Team Herald
PANJIM: Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Monday said Yoga has passed through the state of paranoia and prejudice for many decades.
The founder of Art of Living said during the 70s and 80s, when he used to talk about yoga in foreign countries, people would imagine someone with ash on the body, long hair and long nails standing on one leg.
“People were scared to send their young people to yoga or even meditation. Then I had to call my yoga classes Art of Living which created curiosity, there was no fear attached to it,” said the 62-year-old spiritual leader.
“We are fortunate today that we have passed that state of paranoia and the prejudice against yoga which were there for many decades,” he commented.
Yoga Guru was speaking while delivering inaugural address for two-day long International convention on Yoga For Public Health organised by Union Ministry for AYUSH in presence of the Minister Shripad Naik. Union Minister for Commerce Suresh Prabhu, who was supposed to be the chief guest, could not attend the event due to his other assignment.
Ravi Shankar said all the yogis throughout the world and the yoga teachers have undergone lot of humiliations in the 70s and 80s. “It was not an easy life for yoga teacher,” he said.
“Lot of sarcasm, cynicism, criticism they had to face but they moved through all that and today yoga has become an accepted norm world over and many institutions are interested in doing research and they are doing research,” he said.
Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu who could not attend the event addressed the participants through video message. He said that the governments are shouldering huge responsibility of providing public health and some governments are becoming bankrupt globally because they are not able to provide quality health care as a social security measures.
“It is a challenge to provide better health care without burdening the governments financially. And we have accepted the challenge,” Minister stated.
Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik addressing the gathering said that lifestyle related diseases can be easily prevented and managed through Yoga. In India yoga is getting popularity as best mode of alternative therapy, he added.
“Western countries are showing much interest in yoga. I have learnt that in the USA alone 20 million people are practicing yoga and this number is increasing at the average of five percent annually,” he said.
“The US Military training has adopted yoga in its curriculum. Many other countries like UK, other European countries and South Eastern countries are practicing yoga,” he said.
