Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah led the main International Yoga Day events in India on June 21 in Jharkhand and Haryana. PM Modi led a crowd of 40,000 people in the Prabhat Tara ground in Jharkhand. Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi said, Yoga is above religion, caste, colour, gender and region; it is above everything." Amit Shah led the event in Rohtak, Haryana. Amit Shah Modiji has helped take yoga to the world. It has also helped promote our culture. He also expressed gratitude to yoga teachers for promoting the ancient Indian practice and named Ramdev as one of the champions of the cause. It was not just incidental that Ramdev led the main Yoga Day event in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra CM Fadnavis joined Ramdev on the stage in Nanded and performed some of the asanas shown by the Patanjali Ayurved founder. In his speech, Ramdev claimed that yoga was instrumental in Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi becoming the prime ministers. "Only those who practise yoga will enjoy rajyog (power)," claimed Ramdev.
The International Day of Yoga is celebrated on June 21 every year since 2015. The day was adopted as International Yoga Day after PM Modi proposed this during his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 2014.
The rise of yoga
Various state governments also observed the occasion with state leaders including Governors, chief ministers and collectors leading demonstrations in major cities. Earlier, Indian missions across the world were asked to celebrate the day in a grand manner. Modi also sent video messages to all embassies for screening at the beginning of the yoga protocol, the external affairs ministry said.
As a part of the celebrations, naval personnel perform yoga onboard decommissioned warship Virat in Mumbai. Scenes of mass yoga exercises in open grounds, parks and halls were mirrored in various parts of the country, even in the icy slopes of the Himalayas where Indian Army personnel put out their mats to perform various exercises. The 87-year- old former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) president H.D. Deve Gowda performed yoga at his residence in Bengaluru.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit led the celebrations at Raj Bhavan in Chennai. Participants also performed yoga at VOC Park in Coimbatore on Friday. In Andhra Pradesh, Srikakulam Collector J. Nivas and other officials participate in the celebrations.
Bollywood stars join celebrations
From fitness enthusiast Shilpa Shetty to Bipasha Basu to Anupam Kher, Bollywood celebrities took to social media to become a part of the yoga day celebrations by posting pictures of them doing yoga. Shilpa, who is known for being a huge fitness enthusiast and an avid practitioner of yoga, took to her Instagram to post a video of her enjoying a yoga session with CISF, CRPF and NCC cadets in Mumbai.
Even Anupam Kher took to Twitter to post pictures of him practicing yoga with his yoga teacher. Bipasha Basu, too, put up pictures of her nailing asanas to celebrate the day. Twinkle Khanna turned to books by posting images of her two favourite books on yoga. She wrote,"I started practising 15 years ago and though it took almost 7 years to kick in-tore down established neural patterns to form the ones that fit the life I have now-largely due to doing my pranayama and meditation every day.”
Soon, a yoga board in Gujarat
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani announced that a yoga board will soon be formed in the state. The announcement was made during the celebration of yoga day, which was organised by the state government at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Gujarat governor O P Kohli was also present during the event.
“I have already given approval for the formation of the yoga board. It will promote yoga across the state. The board will also make an effort towards preserving our spiritual legacy. It will work towards popularising the ancient practice,” Rupani said, while addressing media after the event. The CM urged people to make yoga practice an integral part of their daily lives. “Prevention of diseases is important and if people will become disease-free, they will also become poverty-free,” said Rupani.
Yoga day celebrations were held in different parts of the state including several places of historical and religious importance. These include Ambaji Temple, Somnath Temple, Sarkhej Roza in Ahmedabad, Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, Rani ki Vav in Patan According to a statement released by the state government, more than 15 million people participated in the yoga day events held at various locations in Gujarat.
Rahul’s tweet draws criticism
Congress president Rahul Gandhi courted controversy by tweeting pictures of Army dogs and handlers in yoga postures under the caption ‘New India’. The tweet was widely seen as a sneer at the Yoga Day celebrations conceived and promoted by PM Modi, and raised many eyebrows, besides drawing fire from BJP.
“Congress stands for negativity. Today, their negativity was seen in their clear support to the medieval practice of triple talaq. Now, they mock Yoga Day and insult our forces (yet again). Hoping the spirit of positivity will prevail,” tweeted BJP chief and home minister Amit Shah.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh also took exception to Rahul’s tweet. “With due respect to you Rahulji, these are proud members of the Indian Army and they contribute to the safety of our nation. When someone insults our Army repeatedly, one can pray for his wellbeing,” he said.
The controversial tweet came a day after the claim of saffron sympathisers that during President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Rahul had sought to restrain his mother Sonia Gandhi from joining in the applause that greeted reference to the Army’s surgical strikes. Twitterati came down heavily on the tweet, asking Gandhi who was he mocking: Yoga, Army dogs or the soldiers.
Yoga day in Indian embassies
Most of India’s 191 embassies and consulates worldwide organised yoga sessions to commemorate the day, according to the foreign ministry. The ministry shared photos of yoga flash mobs on the streets of Kiev, colourful yoga mats around Brussels’ Triumphal Arch, sun salutations under the Washington Monument, hundreds in seated prayer pose at Moscow’s Tagansky Park and more than 500 people in identical transparent ponchos and black pants in front of the Yellow Crane Tower in rainy Wuhan, China.
At an event for diplomats in New Delhi featuring India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Israel’s ambassador Ron Malka said Modi’s use of yoga as a tool of diplomacy is “working quite well” to strengthen ties between the two countries. Walter Lindner, the German ambassador to India, described Modi’s yoga bid at the UN a “clever move”. “Yoga is a product which you can sell everywhere in the world,” Lindner said, adding that four million people were participating in International Yoga Day events in Germany. Modi has also used yoga to bolster his image at home.
Importance of yoga
Yoga is an ancient practice which brings together physical, mental disciplines to achieve a peaceful body and mind. Yoga is a form of exercise that is performed through diet, breathing and physical posture. Since five years, international yoga day is celebrated annually. International yoga day is also known as World Yoga Day.
Theme
The theme of 5th International yoga day 2019 is "Climate Action". In United Nation, it was celebrated a day before that is on 20 June, 2019 with 'Yoga with Gurus' and followed by a panel of discussion on 21 June. Climate Action theme focuses on the way how yoga can help us to solve the problem of climate change and also it bring lot more benefits into the lives of people. It is necessary to work towards climate change. The sense of respect for mother earth overcomes regular yoga practitioners that will help people to act in a certain way at home and working environment to work and build better future.
The theme of yoga day 2018 was “Yoga for Peace”. It was “Yoga For Health” in 2017. In 2016 it was “Connect the Youth”. The theme in 2015 was “Yoga For Harmony And Peace”.
History
The word ‘yoga’ is derived from Sanskrit and means ‘to join’/to unite’. On 11 December, 2014, United Nations General Assembly declared to celebrate international yoga day on 21st June every year by resolution 69/131. It was declared by the call of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he addressed United Nation General Assembly on 27 September, 2014 and asks for adopting 21st June as an international yoga day to get all the benefits of yoga to the people around the world. No doubt in an Indian history, the declaration of international yoga day is a great and pride moment.
Finally, it was declared on 11 December, 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly. First time in the history it happened that the initiative of any country has been proposed and implemented by the UN within 90 days. Sam Kutesa, President of UN General Assembly, announced to celebrate the international yoga day on June 21 and more than 170 countries supported the yoga day proposal. From this it came into light that people also know about the benefits of yoga, some of which are visible and some are invisible.
The resolution was adopted under the Global Health and Foreign Policy by the General Assembly in order to provide approach towards the health and well-being. PM Narendra Modi has suggested 21st June as international yoga day because 21st June is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has many significance in different parts of the world?
Events
Various events will be organised all over the world on the yoga day, where people from different places gather to practice yoga. In India also, several events will be organised. In pre-decided places, people gather in the morning and practice yoga under the guidance of trained yoga teachers and spread awareness about its benefit on health and environment. In various schools and colleges several yoga practice sessions are organised. Prime Minister will also distribute Yoga Awards 2019. On 21st June, 2019 a special sale of yoga essentials like mats, tees etc. was organised at Friends of Meditation, Naraina, New Delhi.
Celebrations in India
On 21 June international yoga day 2019, PM Narendra Modi perofrmed yoga in Ranchi, Jharkhand with 18,000 participants, including Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Ministers and senior officials of the state. On 21 June, 2018 at Dehradun in Uttarakhand, international day of yoga was celebrated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with around 55,000 enthusiasts performed yoga. On 21 June, 2017 at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, international day of yoga was celebrated where new records were created. People from around 150 countries participated and the number of participants was up to 51,000.
On 21 June, 2016, the AYUSH Ministry organized an event "The National Event of Mass Yoga Demonstration", at Chandigarh, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other people participated. On 21 June, 2015, the Indian Prime Minister and around 36,000 people had celebrated the first international day of yoga at Rajpath in New Delhi. Twenty one yoga mudras or yoga postures for 35 minutes was performed there.
The ceremony had established two Guinness World Records: the first to be the largest yoga class and secondly the largest number of nationalities from 84 countries participated in the event. This award was presented to the Ministry of AYUSH and received by AYUSH minister Shripad Yesso Naik.
Significance
- Yoga helps to maintain a balance between oneself and environment
- Yoga acts as an aid to one's health;
- Yoga brings a balance between body, soul and mind.
- It help us to deal with several problems, worries etc.
- By regular practice of yoga, an individual can rid from health related problems.
- Yoga promotes self-healing.
- Enhance personal power.
- Increases self-awareness
- Removes toxins from the body.
- Remove negative thoughts from mind.
- Reduces stress and tension in the physical body.
- The person feels rejuvenated and energised.
- Yoga gives power to control body and mind.
- Yoga increases flexibility.
- It improves brain function.
- Yoga helps in reducing weight.
- Lowers the risk of heart diseases etc.
Some interesting facts
- The father of yoga is known as Maharshi Patanjali who compiled 195 Yoga Sutras that became the foundation of Yoga philosophy.
- Some scholars believed yoga incorporated elements from the Stone Age. As in the Stone Age, Shamanism was prevalent and is a healing practice connected to nature. Yoga is not derived from Shamanism but the two have similar features.
- On 21 June, 2015 at International Yoga day, the Indian Postal Service released a stamp for yoga which has an outline of a seated yogi with the Anjali Mudra overhead.
- Yoga is originated in India and is the oldest physical disciplines. Yoga is over 5,000 years old.
- Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika is an English bestselling book written by B.K.S Iyengar.
- The world's oldest yoga teacher is Bette Calman (85 years old) according to the Guinness World Records.
No doubt regular practice of yoga will transform and broaden the perspective of life. It is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition which is around 5,000 years old. Yoga is not only about exercise and about various asana but also help to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature.
