The row has erupted after a move by Missouri to impose a sales tax on yoga classes, which Hindus say is a tax on the practice itself.

They argue that yoga, be it in the form of Hatha yoga for beginners, Bikram yoga practiced in sauna-like settings or power yoga designed for strength and endurance, has been popular in America since the 1960s when its appeal was that it was diametrically opposed to the tumultuous culture that it followed.

However some states in the US now desire the practice of yoga to be regulated. This mind and body exercise is historically Hindu in nature but has become a phenomenon in America in both the celebrity and the ‘average-Joe’ realms — the number of yoga-practising Americans is around 16 million.

This ancient Hindu practice is based around the notion that a balanced body can lead to a balanced soul, therefore achieving harmony in the physical, psychological and emotional states. The important, and ancient, texts for a practising Hindu have all included the importance of practicing yoga in their pages; the Mahabharata stresses the notion that without yoga one cannot live a happy life, the Yogabija Upanishad claims that yoga is the reliever of all bondage and, even further, the Bhagavad-Gita is considered to be the ‘go-to’ text for teaching the art of yoga itself.

In essence, yoga has been a dominant part of the lives of many practicing Hindus for centuries, and to now place regulations and limits on the liberation and harmony found in it by millions of Americans and Hindus alike seems shocking to many Hindus.

Rajan Zed, the Universal Society of Hinduism’s president, believes such regulation will serve as a harsh infringement to the millions who find the practice to be helpful in their trek to unite the jivatman (human-soul) with the parmatman (universal-soul).

The US as a whole has not followed the example set forth by Missouri, however this ‘living fossil’ that Zed defines yoga as being may now be the cause of unrest between its millions of followers and the statesmen who wish to dilute them.

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