©1997-2003 VNN
|
EDITORIAL  Suits And Countersuits Over Yoga BY DVARAKARANI DD EDITORIAL, Apr 14 (VNN) — After reading the article, "Suits and Countersuits over Yoga," I wondered, "What was the point of that article." "Was this devotee personally affected by what is going on in the legal battle over a Hatha Yoga system?" And if not personally involved, why take a side? We all know that the path to God Realization is Krishna Consciousness and that Srila Prabhupada brought us all the science of Bhakti Yoga. I wondered if the devotee who wrote the article knew anything about Bikram Yoga, from a personal position or was just expressing his opinion from what he had read in the media. I wondered if he knows that the Choudhury family is from Krishnagari and that Bikram's 86 year old mother had Srila Prabhupada in her home and keeps a strict, no onion, no garlic vegetarian house. Are we so quick to criticize when we don't have all the facts? Here are some facts: Srila Prabhupada asked us to chant a minimum of 16 rounds. There are some who chant 4. Wedon't criticize but we also don't say that thisis Srila Prabhupada's program. Prabhupada also gave us the four regulative principles. How many struggle with those and even if deciding, 3 are enough, wouldthey dare say that this is what Srila Prabhupada wanted? Preaching is the essence and perhaps by more trying to understand to help bring the Yogis to Krishna than by criticizing them, we might find a few more devotees on the doorstep. Personally, I am a devotee that came to Krishna by way of a Yogi who first told me about Krishna, who chanted the name, who said to me, "This is not a program where you will find God, this is Hatha Yoga. If you want Bhakti Yoga, you have to go to the Hare Krishnas. I did. That Yogis name is Bikram Choudhury. For that direction, I am eternally grateful and would have to call him my vartma- pradarsikha-guru. As to his system, I have been teaching it for 26 years. It saved my leg, when the doctors wanted to remove it. It helped me rebuild my bone mass after 2 brain tumors and multiple fractures resulted. I have taught it to devotees and they have been welcomed to the school, free of charge. Our last Siva-ratri program had Bikram's school as a sponsor, as does many of the morning programs at the Temple. Bikram's yoga system is designed to treat chronic illness and changing it may not be effective. I don't know because I try to do the system as designed and get the good results as I try to do what Srila Prabhupada asked of us and hope to get the ultimate good result. Krishna Prema. Thank you. Your servant, Dvarakarani dd Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
