POLITICS, YOGA AND THE VEDIC WAY OF LIFE

Key Word: Words: Yoga, Religious Nationalism, Globalisation, Spiritual Tourism, Vedic Lifestyle, Vedic Way of Life.

The global popularity of yoga is due to the perception that it is an empowering antidote to disenchantment. I demonstrate that this can lead to unwitting sympathy for a Hindu globalist agenda. To understand the implications of people seeking to create ‘better worlds’ through the consumption of yoga-inflected lifestyles, I problematise the innocuous, yet ubiquitous phrase: The Vedic Way of Life. I assert that the apolitical disposition of Western yoga practitioners facilitates the Hindu supremacist aims to create a homogenous ‘Vedic India’, which has adverse implications for those who are not upper caste Hindus. Furthermore, their ultimate aim to create a ‘Vedic world’ is imperialist.

Charles Chow Hoi Hee Bruce Gurd                                                                  East-West Gateway Pte Ltd, Singapore, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia