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Monday, June 22, 2015

The Indian Prime minister on Yoga

Today, different body postures (asana) have become synonymous with Yoga, thanks to several renowned  teachers who laid over-emphasis on it for whatever reason.

I was curious to know what the Indian Prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi has to say about it since he is considered to be someone who sincerely practices Yoga. This is what he said during the International Yoga day celebration on 21st June 2015 in New Delhi. (I am giving a simple English summary of what he said in Hindi)

"(Just) body postures (asana) is not Yoga. If twisting and turning were Yoga, then every circus artist would have to be called a Yogi. Body postures are only a small part of Yoga. Their role is just to prepare the body for the main thing. It is like tuning the musical instruments before a concert begins.. Tuning definitely serves the purpose of producing the right sound during the concert, but tuning itself is not the musical concert"

Original Hindi audio clip

Well said.