New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday thanked the United Nations, 177 other countries which co-sponsored the resolution to mark June 21 as International Day of Yoga and every individual for participating in the celebrations and making it a successful event.
The proposal had been mooted by the Prime Minister during his first address to the UN General Assembly in September last year.
PM Modi took to Twitter to congratulate each & every person who practiced in Yoga Day celebrations today.
I congratulate each & every person who practiced Yoga today & made the 1st #YogaDay a success. http://t.co/kYbGHoyTXm
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2015
The world has celebrated #YogaDay with immense enthusiasm. Across the world, people have joined in large numbers. This is a great moment.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2015
In another tweet he congratulated all who managed the celebrations of the International Yoga Day event which took place at Rajpath today. The first International Day of Yoga saw two Guinness World Records being set - for the largest number of participants in a yoga lesson at a single venue and for the most number of nationalities in a yoga lesson.
35,985 people belonging to 84 nations joined the #YogaDay programme at Rajpath. 2 world records have been set. Yoga truly unites.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2015
As a night of thunderstorms and a dark, cloudy morning was broken by shafts of sunlight, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also launched the first International Day of Yoga with a call to harness the power of the ancient art to usher in a life of dignity for humanity.
It has the strength to usher in world peace and help bring a life of dignity to the world, said Ban, who was dressed in a yoga track suit and participated in the yoga demonstration, performing several asanas that Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar led the audience in.
Shortly after the performance, PM Modi wasted no time to thank Ban Ki-moon and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Was very happy to see the #YogaDay programme at the @UN, Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon doing Yoga & @SrSri guiding there.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2015
Earlier in the day, it was an unprecedented demonstration of India's soft power as tens of thousands across the world, besides millions in India, performed yoga today to mark the inaugural International Day of Yoga (IDY). A record-breaking nearly 36,000 people, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took part in the main early morning event at Rajpath in the heart of New Delhi.
Yoga was performed at events across the world -- from New York to Trinidad and Tobago, from the Maldives to Australia, from Tel Aviv to Moscow, from on board Indian naval ships to the heights of Siachen glacier, at schools and in innumerable residential localities -- to mark the IDY on June 21.
Celebrating the Spirit of Yoga on the Icy heights of Himalayas. #IndianArmy on #YogaDay pic.twitter.com/edex4IDdP2
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 21, 2015
The mega event at Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard and the surrounding green expanse that connects Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace on Raisina Hill, with the World War I memorial India Gate, was replicated across state capitals, cities, towns and rural areas in the country. Modi described the event as the start of a new era for training the human mind for mind-body balance, peace and harmony.
आज राजपथ योगपथ हो गया! http://t.co/nrWtmK9iF1 pic.twitter.com/OwarUdZLSg
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2015
Modi, who himself performed the asanas among the crowd of yoga practitioners at Rajpath, said yoga was not only an exercise to make the body flexible but a path for inner development.
(With Agency inputs)
