing it into a religious theology that is alien to the heart
of Yogic culture and spirituality. Thus Yoga is reduced here to mere mental and
physical exercises and the sublime spiritual essence is replaced by a
monotheistic deity. Such appropriation of Yoga by proselytizing religions has
not been adequately challenged even by most of the so-called ‘New age’ Gurus
who see this as merely expansion of their market. In such a situation, an
enlightened government in India speaking for Yoga as an Indic gift to world
humanity is a very welcome sign. Moving beyond individual personality cults
Yoga then can be taken as the flag bearer of Indian culture and spirituality.
That on the 151st year of Swami Vivekananda a Prime Minister also
named Narendra should make a clarion call for such a process is heartwarming
and inspiring.
May
Yoga bring the planet the peace and harmony.
Aravindan Neelakandan
YB-ET