Politics and Yoga

Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra in Parisamvada

Politics is the most important thing nowadays with politicians ruling the world. There is a joke which says that people were discussing among themselves who is the most important: the doctor, the architect or the politician. The doctor said the world must have been created by one who knew about it during birth. So, he must have been a doctor. The architect said the world was created after proper planning and design. So, it must have been created by an architect. The politician said that they say that in the beginning there was chaos and out of that chaos God created the world. “Who created the chaos?” he asked. “It was the politician. So, he was the most important person.”

No doubt even today the politician is the most important person. Now even Yogis want to turn into politicians. Right from the very beginning politicians have tried to take control over yoga and the Yogis have turned into politicians. The uncle of Pandit Nehru, once wrote to us that the Yogis should unite and form a good front for the good of the country. So, we wished him well and said it was a good idea. He then started contacting various Yogis in India with the desire that they come together, formulate some plan and establish yoga in a very systematic and scientific way. After six months he wrote us a letter, saying that, “I tried to get all the Yogis together. While yoga stands for union/unity, the Yogis in India are totally disunited. They are all quarreling with each other, fighting with each other. So, there is no chance of them getting together.”