(Samajweekly) Hindus feel that recently launched yoga with cows at Lancashire Farm Dairies in Leyland (England) is not a good idea, as it trivializes two serious concepts of Hinduism.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that cow, the seat of many deities, which was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism; should not be used as prop for human entertainment. Moreover; this frivolity seemed to be diluting the profound, sacred and ancient discipline of yoga.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that objective of yoga, which found reference in world’s oldest extant scripture Rig-Veda and other early Hindu texts, was the state of blissful liberation. It involved withdrawal, inner concentration, focusing of the mind and ensued in self-purification and higher planes of consciousness.
Real yogis should not attend such events where cows were inappropriately used, causing unnecessary disturbance to cows and putting them in stressful situations; as cows should be left well alone and accorded the respect they deserved. Moreover, unpredictable cows could be a distraction in a path of self-discovery that drew the yogi inward; Rajan Zed indicated.
Zed further said that this event, which had been described as UK’s first cow yoga class, should be discouraged before it became a trendy fad with herds of people flocking to dairy farms to do yoga alongside cows, many visualizing it as an Instagram opportunity. Zed urged Lancashire Farm Dairies to rethink, revisit and reevaluate its yoga classes with cows.
Headquartered in Rochdale (England) and launched in 1984, awards-winning Lancashire Farm claims to be the “first UK yogurt makers to commit to only using free range milk”. Its products included various kinds of yogurt, including Raita Yogurt. It states: “Happy cows make great milk”.
