Correct branding is essential to project oneself in public life. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a master when it comes to marketing himself. Along with his friend Ramdev, the PM has managed to position himself as the champion for the cause of Yoga, India’s oldest cultural heritage and largest export.
One of my most favourite books is Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. What makes Patanjali unique is that he is absolutely scientific. He never assumes and he never denies. Patanjali says God is one of the many ways to reach the ultimate. But it is not necessary to believe in God to reach your destination. God is a path. Some may choose that path, others may choose another. The path is not important, the goal is. God is just one of the paths.

Yoga is a science. It is neither theistic nor atheistic. And Patanjali did not create a religious ritual. In fact, far from it. Patanjali, like I said, earlier was absolutely scientific. In fact, he says one can be Godless.
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The Yoga Sutra never insisted on a concept. Patanjali describes Yoga as ‘Chitta Viriddhi Nirodha’ or the opening up of the closed mind. The aim of Yoga is to reach one’s true self and to reach the goal, one has to let go of biases and prejudices.

India’s other oldest legacy, the Ayurveda, pescribes meat and fish prepared in certain ways. It understands that nature is diverse and in snow covered lands or in deserts, there may not be enough vegetation. Therefore Shiva, who we consider the greatest Yogi, and who lives on the snowy peaks of Mount Kailash at the Himalyas, is a non-vegetarian. In fact, even alcohol, is offered to him in many of his temples.

Both the Prime Minister and his friend Ramdev have often spoken out against non-vegetarian food. The Prime Minister has been very comfortable with certain meats being banned. But does this have anything to do with purity or reaching your goal? Yoga certainly doesn’t say so. All that the Yoga Sutra teaches, is that one has to drop all the biases to reach the ultimate truth. Like those against non-vegetarian food or even the ones against homosexuals.

Again, the PM and his friend Ramdev, have not been pro-homosexuals. To the extent of using the Patanjali name, Ramdev sells medicines to ‘cure’ people of the ‘ disease’ of homosexuality. With the platform he has, there will be many who will be influenced to think, that being a homosexual is impure, it is a disease. Strangely the concept of disease does not exist in Yoga. In Yoga Sutra, Patanjali writes, Yoga is about creating harmony to reach the ultimate destination.

So ancient Indian scriptures accepted and understood that homosexuality is natural. Today science concurs, that homosexuality is documented in several animal species. In ancient India, we not only accepted it but even celebrated it. So Krishna, another great Yogi, turns into Mohini and spends a night with Arjuna’s son, who had to be sacrificed, so the war could be won, but he did not want to die a bachelor and in the morning, Mohini wails and mourns for her ‘husband’ like a widow would. Or Shiva who transforms into a gopi to dance the Leela. ‎
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Indian mythology has several examples of different sexual choices and to date in many cultures in India this choice is celebrated.

So when the Prime Minister ensures India votes with Russia, Pakistan and Iran, or Ramdev calls the homosexuals diseased or between them, they encourage the ban on certain foods, because to be pure and reach your destination one needs to not eat meats, one suspects that they may have perfected the asanas and branded themselves superbly with their show of the pranayamas, but if they still have prejudices, they have not yet mastered the art of Yoga.

(First Post: Tehseen Poonawalla is an entruprenuer, life coach and a student of Indian mythology.)