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Mass yoga demonstrations are being organised at 75 iconic locations across the country, which have been witness to the glorious history of India and have been the centre of cultural energy
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The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, participated along with thousands of participants in a mass yoga demonstration at Mysore Palace ground, Mysuru, on the occasion of the 8th International Day of Yoga on Tuesday.
The occasion was attended by the Governor of Karnataka, Thawar Chand Gehlot, the Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that the yogic energy, which has been nurtured for centuries by the spiritual centres of India like Mysuru, is today giving direction to global health. He added that today, yoga is becoming a basis for global cooperation and is providing a belief in a healthy life to mankind.
Today we see that yoga has come out of households and has spread all over the world, and this is a picture of spiritual realisation and that of natural and shared human consciousness, especially in the last two years of an unprecedented pandemic, he said.
"Yoga has now become a global festival." Yoga is not just for individuals, but for all of humanity.Therefore, this time the theme of the International Day of Yoga is - Yoga for humanity," he said.
PM Narendra Modi thanked the United Nations and all the countries for taking this theme globally.
Quoting Indian sages, the Prime Minister emphasised, "Yoga brings peace for us." The peace from yoga is not merely for individuals. Yoga brings peace to our society. Yoga brings peace to our nation and the world. "Yoga brings peace to our universe.", he continued.
"This whole universe starts from our own body and soul. The universe starts with us. ""Yoga makes us conscious of everything within us and builds a sense of awareness," he said.
The Prime Minister said that it is the acceptance of that Amrit spirit of India which gave energy to India's freedom struggle. That is why mass yoga demonstrations are being organised at 75 iconic locations across the country, which have been witness to the glorious history of India and have been the centre of cultural energy.
He elaborated, "The experience of collective yoga at the historical sites of India is like tying together India's past, India's diversity, and India's expansion." He also informed about the novel programme ‘Guardian Yoga Ring’ which is a collaborative exercise between 79 countries and United Nations organisations along with Indian Missions abroad to illustrate yoga's unifying power that surpasses national boundaries.
He said, "As the sun apparently moves from the east to the west across the world, the mass yoga demonstrations in the participating countries, if seen from any point on Earth, will seem to be happening one after the other, almost in tandem, thus underlining the concept of ‘One Sun, One Earth'."
"These practises of yoga give wonderful inspiration for health, balance, and cooperation," he added.
Modi pointed out that yoga is not just part of life for us today; it has become a way of life. He said yoga need not be limited to a particular time and location.
He added, "No matter how stressed we are, a few minutes of meditation relaxes us and increases our productivity. As a result, we are not required to do yoga as an extra task. We also have to know yoga and we also have to live yoga. We also have to achieve yoga; we also have to adopt yoga. When we start living yoga, Yoga Day will become a way for us not to do yoga, but to celebrate our health, happiness, and peace.
The Prime Minister said that today is the time to realise the infinite possibilities associated with yoga. He added that today our youth are coming in large numbers with new ideas in the field of yoga.
The Startup Yoga Challenge by the Ayush Ministry was announced by Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister congratulated the winners of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Awards for outstanding contribution to the promotion and development of yoga.
Integrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav with celebrations of 8th IDY, mass Yoga demonstrations are being organised at 75 iconic locations across the country under the leadership of 75 Union Ministers, along with the yoga demonstration by the Prime Minister at Mysore. The yoga demonstrations are also being held by various educational, social, political, cultural, religious, corporate and other civil society organisations and will be attended by crores of people across the country.
The Prime Minister’s Yoga programme at Mysore is also part of the novel programme ‘Guardian Yoga Ring’ which is a collaborative exercise between 79 countries and United Nations organisations along with Indian Missions abroad to illustrate Yoga's unifying power that surpasses National boundaries.