‘Way to strengthen faith of Christians, Muslims’

AHMEDABAD: Acharya Balkrishna, a close aide of Baba Ramdev and managing director of Patanjali Ayurved, said that yoga is not meant for a particular race, religion, or caste but for entire humanity. He was speaking on the third day of the four-day yoga camp at the GMDC ground. “Yoga was labelled as an activity of a particular religion. But yoga has broken all those walls,” Balkrishna said.
Addressing a gathering at the GMDC ground on Tuesday, Balkrishna said, “It would be an injustice to yoga to link it with a particular religion or sect.Earlier, lakhs of Muslims brothers and sisters were scared to perform yoga.” Balkrishna went on to say: “But today, yoga has received recognition in Islam and Christianity. Because of yoga, a Muslim will become a true Muslim and a Christian will become a true Christian.” He said yoga will make Hindus more enlightened and proud of their religion. However, some Muslim and Christian leaders have objected to Balkrishna’s remarks. Father Vinayak Jadhav, the spokesperson of Catholic Church in Gujarat, said: “There is nothing inherently Christian in yoga to substantiate the statement of Acharya Balkrishna. I do believe that yoga leads to healthier human life.” Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri, a cleric based in the city, called Balkrishna’s remarks “nonsense”. “He is not supposed to teach Islam to Muslims ,” Mansuri said.