Yoga Negated Through Modi’s Hate Speeches

The societal harmony being flagged to mark International Yoga Day celebrations this year is negated by Modi’s numerous hate speeches against Muslims delivered just over two weeks ago while campaigning in the recently concluded 18th general elections.

The PM’s diatribes against people pursuing Islamic faith and his repeated utterances that they are “infiltrators” out to take away properties of Hindus if his political opponents acquire power, was contrary to the ideals of societal harmony. Even his repeated false assertions that certain political parties on coming to power would make Muslims entitled to reservation meant for Dalits, Scheduled tribes and Other Backward Classes, were aimed at causing societal disharmony for electoral gains.

Such Islamophobia demonstrated in his speeches shocked the nation and outraged the international community.

Vivekananda Linked Yoga With Ability to Fight Tyrants

Had Swami Vivekananda been alive, he would have found it despicable that a person occupying the post of Prime Minister and taking credit for sensitising the UN to celebrate June 21 every year as International Yoga Day, is in his actions and speeches spewing venom against people in the name of faith.

Swami Vivekananda would have recalled one of his remarks on Yoga made while speaking in the US  on the subject “Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life.” He said, “No breathing, no physical training of Yoga, nothing is of any use until you reach to the idea, “I am the Witness.” Say, when the tyrant hand is on your neck, “I am the Witness! I am the Witness!” Say, “I am the Spirit! Nothing external can touch me.” When evil thoughts arise, repeat that, give that sledgehammer blow on their heads, “I am the Spirit!

Tragically, the ruling leadership has dragged our country down to the level of electoral autocracy where the all- pervasive doctrine of frightfulness sustains their rule.

Swami Vivekananda’s words “the tyrant hand is on your neck” have become a reality in India during the past 10 years. We need to be empowered by Yoga to say “I am the witness” to get our freedom and democracy back. This is the revolutionary meaning of Yoga for emancipation from dictatorial methods of governance being perpetuated in India now in complete contravention of the constitutional vision of country. Mere asanas, Yogic postures, are not enough; we need to imbibe the spirit of Yoga to defy leaders who trample upon our life and liberty.

Yoga Compliments Religious Pluralism

In another speech delivered in the US on the theme “The Goal and Method of Realisation”, Vivekananda referred to the different types of Yoga — Karma, Bhakti, Raja, Jnana — and said, “These are all different roads leading to the same centre — God.”

Adding further, he upheld coexistence of all faiths by saying, “Indeed, the varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage man to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making successful appeals to the divine instinct in all men”.

Vivekananda’s ringing words, “…the varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good” articulated by him in the context of explaining the meaning of Yoga, assume greater significance when Modi, as Prime Minister, tramples upon the essence of Yoga by delivering toxic speeches against Muslims, stoking religious disharmony, discord and hatred. Hence, how do Modi’s pronouncements promote “…both individual well-being and societal harmony” one of the themes of this year’s International Yoga Day?

Gandhi and Yoga

Yoga is rooted in the meditative aspects of religion that are integral to the values of ethics and non-violence. In Patanjali’s eight-fold Yoga, the first fold prescribed, among others, truth, non-violence, non-possession and non-stealing. These ideals constitute the first syllable of Yoga. Mahatma Gandhi did not follow any yogic practice but made truth and non-violence the sheet anchor of India’s struggle to attain freedom from British rule.

Modi, on the other hand, has been delivering hate speeches that constitute a travesty of Yoga and its foundational ideals of truth and non-violence. He should redeem himself of the breaches of those ideals first before waxing eloquent on Yoga and societal harmony.

The writer served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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The following is an extract from Modi’s speech addressed to the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 to advocate for the adoption of an International Yoga Day:
 
“[Yoga] is an invaluable gift of our ancient tradition…It is not about exercise, but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature…By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change.”
 
What exactly is going on here? The ancient tradition that is repeatedly used to root the practice of yoga is one purposively cleansed of the influence of ‘foreign [read Muslim] invaders’. The ancient tradition that is referred to unhesitatingly is a reference to the culmination of religious traditions that have now been embraced by the giant conglomerate of Hinduism. The Indian derivative of yoga is a recent phenomenon to manipulatively juxtapose an integral element of the demographically dominant religion with national identity.
 
The Yoga Sutra composed by Patanjali in circa 150 BCE states:
 
“The Lord of Yoga is a distinct form of spirit unaffected by the forces of corruption, by actions, by the fruits of action, or by the subliminal intentions. In the Lord of Yoga is the incomparable seed of omniscience…”
 
The word, ‘Yoga’ has Sanskrit roots and means ‘union’ according to one source; the Maitri Upanishad explains this union as one of breath, mind, and consciousness. Another source attributes the origins of the Sanskrit term to ‘yoke’, which first appeared in the Rig Veda to describe a chariot yoked to horses, in which a felled war hero might ascend to the sun. Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina writings have referenced the term, ‘Yoga’ since 3^rd century BCE to mean eight steps of spiritual meditation. However, both Buddhism and Jainism have already been problematically brought within the legal fold of Hinduism under codified Hindu law. The Supreme Court too has indicated concern regarding the tussle between the secular pillars of Indian democracy and yoga, which has been acknowledged to possess a religious component, in determining the validity of State-sanctioned yoga classes in schools. The ‘Take Back Yoga’ campaign spearheaded by the Hindu American Foundation has expressly linked yoga with Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutra. With Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, carving out the Bhagawad Gita as the best reflector of Indian (and not Hindu) culture, the ruling government is systematically conflating Hinduism with India, and relegating ‘othered’ religious minorities to the unfortunate destiny of second-class citizenry. True, the spread of yoga to different parts of the world has led to an inevitable diminution of the role of religion and a greater emphasis on health and spirituality sans religion. However, should that take away from the subtlety of Hindu fundamentalists revamping a religious ideal as they indulge in unapologetic assimilatory politics?
 
“Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through Yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too.”
-Prime Minister Narendra Modi (1^st International Yoga Day, 2015)
 
Modi deliberately affiliates and identifies India with a singular language, tradition and culture. The erasure of diversity, both within Hinduism and across religions and languages and cultures, ought to be weaved into the larger assimilatory narrative of a spiritual, saffronised India.
 
Hindu fundamentalists have followed through by typically demanding those who think surya namaskaar should be excluded from yoga, for being offensive to their religious sentimentalities in worshipping the sun, to leave Hindustan.
 
“The physical engagement, mental discipline and sublimation of desire enshrined in yoga meld seamlessly, yet discreetly, with the more militaristic tenets of organizations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
 -N.Y. Times (Jun. 19, 2015)
 
The repackaging of the gift of yoga then seems suspect, for it legitimates Hindu majoritarianism in the name of precarious references to the (necessarily homogenous) cultural and national identity of India. Savarkar’s Hindutva dedicates itself to a nation building project that evokes commitment to one India. The past three years have been fraught with instances where the ruling government has consistently privileged Hindu symbols and members of Hindu fundamentalist organizations in the hope of building a Hindu Rashtra. Office bearers today play an active role in subtly maneuvering around the hurdle of secularism, and the symbol of the cow, Om, the Gita, Sanskrit, and yoga suffice to establish a trend of intertwining religion and politics in the name of the nation.
 
The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) was formed in 2014 and Shripad Yasso Naik, a former member of the Hindu nationalist Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, was handed over the said portfolio. The Ministry is an official statutory body committed to recycling primarily Hindu practices and coercively selling it to a religiously diverse State as integral to the idea of India. Modi has effectively recast yoga in a new mold of secularism, strikingly similar to the Hindutva project of projecting the call for a Hindu nation as comfortably committed to secular values. 
 
One would think that the judiciary would live up to its promise of protecting the People and the Constitution that they gave to themselves. The Supreme Court has, hopefully inadvertently, sided with the narrative of the Hindu-right in declaring Om to be a mere symbol of “spiritual or mystical efficacy” (as opposed to bearing religious connotations), and Hinduism as well as Hindutva to mean a way of life of the Indian people. This has effectively extricated the religious symbolism of terms and their usages from their socio-political and intellectual histories. Identities are being crumbled, remolded and crystallized by the Politic and the Law. There is an imminent call for assimilation and with the absence of a politically viable alternative, the call is here to stay. 

(The author is a student of Jindal Global Law School)
 

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