New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Angered and alarmed, a
good number of yoga enthusiasts and experts in the
capital are strongly opposing attempts of patenting
yoga overseas.
Reacting
to recent reports of yet another application filed
in the US for patenting yoga, experts here feel
that the very idea of patenting knowledge like
yoga violates the art.
"Patenting
of any kind is highly unjustified and when it
comes to patenting yoga, it is even more criminal.
The entire issue of patenting is very corporate,"
Navtej Johar of Abhyas, a yoga centre in the capital,
told IANS Wednesday.
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"Patenting
an invention is understood but patenting organic matter
like turmeric, neem and then knowledge like yoga is
very unfortunate," he added.
Saying
that yoga belongs to the country and the entire human
race, yoga guru Swami Ramdev also echoed Johar's thoughts
on the patenting issue.
"Yoga
can't be owned and run like a company. Since there are
attempts to patent this tradition (of yoga) in America,
the Indian government and yoga organisations should
take measures to prevent it," Ramdev said in Shimla
Tuesday.
A
Sanskrit word, yoga means the union of body and soul
and is being practised in India for thousands of years.
Yoga finds mention in scriptures - the Upanishads and
Puranas - composed by the Aryans in the Vedic and post-Vedic
period.
"Yoga
has its roots in India. How can anyone else think of
patenting it?" asked a surprised Deepika Jindal,
wife of steel baron Ratan Jindal and an ardent yoga
enthusiast.
"That's
the thing with us. We don't take our possessions seriously
until someone else tries to grab it from us. Patenting
of yoga overseas must not happen," Deepika told
IANS.
Author
Suketu Mehta of "Maximum City: Bombay lost and
found" fame goes one step ahead saying that if
the copying of western drugs is illegal so should be
the patenting of yoga. "After all, this is also
an intellectual piracy stood on its head," he said.
Kiran
Sawhney of Fitnesolution, a fitness and yoga centre
in the capital, said yoga as such can't be patented
but a particular style can.
"How
can you patent yoga? It's knowledge. But yes, if someone
has devised a particular style then that can be patented,"
Sawhney said.
She
said that hot yoga, which is essentially yoga in a steam
room, was devised by Indian born Bikram Choudhury, who
teaches in California and has recently patented it.
Interestingly,
Ramdev referred to this style of yoga and said: "How
can yoga be taught at a controlled 45 degrees centigrade
temperature when it is ideally taught in the cold Himalayas?"
The
US Patent and Trademark office has issued 150 yoga related
copyrights, 134 trademarks on yoga accessories and 2,315
yoga trademarks.
Taking
a cue from this, the Indian government has set up a
task force that is cataloguing traditional knowledge,
including Ayurvedic remedies and yoga postures to protect
them from being pirated and copyrighted by foreigners.
The
data, which will be translated from ancient Sanskrit
and Tamil texts, will be stored digitally and be available
in five international languages.
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