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 8th [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
2 comments:
When will religion become an Olympic sport?
Matheikal, you got a point there! Yet, if you take pespective of Inter-religious Games, likebetween Romans and Christians, you have already had foretaste!
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