California judge rules in favor of Yoga 'without Hinduism'

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mango

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California judge rules in favor of Yoga 'without Hinduism'

Post28 Jul 2013

This article some may find interesting.
California judge rules in favor of Yoga 'without Hinduism'

Washington, USA: Yoga enthusiasts in the US got a big boost this week when a California judge ruled that the practice which originated in India is now a "distinctly American cultural phenomenon," while dismissing complaints from some parents that teaching it to school children amounted to "an unconstitutional promotion of Eastern religions."
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ex-l

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Re: California judge rules in favor of Yoga 'without Hinduis

Post28 Jul 2013

That seems like a good decision. There are some nutty elements of Christian America who would see curry as a gateway drug to Satanism just because it was made by a man in a turban (There's crazy and ignorance out there, after 9/11 some Sikhs got beat up because the White Americans could not tell them apart from Muslim).

How they think that becoming hugely obese couch potatoes brings them closer to Christ when some women in tight pants are evil, I have no idea. Anyone who is in anyway unsure that yogi is no longer holy ought to Google not "Hot Yoga", which is now a legally protected ™ (TM is a ™ too ... TM™), but "steamy hot Yoga"! It's has even been "pornographised".

I can see how the Brahma Kumaris might exploit this and hide their cultic religious aspects. I mean, that is what they spend most of their time doing. One of my pet peeves about them is that they robbed the term "Raja Yoga" from its original 2,000 year old form and tradition, and used it for their post-1955 practise with the additional audacity of claiming *theirs* was the "ancient one".

I don't even think the Brahma Kumaris teach Yoga. I think even that was just a early marketing device.

Yoga has become a huge commercial business, something the BKs are not blind too and are nibbling at the edges by marketing themselves as such. It said the amount spent on it annually in the US is now $27 Billion which is a 87% rise over the last 5 years.

And, in their usual shapeshifting manner of contrarily claiming they are ...
    a) not Hindus, but
    b) yet are promoting Hinduism; that
    c) Hinduism is the path of ignorance, but
    d) they are representing the Hindu community ...
    e) they "don't do Hindu Bhakti rituals", but
    f) they do their own lightweight version of all the major ones (... next expect "cracking coconuts for corporate executive courses").
I can imagine that they'll try and exploit it if they can.

The Brahma Kumaris are proponents of spiritualism, not Yoga or even the now meaningless "spirituality".

"We're not religious, we're spiritual" is the mantra of today. "We're not Hindu, we're ..." fill in the blank as required.

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