Why India wasn-t able to promote yoga in past?

Anil Yogacharya

yogacharya at Dwarka Sports Complex | Posted on 23-Oct-2018

Yoga is being given prominence in present-day India. But it is incorrect to say that Yoga has its importance only in the present times. Yoga has been the righteous master of the world since ancient times. And India, right from those times, has been the center of Yoga where people used to come from all over the world. Yoga has always had a significant position in India.

Institutions like Bihar School of Yoga, and Nalanda University are some of the places in India that had imparted the knowledge of Yoga in ancient times. These two institutions were the primary centers of Yoga. The main focus used to be on Ayurveda and Philosophical studies, which tells us that the study and knowledge of Yoga is nothing new in India.

Since those times, India has had many Yoga gurus, who enlightened Indians in the knowledge of Yoga.

• B. K. S. Iyengar

His full name is Bellur Krishnamachari Sundaraj Ayingar. He was born on 4 December 1918, in Bellur. He was one of the foremost yoga gurus of India who invented Ayangarayoga and popularized it in the whole world.

He was awarded Padma Bhushan in the field of literature and education in 2002 and Padma Vibhushan in 2014.

• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ji was born on Jan 12, 1918, in the village of Panduka near Rajim, a town in Chhattisgarh. His correct name was Mahesh Prasad Verma. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi established the Meditation Yoga. It included chanting mantras with closed eyes and entering another state of mind which is peaceful. This yoga can make you forget all your negative emotions.

Besides these two, there are many yoga masters, such as Osho Rajneesh and Savami Dhirendra Brahmachari who have established Yoga in India, and it is not a recent occurrence. So it would not be correct to say that India did not make any efforts in the past to promote yoga.