Text of PM’s address at the mass yoga demonstration event at Rajpath, on the occasion of First International Yoga Day

All the great people associated with Yoga in India and all over the world.

Nobody could have imagined that this Rajpath can turn into Yogpath. Under the aegis of UNO, International Yoga Day is being inaugurated today. But I believe that this is not just a beginning of celebrating 21st June as International yoga day, but it is the beginning of a new age to train the human mind to achieve new heights of peace and harmony. Sometimes some distortions creep in about many things due to ignorance. This has been a tradition for centuries and over the time a lot of things became associated with it.

Today I want to mention that over the centuries the great men, the sages, the saints, the yoga gurus, the yoga teachers and the yoga practitioners who have practised this tradition for centuries and taken it forward and have added some points to its development. Today I offer my respect to all those luminaries and I feel proud of them.

Which part of the globe this practice developed and where all did it spread, I think that is not very important for me. What is actually important is the fact that different kinds of revolutions are taking place in the world. Humanity is scaling new heights of development. Technology is now a part of a human being’s life in a way. All other aspects are growing fast. But it should not happen that everything else grows but human beings get stuck at one place. If all the systems in the world develop but mankind remains where it was ages ago then this kind of a mismatch too can prove to be a cause of crisis for human race. Hence it is necessary that human being also undergoes inner development and aspires for excellence.

Today, the world has the knowledge of Yoga to which different countries and people of various races and traditions have contributed. The idea is to accept everyone’s contribution and see how Yoga can help develop the inner conscience, how to strengthen our inner energy and human beings are relieved of stressful life and follow a life of peace. Most of the people think that Yoga is a form of exercise. I think this is the biggest mistake. Yoga is not some kind of gymnastics, for had it been so, the children working in a circus would have been called a Yogi. Yoga is not about being extremely flexible or the ability to do difficult postures. Sometimes we have seen in some musical concert that the musicians in the beginning tune their instruments. Someone tunes the strings, someone the percussion instrument or tabla, it takes around five to seven minutes. The audience become restless and think when the programme will start. So this tuning programme before is followed by the beautiful melodious music. The tuning is but a small part of the entire concert and so are the asanas in Yoga. The rest of the journey is very long. Therefore, it is necessary to learn and understand that journey. We are working in this direction.

I express my gratitude to the UNO. I am grateful to all the 193 countries who passed this proposal unanimously and I also thank the 177 countries who have co-sponsored and realized the importance of Yoga. Today, the rays of the sun in its journey from the first point to the last will have opportunity to bless Yoga practitioners at every point. The world will have to accept for the first time that the sun never sets in the world of practitioners of Yoga and that every place where the sun shines, there Yoga will mark its presence and the world has received this message today.

Mind, body, soul, intellect should all be balanced and in harmony, they should be in their natural state of balance and to achieve this state Yoga plays an important role. Today on the beginning of this occasion, I want to convey that it is only and the only programme for human welfare, a programme for de-stressed world, a programme to spread love, peace, unity and harmony, it is a programme to spread the awareness about Yoga and to forever make it a part of our lives.

I offer my heartfelt good wishes for this programme. We shall continuously strive to take this programme forward in every street and corner of India. With this hope, my very best wishes to you all.