Yoga might achieve what communism didn’t
- Vamsee Juluri, Hindustan Times
|
- Updated: Jun 20, 2015 01:04 IST
If
the government could set up yoga institutes around the world without the fear
of stepping on secular toes there could be a more intellectually focused,
locally meaningful, and socially progressive direction given to this
phenomenon. (Bidesh Manna/HT photo)
The belief in some progressive
circles that yoga is an elite lifestyle indulgence and a distraction from
serious issues is a mistaken one. Yoga is more than a set of physical postures
for the rich to look beautiful. It is a philosophical worldview that connects
the spiritual and social worlds elegantly and may one day achieve what
Marxism’s many struggles have failed to do.
The yoga studios that have sprouted
across the United States are catering not simply to some commercialised
narcissism as sceptics in India might suspect, but also to a growing discourse
about what it means to live ethically in a global society scarred by greed,
inequality and environmental destructiveness. Yoga magazines and retreats talk
not only about health and peace of mind, but also about issues like sustainability
and ending exploitation.
In India too, the discourse around
yoga that is emerging in less privileged and less westernised social contexts
is marked by a powerful critique of the normalised practices of today’s society
such as consumerism and junk food. Some of this discourse might sound naively
nativist, but that part might well be a response to the entrenched disdain in
the Indian elite consensus for things spiritual or Indian, rather than any deep
‘yogic’ antipathy.
Yoga today carries the promise of a
far-reaching progressive spiritual-social movement. Unlike the Marxists, who
push for political change with little consideration for the poetry of the soul
that animates human striving, and unlike the dry moralists of traditional
religions, who propound dogma over insight, the global yogis of today have the
possibility to create something better than what politics and religion have
done.
For that to happen, at least one
gesture needs to come from the land of yoga’s birth. We must not vandalise
yoga’s global potential with our petty posturing and secular-communal clichés.
We shouldn’t have to bargain about ‘Oms’ and ‘Surya Namaskars’ as a
prerequisite for people to feel better. After all, yoga has gone global without
some imperialist Hindu agenda accompanying it. That has always been the
greatness of Hindu universalism. It needs no armies. De-Hinduising yoga is
therefore not only unnecessary, but also counterproductive. Yoga cannot be a
force for change without respect for its philosophy.
If we could create a universal
pedagogy around yoga, something remarkable could happen. If the government
could set up yoga institutes around the world without the fear of stepping on
secular toes there could be a more intellectually focused, locally meaningful,
and socially progressive direction given to this phenomenon. Is it not the
worldview of a yogi that has produced the greatest critique of capitalist
modernity? If Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and other similar works could be
taught in the space of yoga culture, a better vocabulary for reflection,
critique, and social change might emerge than anything the militant-isms have
given us.
Surya namaskaras might not replace
the clenched fist overnight. But today’s global yoga culture has revived the
idea that one’s spiritual well-being is connected to the other’s material
well-being. That is a revolution worth pursuing.
Vamsee Juluri is professor of media studies, University of San Francisco
Vamsee Juluri is professor of media studies, University of San Francisco
The views expressed are personal
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