Panaji: Goa’s Catholic legislators to raise Yoga Day issue with CM

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Panaji: Goa’s Catholic legislators and representatives of minority educational institutions could raise the issue of compulsory yoga in the state’s schools on the occasion of World Yoga day on June 21.
After a meeting of all Catholic MLAs and officials of the Roman Catholic Church-operated Diocesan Society of Education, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Calangute assembly constituency Michael Lobo told reporters on Wednesday that instead of making yoga compulsory, the decision should be left to individual school managements and parents.

“The MLAs are not taken into confidence. We would have to discuss about this… The discussion may take place tomorrow (Thursday), if the Diocesan Society of Education (DSE) takes it up (with the chief minister),” Lobo said.

Lobo, along with nearly a dozen Catholic legislators across party lines, met DSE secretary Fr. Zeferino D’Souza over a host of issues related to minority educational institutions in the state, specifically about the BJP-led coalition government’s refusal to give requisite permissions to start four new higher secondary schools built by the Society.

The Catholic lawmakers from the BJP, Congress, Goa Vikas Party and even Independent minority legislators along with DSE officials are scheduled to meet the chief minister on Thursday where the issue of compulsory yoga is also expected to be discussed, Lobo said.

“Ideally, the individual school managements and parents should decide… but we will take up the issue with the chief minister,” Lobo said.

June 21 has been declared as the World Yoga day and compulsory yoga is expected to be conducted across the country.

 


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13 Comments

  1. Its very funny- UN has decided 21 June as Yoga day… but our sickularists have objections to it! Yoga is to keep ourselves fit and united , not for silly fight against it!

    • Its very funny – UN has decided 21 June as Yoga Day.. – Mangu Man (Zimbabwe missing) Lol…

      Mangu… who cares about the UN?

      Where was the UN when the USA decided to unilaterally wage war on Iraq and Afghanistan? Who is paying for it now? Our Origi Rampu’s 30 – 35% taxes go towards funding the ‘no boots on soil’ in the Levant.

      Instead, they send our beloved Dronu Sugam’s. 😛

  2. When catholic legislators joined BJp and got elected and in Govt they have to obey and participate in Yoga.

  3. These legislators are an embarrassment to our nation. We should see yoga as part of physical education. I would be the first one to oppose any attempt to use yoga to promote any religion. Teaching yoga postures to kids is a great way to make them healthier and prepare them for life. What this incident demonstrate is a perpetual self-hating culture cultivated in our country over generations based on pure dogma and insecure religious feelings!! I truly wish we were more secular in real sense!!

    • Teaching Yoga postures to kids…… blah blah… Blah Blah Rampu

      Arre saaru, leave your job and teach yaar. Build an empire like your babadeva Ram(pa)deva. 🙂

  4. BJP again proves it has no respect for the civil and constitutional rights of non-hindus.

  5. The Catholic legislators have a point.

    I don’t think they oppose Yoga in any way. Yoga, as a physical exercise routine and also with its association with mediation, will do immense good to the practitioners. I don’t think the Catholic legislators in Goa oppose this at all.

    What they are opposing is the globetrotter Government’s insistence that the school kids and the teachers are dragged out of their homes on a Sunday, merely because it pleases certain organisations that support the globetrotter on religious grounds and.or ill-placed emotional attachment to Yoga.

    It is important to see Yoga as a form of physical exercise routine. And not yet another way to impose a particular religion on others.

    But it is even more important to allow students and teachers to exercise their choice whether they want to practise Yoga, or martial arts or anything for that matter. India was built on the basis of personal freedom. But the globetrotter and his associate organisations are hellbent on giving a twist to personal freedom.

    I do not support that.

  6. In Sanskrit Yoga means “to unite” ie to unite with the invisible God. Only God can teach us how to unite with him. Those who believe in God know that both God and Satan can influence our thoughts. Therefore all meditations should precede with a prayer to God so that the onus is put on God. Yoga comes from Upanishads. Surfing through the net will give voluminous information.
    It is in Upanishad the Yoga prayer is given to unite us with the invisible creator. It is called the Hindu prayer “Lead me from untruth to truth ,darkness to light and death to immortality ” This prayer must be made compulsory for all the Hindu students in schools .United Nations must make this Yoga prayer compulsory for all the practitioners of Yoga all over the world. It is time we reduced our dependence on the middlemen.
    As for the yoga exercises, the Yoga teachers must take all responsibilities for any injuries. All the salaries of yoga teacher must be borne by the government. Furthermore Yoga exercises should not be made compulsory for the Hindus till all claims regarding the benefits to the internal organs such as liver, kidney, pancreas etc are verified scientifically by AIIMS. Non-Hindus may opt for their own mode of exercise or religious prayers

  7. Dear readers,

    Non-Hindu may opt for their own mode of exercise or religious prayers.-Mr.Hari Prasad

    India is going to have Yoga Day on 21st June. Not only it is being organised by the Government itself but is being organised on a day when “Surya Devata” (Sun god) will be visible for the maximum time in the year. And of course the initiative came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been travelling around the world as Hindu Prime Minister of India, distributing Gita and visiting temples. It is always good if a person is practically religious, and those who campaign against the very name of religion are no friends of morality in life. Secularism in Indian context is not the denial of religion but respect to all religions. But a secular state like India needs to either equally respect all the religions or must avoid making show of its special respect for any particular religion. But Modi Government has chosen to do exactly the same. It does not stop reminding the people that despite its avowed proclamation of all communities being equal, in its eyes Hindus (and their practices) are more equal than others.

    There is no denying that Yoga may be a good form of exercise like most of the rituals of most of the religions are. But Yoga is not simply a physical exercise; it is also a spiritual one and spiritual exercises involve some kind of devotion to some “supreme” entity. It would have been great if the initiative had been taken by the Hindu religious organisations rather than the government and Hindus had participated in big numbers. Hindus doing yoga can certainly be expected on average to be more morally and physically healthy than Hindus not doing it.

    But the truth is that Islamic practices like Namaz, Fasting, and Circumcision, Qur’anic injunctions of breastfeeding for 2 years, Islamic bans on gambling, alcohol, promiscuity, homosexuality and abortions, all have huge beneficial effect on health, with almost each one of them substantially increasing not only the life expectancy but also the standard of health.Can we then have a Namaz Day for country, an anti-Drinking, anti-gambling, anti-obscenity, anti-gay, anti-abortion and a circumcision day for the whole country? What will be the reaction of BJP if such days are celebrated in a Muslim majority state of the country like Kashmir? They can certainly agree to some of them which are not directly recognised with the name of Islam.

    The 5 compulsory salat(Namaz) ;

    “It can be seen that 48 units in 5 prayers a day will involve 96 Sajdahs, 48 rukus, 48 qayam (standing) and 74 sitting positions and 34 salams (turning neck right and left). It also involves 18 movements on the elbow joint (Takbeer), this number being much greater in Shafai and Shia schools, 248 movements (flexion and extension) of hip joints and at least 96 movements of the knees. These are approximate numbers. With these kinds of figure, the net impact on the physical, mental and spiritual health of the individuals has to be tremendous. But it must be clarified that the basic aim of the prayers is not body building; Prayers are meant for proximity with God, but God has been kind enough to design a scheme of prayers that also cause huge physical and mental benefits.”

    Muslims have absolutely no objection to Yoga Day. Their only argument is that they should not be persuaded to join it, and they would have appreciated more if instead of the Government, the Hindu organisations had organised it. We wish all our Hindu brothers a Happy Yoga Day and will be more than happy if we find them engaged in Yoga exercises as a routine rather than simply being a part of a one day show.

    At the same time we Muslims of India request RSS to organise more ‘Yoga’ in Shakas instead of ‘Lati,Trishul and bombs’ training ,so the calm minds can devote their attention more towards nation building which was absent during British Raj.

    Jai hind

  8. Sharia Shaikh,
    Why do you and your folks always demand ‘special treatment’ and special rights when you are not the majority? Let’s get this right – your opposition to yoga is entirely based on your religious beliefs. So, you don’t like yoga, you don’t want to sing Vande mataram. You don’t respect local tradition or culture. You won’t even acknowledge that Paakistaana is our enemy nation simply because of your religious affiliation. So, do you even respect India? Who are you loyal to? Don’t be under the impression that your ‘taqiyya’ tricks are going to work here!!

    • Original RSS asks, “Why do you and your folk always demand “special treatment” and “special rights”, when you are not the majority?”

      This is what was written in Golwalkar’s Book, “A bunch of thoughts”.

      He said the non-Hindus must accept Hinduism or quit. Original too repeats the same.

      RSS does not know a thing about democracy and it is dictatorial to the hilt.

      He asks, how in a democracy the minorities could demand anything! He does not know that the underlying principle of democracy is concord and co-existence of the different. If democracy is uniformity and homogeneity, why any elections and why any government? In such an eventuality, there is absolutely no scope or any rationale for democracy.

      RSS lacks common sense and it does not appreciate basic humanity, with its plurality. They are an autocratic lot, just following the “leader” meekly and humbly! They are under the illusion that they are the enlightened. Fact remains that they are the most dangerous “robotic humanoid”!

  9. What we are witnessing here reinforced by posts of Manga(L), Roy and Sharia Shaikh is the fundamental difference between tolerant and intolerant ideologies. There is a direct link between yoga controversy and a doctrine of ‘true god-vs-false god’. This is the doctrine of intolerance and opposition to any outside influence and culture. Yoga, in the eyes of these guys, is a symbol of something that they don’t believe in. Yoga represents false gods to these intolerant minds. There is absolutely no reason other than religious dogma to reject yoga especially when it is taught in a non-religious fashion. I would be the first one to oppose any attempt to mix hinduism with yoga! You don’t see a buddhist, Jain or sikh opposing yoga. The opposition is coming from the same groups who have played this trick many times for different reasons over centuries. The doctrine based hatred and intolerance are being re-packaged as ‘individual choices’ in order to conceal the true ugly mindset. This is not different from opposition to teaching evolution in classrooms! Where are the true secular and progressives? Oh never mind – they are afraid to speak out as it happened during cartoon controversy!! smiles…

    • Original RSS should know that our law defines in an inclusive classification that “the term hindu includes a Buddhist, a Sikh or a jain”. It does not make the same applicable to other religions, why?

      The answer to your question lies in the law. Ask Modi to change the law and then repeat your question!

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