Yoga Demoted to being a Sport

Yoga does not anymore pave the way to spiritual freedom. It has now been devalued to a sport. I have to make the case. Here I go:

I am not saying this, but one Raja Randhir Singh is reported to have said, if not directly and also not taking a very complicated path – the Buddha's Middle-way. He has so far had a tenure of more than 33 years in the Olympic Council of Asia as a member. So, you know that he has a voice. This is a matter of concern.

He is quoted in an article in The Hindu of September 6, 2024 entitled “Randhir confident of yoga becoming an Asian sport”: “Every country works hard to promote their (sic) sports – China did for wushu, Japan for Karate, we also brought in kabadi in 1990.” Oh, by the way, we have “Rhythmic Gymnastics”, which does involve athleticism!

The above is the justification for making yoga, already approved by the OCA sports committee and the executive board, and “...on the 8^th [of July], I am confident of yoga being recognized as an Asian Games sport.” He adds, per the news item, “yoga has become a global sport”.

So, yoga (note the lower case letter), on the way to becoming an Olympic event, is to have a quantitative measurement system, as do events like diving, gymnastics with accurate, not necessarily precise, metrics. So, the asanas (italics in the original) have to have a system of points, degree of difficulty for each posture (or, whatever it may be called) and the duration of sustaining that posture and on and on ...

Of course, in due course, the west would hijack it and there would be a competitive market in the sports apparel business for, beyond yoga wear, to yoga mats, their bounciness (rather, their stiffness) and even postures may be copyrighted or trademarked (depending on it being an expression of a thought process, or physical body). Of course, it is a short jump to yoga sports medicines, yoga sports doctors...

Forget about mental stability, acuity, looking within oneself  etc. that were seen to be the by-products of yoga; now, it is purely competitive and commercial. And that is a demotion, from the so-called spiritual realm to the truly material.

Buddha, you may as well go and hide yourself!

Raghuram Ekambaram