The essence of yoga is secular and spiritual

On the occasion of International Yoga Day, it should be stressed that yoga is non-denominational even as it is profoundly spiritual. It disciplines senses and helps

On the occasion of International Yoga Day, it should be stressed that yoga is non-denominational even as it is profoundly spiritual. It disciplines senses and helps one attain higher consciousness. Its foundational principles are satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), brahamacharya (continence), aparigraha (non-possession) and atreya (non-stealing). Emphasis on yoga without these principles is a negation of yoga. These foundational principles liberated us from colonial rule when Mahatma Gandhi formulated his eleven vows by incorporating satya, ahimsa, brahmacharya, aparigraha and atreya and employed them to launch the non- violent struggle against British rule.

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Yoga woven around only some asanas and breathing exercises without exploring its foundational principles narrow sits scope. Those who never participated in the freedom struggle are now using yoga by consigning those very principles to oblivion. Such attempts will restrict the meaning of yoga. High-decibel demonstrations for promoting yoga will rob it of its basic purpose to discipline the sense sand attain higher consciousness permeated by the values of non-discrimination, sharing, fellow feeling and love. Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga included in its scope all yogas— bhakti (devotion), gyan (knowledge), dhyan (meditation) and karma (duty).

Non-violence is the highest attribute of yoga. Anybody tuned to yoga has to be non-violent in word, thought and deed. If one claims one self a yogi but spews venom in the name of food habits, religion or caste, one is rejecting yoga. Adherence to yoga has to be followed by a strong and unequivocal adherence to ethics. Swami Vivekananda stressed ethics as a necessity for anybody who intended to follow yogic practices.

While Mahatma Gandhi anchored his non-violent struggle for independence on the foundational principles of yoga, Jawaharlal Nehru explored its profound dimensions to discover India and educate people about its enduring and priceless cultural, spiritual and civilisational values. In his Discovery of India, he wrote that yoga was much more than‘ odd tricks of the body’ and ‘quaint practices’ and is ‘… based on the psychological conception that by proper training of mind certain higher levels of consciousness can be reached’.

Yoga means no privilege based on differences of natural attributes even as it celebrates diversities and differences. Swami Vivekananda, who transmitted the philosophy of yoga in the western world, underlined its ethical and meditative aspects to counter fanaticism and greed.

The Supreme Court has prescribed yoga to cleanse the minds of criminals. In Hiralal Mallik vs. State of Bihar, the late Justice Krishna Iyerin 1977 had described yoga as a science of creative intelligence to augment moral tone and temper and prescribed it for a person who was convicted of murder. The court in Giasuddin vs. AP State observed that ‘Indian courts may draw inspiration from (the) Patanjalai sutra even as they derive punitive patterns from the Penal Code’.

The legacy of Gandhi and Nehru concerning yoga and the observations of the Supreme Court on Yoga are of immense relevance to underline its en during significance.

SN Sahu is joint secretary, Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The views expressed are personal.