Hindus are disheartened over a church affiliated to Church of England banning yoga in its premises.
According to reports, St. Andrew’s Church and Centre, opened in 1999 in Dibden Purlieu, banned an 81 years old Christian instructor Eileen Meegan who is great-grandmother of five, from teaching yoga in the church hall, claiming that it was against the church’s religion and dangerous for the mind. “…doing yoga has enhanced my faith as a Christian”, Meegan was quoted as saying and termed church’s action as “ignorance”.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. One could still practice one’s respective faith and do yoga. Yoga would rather help one in achieving one’s spiritual goals in whatever religion one believed in. It was not at odds with any faith and rather made one spiritually healthier.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged the immediate intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Douglas Williams in this matter to permit the yoga classes in St. Andrew’s to bring goodwill among the communities.
Rajan Zed stated that yoga, referred as “a living fossil” whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, was a mental and physical discipline handed down from one guru to next, for everybody to share and benefit from. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical. It was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.
The Church of England commented “The Church of England encourages openness, welcome and hospitality towards people of other faiths and none. Christian hospitality is an essential part of mission. The church community should not be seen as a closed or exclusive group, but open and available to all who want to come in. Often churches have halls or buildings which others in the community ask to use and allowing groups the use of such facilities can be a useful way of allowing the wider community contact with Christian life, witness and hospitality, as well as a useful source of revenue where groups pay for hire of facilities”, website adds. Her Majesty the Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
