Two-day National Seminar on Yoga and Spirituality inaugurated

ALIGARH November 7:

  “Yoga and spirituality are not the monopoly of any religion and I have myself practiced it for the last 43 years only to find it a complete solution for attainment of spiritual bliss and human well being”, pointed out Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah (Retd.), Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University today, while addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the two-day National Seminar on Yoga and Spirituality organized by the Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University.

Lt. Gen. Shah said that Yoga is an intense form of physical exercise and it needs to be conducted under apt guidance of a teacher. He said that Yoga, apart from being a natural training system in discipline, teaches to “be in peace with yourself”.Lt. Gen. Shah asserted that Yoga did not have any clash with Islamic teachings, although there were certain rituals, which could be avoided while practicing it for physical fitness and personal training.

The Vice Chancellor urged the students and faculty members to take the message home of early rising and practicing some kind of physical training, which helped people greatly in character building and attaining spiritual order. He said that “learning is a continuous process and every person should keep making efforts to attain knowledge”.In his address, guest of honour, Brig. (retd.) Kartar Singh said that the “dominating characteristic of Yoga is that it stresses on teaching discipline”, which is the elementary lesson, taught in armed forces. He said that Yoga and spirituality were amongst the oldest teachings of Vedic philosophy, which have been as much popular in the West as in India. He said that Yoga is a way of life and those who practice Yoga, have found it in complete conformity with the spiritual training.

Addressing on the occasion as a guest of honour, Brig. S. Ahmad Ali, Pro-Vice Chancellor, said that Yoga and Spirituality went hand in hand and that spirituality was action while Yoga was an attitude.Speaking extensively on the various aspects of Yoga and spirituality, Brig. Ali said that the intrinsic part of the philosophy of Yoga was that it initiated the practitioner in self-fortification. He said that the most important part of spiritual training was based on killing one’s ego.

Brig. Ali asserted that Allama Iqbal’s philosophy of Khudi, in its complete essence, was nothing but an order to attain spiritual bliss. He said that both Yoga and spirituality lead people to self-actualization, which elevates minds and spirit to attain a heavenly feeling and a total trance.

Highlighting the importance of practicing various forms of Yoga, Brig. Ali said that Namaz is only way of prayer amongst all religions that incorporated different Asanas of the Yoga and a five-time praying person would be the best to practice a complete physical exercise.Brig. Ali said that Yoga leads to positive thinking and helps in discarding negative thoughts. He urged the people to adopt Yoga to “be positive, think positive and live positive”.

Prof. N. A. K. Durrani, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences said that Yoga and spirituality were two sides of same coin and both of them were helpful in human well being and physical enrichment. He said that Yoga and spirituality have always been a path to spiritual enrichment and discipline. He said that the world of late has come to realize the importance of spiritual uplift and all civilized societies are adopting Yoga or Yoga like physical and spiritual training to help humanity survive in even a state of chaos and depravity.

Earlier, welcoming the guests, Prof. Hafiz Mohammad Ilyas, Chairman, Department of Psychology and Organizing Secretary of the Seminar said that this seminar has been organized on Yoga in view of the popularity of Yoga at international level. He said that people know Yoga as one of the oldest Indian traditions which has enriched the pluralistic culture of the country by imbibing various spiritual orders which developed throughout the ages in India. He said that the seminar was also intended to commemorate the hundred years of Psychology in India.

Prof. Ilyas appreciated the University administration for extending full support in organizing this seminar. He said that the University had surged through several developmental courses during the last few years and the Vice Chancellor’s visionary leadership had promises to take the University to number one position in the country very soon.

Prof. Akbar Husain, Director of the Seminar said that although the first department of psychology was established in the University of Calcutta, AMU’s department of psychology also figured amongst the biggest centre of higher learning in psychology in the country, especially pioneering in the Yoga and Spiritual Psychology.

Prof. Husain said, “The 20th century was the century of confusion and differences but the 21st century is the age of spirituality and oneness”.Prof. Shamim A. Ansari proposed a vote of thanks. Prof. Roomana Siddiqui conducted the programme.On this occasion, the Vice Chancellor also released the souvenir of the seminar.

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