‘Surya namaskar’ is akin to ‘namaz’: Yogi

Lucknow, March 29

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said “surya namaskar” was similar to “namaz” (prayers) offered by Muslims and those opposing the yogic exercise wanted to divide the society on religious lines.

Aditynath, who had in the past lashed out at a section of Muslims for terming the practice of “surya namaskar” as un-Islamic, said the sun salutation was a beautiful example of religious harmony.

“The namaz offered by Muslims resembles different postures and asanas of surya namaskar including pranayam. What a beautiful example of harmony (between two religions). But some ‘bhogis’ who do not believe in yoga, indulged in dividing the society on lines of caste, creed, religion and region among others,” he said.

“All asanas (postures) in surya namaskar, pranayama activities are similar to the way namaz is offered by our Muslim brothers. But nobody ever tried to bring them together because few people were interested only in ‘bhoga’ not yoga,” he said.

Aditynath was addressing a gathering on the inaugural day of the three-day UP Yoga Mahotsava here. Taking a jibe at the previous governments at the centre and in the state, he said: “If permission for a similar programme was sought, it would have been dubbed as communal.”

“Before 2014, even talking about yoga was considered communal. But things changed after Modi took steps to make yoga popular,” he said. — PTI