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The truth behind Super Brain Yoga

 

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Wouldn’t it be amazing to find a simple daily exercise that could almost immediately improve your grades, IQ, and overall intelligence?

Now advertised and patented by Master Choa Kok Sui’s Institute for Inner Studies, Super Brain Yoga claims to do just that.

This new trend has taken the internet and western hemisphere by storm and has recently been featured on various news stations, social media, developed as an app, and has even had books published about it.

So what exactly is this miracle exercise to improve your intelligence? A physical act of worshipping the sacred Hindu god of wisdom, Ganesha, that has been used for thousands of years by Hindu devotees.

The true name of “Super Brain Yoga” is Thoppu Karanam, also popularly known as kutti karanam, and is frequently practiced by devotees of the Hindu faith.

Today, this practice has been re-invented by some enthusiasts and is promoted in many parts of the world as “Super Brain Yoga” and more and more people are taking to it with complete and utter disregard to where this came from.

I originally saw this yogic act of worship being described on the CBS news channel and was shocked at the fact that in the amount of air time spent covering this “new discovery,” not once were the origins of this practice mentioned.

In Hindu tradition, since Ganesha is the god of wisdom it is customary to worship him before any important activity or ceremony to help you succeed in your ventures. In order to have a balanced approach to this activity, devotees perform the simple exercise of Thoppu Karanam. This simple exercise mainly entails pinching your earlobes with your forefinger and thumb while squatting repeatedly.

This sacred act of worship, while popularly practiced in India, had been virtually unknown to the western hemisphere until Dr. Eugenius Ang, a neurobiologist at Yale, performed extensive studies on the concept.

This so called “new discovery” has been publicized and patented without giving any credit to where it originally came from. The American scientists have basically plagiarized an age old technique from an equally old, and holy, religion.

The spread and study of this amazing technique is not what many Indians are opposed to. Thoppu Karanam is no big secret, people have known about it for thousands of years. What bothers me and many others of Hindu faith is the scientists’ and media’s complete and utter disregard for the origin of this yogic maneuver.

 

Written by Priyanka Shreedar

Priyanka is a senior and news editor for the MC SUN. She spends her time running long distances as a varsity cross country and track athlete, yet despite all her training, Priyanka has yet to conquer her mortal enemy: stairs.

2 Comments

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  1. Good job, Priyanka. The same goes for ‘Basmati’, Taj Mahal, Yoga, Nirvana etc.
    Unless we are vigilant, one day they will claim that Sanskrit is a European language!

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