Who owns yoga?

[Nara]

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Folks, what do you think? Is Yoga a contribution to all humanity, in which case nobody owns it -- so says Debbie Desmond, 27, a yoga instructor. Or, is it part and parcel of what we now call Hinduism, as claimed by Hindu American Foundation. Read all about it in the following NY Times article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/nyregion/28yoga.html?pagewanted=1&hp

 

[saidevo]

Who owns yoga?

The answer is simple: Patanjjali maharShi. He must have the first and only copyright of all the yogic practices. But then it is no surprise that people of the western faiths who think they own even God, or the non-believers to whom everything is only physical, won't have the generosity to credit and appreciate such things.

 

[kahanam]

It is a pity that there is to be copyright for everything under the Sun, nowadays under the patent materialistic dispensation of today. Yoga, the Universal Science originated from Bagavan Krishna Himself as mentioned in Bhagavat Gita, for the benefit of all!

 

[R. Ramanujan]

Yoga was essentially invented by Predominantly hindu ancestors. Infact I would say sandhya vanthanam we do praNaayaam in which we inhale and exhale the breath.
Some require chanting mantras. I would say a Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist would relate to yoga more than any other else. Surya namaskaram is a yoga asan where we chant mantras of Sun God. Yoga cannot be copyrighted by any private individual for personal gains.

(In fact My love for the yoga is such that I daily do a particular yoga asan for 8 hours continuous without break.............



Shavaasan from 11 pm to 7 am) ;-)

 

[happyhindu]

Interesting topic.

Who 'owns' Yoga? Patanjali? Krishna?

I remember one Chinese lady who insisted that yoga was invented by Chinese

But well that's the price Indians pay for being lackadaisical..

 

[R. Ramanujan]

Nara ji reminded me on thing on this Yoga. I want to share a tip on Yoga. Don't ever do sheershaasaan in front of everybody with vaeshti on. It can be embarrassing. ha ha.

Seriously I recommend Sudharshan Kriya to all which is taught in AOL.

 

[Brahmanyan]

According to me no one can own Yoga, a discipline for spiritual awakening. Yoga is an evolved subject, like any spiritual discipline. There may be authors of scriptures or books written by some sages or spiritual exponents. Sage Patanjali has written a magnum opus on Yoga called "Patanjali Yoga Sutra". Avadutha Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra has written wonderful commentry "yoga Sudhakara" in Sanskrit on this book. There are other books like the famous "Hathayoga Pradipika" by Swami Svatmarama. Others "Geranda Samhita" by Geranda and "Shiva Samhita" are other ancient texts on Hatha Yoga. "Sudharsana Kriya" basically introduces very useful breathing exercise. Apart from this Tibetan and Zen Buddhism follow some other texts on Yoga.
This is a vast subject, that belongs to whole humanity.
Regards,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[sangom]

Shri Nara,

I think it was Swami Vivekananda who first went to the west and tried to publicise hinduism along with his brand of Yoga called "Raja" Yoga, though Patanjali did not make such classification. Subsequently several guruijis/swamijis found it a very convenient method to take their own brands of "yoga", establish a centre in the west (read U.S.) and lead a life of luxury. None of them patented their yoga. The westerners were quick to grab this marketable commodity and make money out of it from a gullible public. Hence I feel there should be no question, now, of India owning the patent rights for yoga.

What is generally taught in the guise of yoga in the west is Hatha Yoga, I believe which has mainly to do with twisting the body to certain postures for maintaining good health. It does not deal with the yoga which deals with the final liberation, which is the main objective of Yoga Darsana. Such exercises cannot be patented since anyone who looks at a picture or photo of someone else in such a pose can very well try, as long as he is prepared to suffer the after-effects. So, unless people are prohibited from making even such attempts, how can we enforce the patent?

 

[sudeshwer]

it is well established that Pathanjali Maharishi is the Guru of Yoga. I conduct Laughter Club in California for one hour daily when we do yoga, exercises from head to toe with various kinds of laughter. although it is attended mostly by indians, we too had members from Pakistan, Afganisthan, whites and blacks too. whenever we go to spastic (mentally retarded)schools, some objectthe time being hindu religious canototion. we had to explain that although yoga has hindu canototion, it is simply meant to keep the body/healthin good condition. to summarise, to my experience, yoga has been acceptedashindu thing

 

[Iyyarooraan]

It is difficult to say that Hinduism gave Yoga to the world. Its provenance may be India but it is for universal use. We do not believe in claiming property rights over things like that. If Americans make patent rights claim for Indian spices like, turmeric stick etc. what is wrong in our claiming the property rights. They only accept the language of money!.