YOGA NEWS ITEM

Hindus Welcome The Love Guru but Remain Concerned

MONDAY, 24 MARCH 2008

Hindus world over have generally welcomed the Paramount announcement for pre-screening the Hollywood movie "The Love Guru" for Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders before its public release but still remain worried about its apparent degrading of the institution of gurus.

Prominent Indo-American leader Rajan Zed, who spearheaded this issue, says that guru is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light. The guru-sishya (teacher-disciple) relationship lies at the heart of traditional Hinduism. Guru is often associated with the divine. Guru imparts spiritual knowledge completely free from selfish motives.

Thanking Paramount for attending to the pleas of Hindu community and attempting to reach a resolution, Zed urged the movie makers to be positively responsive to the concerns the Hindu leaders point out after watching the movie at the pre-screening event and be prepared to make amends if requested.

Another organization, Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha, has also jumped into the arena. In a statement in India, its General Secretary Rakesh Nagpal said that portrayal of Hindu characters like buffoons is not acceptable. He stressed that while Hindus venerate their gurus, occupation of Mike Myer's Guru Pitka on MySpace.com linked to the official site of the movie is listed as "Guru/life guide/Bikini inspector".

Nagpal further said that while yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, "The Love Guru" parodies it in a repugnant way and names some of the yoga poses as "no shoes, no shirt, no nirvana, ass, gas and grass", etc., on the movie site.

Meanwhile, Nevada Clergy Association has congratulated Paramount Pictures for respecting the sentiments of the Hindu community by agreeing to arrange the pre-screening of the upcoming movie "The Love Guru" for Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders.

Welcoming the decision of Paramount as a "positive step", Right Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., President of the Association, in a statement, said that we must take religion seriously and businesses should give due regard to the feelings of adherents of various faiths. NCA is composed of priests/pastors/ministers/etc. of Christian (various denominations), Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Bahai, Native American, etc., religions in (US state of) Nevada.

India Heritage Panel president Lila D. Sharma, in a statement in India, said that he was pleased at Paramount for being considerate to the Hindu sensitivities and asked Hollywood to refrain from creating stereotypes of Hindus and other people of India in the future.

It may be recalled here that advance screenings of Mel Gibson's 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ" were held for clergy and others.

"The Love Guru", a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame, who is also the co-writer and co-producer), Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Ben Kingsley; and directed by Marco Schnabel; is set to release on June 20. "His Karma is huge" is its tag line. In it, Myers, an American, raised in an ashram in India, moves back to US as Guru Pitka to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality.

Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion followers. Moksha (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. (Press Release)

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