Is yoga Hindu or Indian, secular or religious? Take your side and you can debate forever. For the origin and template for these words — Hindu, India, secular, religion — is Euro-American, not Indian, and certainly not universal. Indians are expected to force fit Indian thoughts, like a twisted yogic asana, into this template to explain ourselves. It's a trap best avoided.

Yoga is Hindu because Hindu religious texts continuously refer to the word. Krishna and Shiva are often called yogeshwara, the lord of yoga. The author of Yoga-sutra is Patanjali often identified with the serpent who coils himself around Shiva's neck. The Bhagavad Gita refers to gyana yoga, karma yoga and bhakti yoga, the behavioural, cognitive and affective aspect of Krishna's discourse to Arjuna.