Yoga philosophy question

[Guest guest]

This is not strictly an Ashtanga question, please

forgive that. When I occasionally take a non-Ashtanga

class due to scheduling problems, several of the

teachers have attempted to wedge (what I think is) their

own political philosophy into class during

introductory or closing chanting and preparation. This takes

the form of statements not very subtley referring to

this nation's current military campaign, statements

indicating that central to yogic philosophy is some sort of

passive non-violence. Then the practice is dedicated to

"peaceful resolution of our conflicts" or some such. I

personally think that is nonsense, if Americans behaved that

way we'd all be speaking German and rounding up the

last of the Jews if any were left, there is a time to

stand up and fight for the right thing, but I don't

want to argue politics here. My question is, am I

necessarily a bad yoga student because I feel this way and

don't have any intention of letting go of what I

consider a basic truth, or are these "teachers" just

taking advantage of their position to proselytize their

own agenda? I mean isn't the Gita largely a battle

story, and don't we do Warrior postures? Thanks for any

input; I guess I should make some time to read the texts

myself.