14. In 2008, almost 16 million people in
the U.S were practitioners of yoga
Their Practices ranged from
meditative to highly athletic styles
Net capital of Yoga Journal was
$5.7 billion
In 2010, the population of Hindus in
the U.S was nearly 2 million
15.
16. In 2008, HAF members examined Yoga Journal’s
editions
Saw no reference to Hinduism, or its Philosophy
Concluded that it associated other religions
with yoga more than it did Hinduism
In 2009, HAF Launched a campaign called
“Take Back Yoga-Bringing to Light
Yoga’s Hindu Roots”
26. The earliest records of apparent yoga practice
were found in Indus Valley archaeological relics
that dated to the third millennium B.C.E.
They Included a seal depicting a man
seated in lotus posture and a sculpture of a
meditating man in lotus.
EVIDENCE:
29. The earliest Sanskrit verses (circa 1500-
1000 B.C.E), known as the Vedas,
contained some themes that may have
been antecedents of yoga theories and
practices……
31. The Bhagavad Gita (circa 300 B.C.E), part of
an epic known as the Mahabharata, was a
philosophical cornerstone for yoga……
EVIDENCE:
Written in verse, it was “a yogic
teaching…..conveyed from guru to
student.”
33. The Yoga Sutras, a series of aphorisms
authored by the Indian philosopher Patanjali,
were also among yoga’s most important
precursors.
Dates for Patanjali were unclear, but
historians believed the Yoga Sutras were
most likely written after the Bhagavad
Gita.
39. The argument of Shukla was that “Hindu” was a
12th-century Persian abstraction “referring to the
people they found espousing Santana Dharma, the
eternal wisdom of life, ” and that “today, Santana
Dharma and Hinduism are synonymous.”
Also, one historian noted that yoga was
“technically a part of three ‘world religions’:
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.