Is yoga Hindu? Campaign ignites fresh debate in US

Americans, including those of Indian origin, are debating whether yoga, practised by about 15 million in that country, is Hindu. 

The Times of India reports:

… (A) group of Indian-Americans has ignited a surprisingly fierce debate in the gentle world of yoga by mounting a campaign to acquaint Westerners with the faith that it says underlies every single yoga style followed in gyms, ashrams and spas: Hinduism.The campaign, labeled “Take Back Yoga,” does not ask yoga devotees to become Hindu, or instructors to teach more about Hinduism. The small but increasingly influential group behind it, the Hindu American Foundation, suggests only that people become more aware of yoga’s debt to the faith’s ancient traditions. 

That suggestion, modest though it may seem, has drawn a flurry of strong reactions from figures far apart on the religious spectrum. Dr Deepak Chopra, the New Age writer, has dismissed the campaign as a jumble of faulty history and Hindu nationalism. R Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has said he agrees that yoga is Hindu — and cited that as evidence that the practice imperiled the souls of Christians who engage in it.

Earlier, California-based yoga practitioner Bikram Choudhary’s attempts to patent yoga were met with outrage. In India, Swami Ramdev urged the government to counter Choudhary’s action. He was quoted as saying: “Yoga can’t be owned and run like a company. Since there are attempts to patent this tradition (of yoga) in America, the Centre and yoga organisations should take measures to prevent it.”

The Telegraph reported that India subsequently moved to patent hundreds of postures, and protect the country’s traditional knowledge from ‘theft’ by practitioners in the US.