Hindu Cleric Objects To A 'Yoga With Cows' Session Held By A UK Dairy For 'Offending Religion'

Cows are considered holy creatures in Hindu mythology and this dairy in London ticked off some people. According a HuffPost UK report, Lancashire Dairy Farms in the United Kingdom is in the middle of a controversy after it introduced a 'yoga with cows' session.

People from the Hindu community objected to it because in their opinion it 'trivialised' Hinduism's core concepts.

Lancashire Farm Dairies held a session with six people at a farm in Leyland where they practiced yoga with cows. Doing yoga with animals is supposed to reduce stress levels.

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Hindu cleric Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Nevada, condemned the event and claimed that the session trivialised two serious concepts of Hinduism - cows and the ancient discipline of yoga.

He wrote a letter to the dairy and objected to the classes and asked for them to be stopped immediately. 'Before they became a trendy fad with herds of people flocking to dairy farms to do yoga alongside cows, with many visualising it as an Instagram opportunity', he explained in his letter.

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YouTube (Rajan Zed)

Zed told HuffPost UK, ¡°The cow is the seat of many deities and is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism. They should not be used as a prop for human entertainment. Cows were inappropriately used in such events, causing unnecessary disturbance to cows and putting them in stressful situations. Cows should be left well alone and accorded the respect they deserve."

He also wrote that the people participating in these events are ¡°diluting the profound, sacred and ancient discipline of yoga¡± and that ¡°unpredictable cows could be a distraction in a path of self-discovery that drew the yogi inwards.¡±

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He wants the Lancashire Farm Dairies to rethink their event. He said, ¡°We suggest that companies should send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they have an understanding of the feelings of customers and communities when introducing new products, organising events or launching advertising.¡±

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Lancashire

Jack Morrison, brand manager at Lancashire Farm Dairies offered an apology for allegedly offending the religious sentiments of people and said, ¡°We can only apologise if the recent fitness activity has caused offence. As you can imagine, this wasn¡¯t our intent. The activity itself was in reaction to a recent study saying physical exercise had fallen during the COVID-19 lockdown.¡±

He added, ¡°As a brand which is about health and nutrition, we wanted to encourage people to enjoy the outdoors whilst engaging in some positive exercise in a socially distanced manner. We are big promoters of welfare, being the first and only free-range yogurt brand. The cows weren¡¯t disturbed, nor were they involved with the class itself. The event was a one-off exercise for an intimate group of six people and there will not be further events".

After receiving the apology, Zed thanked the dairy for "for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community¡±.

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However, on the other hand, Satya Minhas, a Hindu leader, co-chair of the Hindu Council UK said that he was "baffled" by the complaint from the US Hindu cleric.

Minhas said, ¡°After looking at photographs of the yoga with cows session, I cannot see anything objectionable. There is nothing wrong with these ladies doing yoga with cows in the background. This company is selling a very nice yogurt, not beef, so provided the cows are treated well, from a religious point of view, I personally cannot see anything wrong. There is nothing to do with meat or Hindu gods and there is no disrespect to Hinduism.

He added, ¡°It is not a sensible idea to seek an apology from innocent people to make a point. I think it is about using common sense and there was clearly no disrespect intended and I do not see a problem or anything objectionable. The last thing we want is for people to start jumping up and down and saying there are problems where there aren¡¯t. We should be promoting UK dairies as they are doing a good job and this man in the US should not be looking at this negatively.¡±

Pop Times UK (Satya Minhas)

He also said, ¡°Rajan Zed should appreciate the efforts people are making to keep fit. Perhaps Lancashire Farm Dairies should contact the Hindu Council UK for the way forward in promoting yoga and their products. They seem like an excellent company and should be encouraged. The Hindu Council UK wants to see more companies promoting yoga and wellbeing."

This is not the first time that Zed has expressed disapproval over something like this. Earlier, he called out a dairy in Pennsylvania for a cattle yoga session which was described as 'udderly awesome'.