ZAGREB, Aug 7 (Hina) - The founder of the "Yoga in Daily Life" system, Paramhans Swamiji Maheshwarananda, said Thursday he had informed the president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO), Zarko Puhovski, about his own and his
followers' human rights being violated in Croatia.
ZAGREB, Aug 7 (Hina) - The founder of the "Yoga in Daily Life"
system, Paramhans Swamiji Maheshwarananda, said Thursday he had
informed the president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO),
Zarko Puhovski, about his own and his followers' human rights being
violated in Croatia. #L#
Swamiji told today's news conference that had received a number of
threatening messages following a harsh reaction by Croatian
bishops to the education and sports ministry's decision to finance
the "Yoga in Daily Life" programme from the government budget.
Stating that even if he was the sole Hindu in Croatia he should not
be discriminated against, Swamiji said this was a repetition of the
Slovakian scenario. In Slovakia, his system had been incorporated
into schools and then rejected after a harsh reaction from the
Catholic Church.
The media in India, Europe and Australia have reported about the
Croatian bishops' negative reaction, he said, and pleaded with
Puhovski to protect yoga and himself.
Swamiji reiterated his system should not be viewed as a Hindu
religious practice, as Catholic media reported, but exclusively as
physical exercise.
Swamiji said more than 90 percent of his followers were Christians
and added he knew for a fact that a large number of Catholic clergy
were practising yoga, but did not wish to openly admit it.
(hina) lml sb