By Joel B. Belinan
philosophies.”
The saddest thing now is everything is getting commercialized to the core and there is no stopping it. Thanks to capitalism where the bottom line to everything Is profit. Even all aspects of spiritualism have some monetary value.
Even in sports, like in my line, martial arts. Karate, for one, during the middle of the 20th century had dominated the world of martial arts. Even the western world which had defeated Japan during the second world war was easily captivated by this originally Okinawan practice.
Except for boxing, karate became the generic term for martial arts during those years. While I don’t remember anyone becoming rich due to his/her practice of Karate, it became a tool for the capitalists to promote their interests, also politicians, especially in the west. And this happened due to karate becoming more and more a sport rather than an art of self-defense as had been in Okinawa in the olden days, or as a means of developing one’s character as in mainland Japan. Such dominance by Karate began to wane when other martial arts from different countries especially from Asia found their way to the west. Their popularity was inspired by the icon Bruce Lee. His influence continues to this day, long after his death in 1972.
The entry of martial arts from Asia to the western countries immediately resulted in their commercialization even in tournaments. All sorts of business names and brands of clothes, cars, foods, and even cigarettes and liquors found their way on every space possible in event venues and roads leading to these It is almost impossible now to organize martial arts events without having to bow to sponsors in exchange for their little sponsorship.
The worst, however, is the sprouting of many so-called martial arts that do not adhere to their original philosophies.
And then there are the so-called fake or pseudo martial arts by people who may have seen movies of some sort and immediately imagined themselves as the heroes of those movies.
Last June 19, 2022, during the International Yoga Day, I witnessed again the ugly face of commercialization of the practice of yoga. This is not to discredit other groups that participated during the event at the Baguio Convention Center but I cannot close my eyes to how this ancient science is being interpreted in such a shallow manner, at the level of bastardization.
A few groups known to teach asanas (yoga postures) for a fee were the main participants during the event. They could only show some forms of yoga but could not explain their purposes. While our group from Ananda Marga led by our monk from Russia tried our best to explain that the practice of Asanas is just one part of Yoga practice, the very few people inside seemed no to give a damn.
I would not be surprised if after some time I would hear of some individuals charging thousands of dollars for a lesson on yoga meditation. But again we’ve just finished the most commercialized election in the history of this country. It is not far-fetched that later someone will be charging millions for a journey to heaven or even to hell?
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