The meaning of yoga
- By Rajeev Sharma
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E-mail Beijing Review, July 20, 2015
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On June 21, India broke two world records as thousands led by Modi performed yoga at Rajpath, a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi. |
Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the UN General Assembly to observe June 21 as the International Day of Yoga. The date is also important in Hindu philosophy as it is when Lord Shiva, the first yoga practitioner, is said to have begun imparting the knowledge of yoga to the rest of mankind, thus becoming the discipline's first guru.
On June 21, India broke two world records as thousands led by Modi performed yoga at Rajpath, a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi. It was both the world's largest-ever yoga class, with 35,985 attendees, and involved the most nationalities participating in a single yoga event--84.
On the day, yoga mats were rolled out along the banks of the River Thames in London, under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and in New York's Times Square, where Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj was in attendance. A mass yoga session was also held at the UN headquarters--the "first in UN history," tweeted Vikas Swarup, a spokeswoman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. In her address, Swaraj remarked, "The word 'yoga' means 'to unite, to join'... We hope this will help bring the world together."
For years yoga has been widely practiced all over China, especially by youngsters, but this international event has no doubt given a further boost to the popularity of the discipline, with events being held in many Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In May, yoga received an official nod when Premier Li Keqiang attended a yoga-taichi meeting with Modi during his China visit.
As a physical, mental, and spiritual practice, yoga is one of India's most important contributions to world culture. Though its origins stretch back to around the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., its literal meaning is all the more relevant today.
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