Prime Minister of India , Narendra Modi is known to be deeply steeped in the Hindu tradition. Imbibing pristine Hindu values early on in his life through his association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , Modi well understands the significance of traditional values and the importance of culture.
Ever since he came in to politics, and more particularly, on the national political scene, India has witnessed a clear inclination on the part of the government to promote the tradition and values of the age old Hindu culture. Modi’s concern is pretty obvious the way changes are sought to be brought about in the domain of education and culture.
Moving on to Yoga, a distinct mark of Hindu way of life from olden times, Yoga has always been placed on a high pedestal and considered to have a formative and curative power. In the words of one of the earliest and the greatest practitioners of Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar, “Yoga means union – the union of body with consciousness, and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the way of maintaining a balanced attitude in day to day life, and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions”.
Yoga is health giving- an aspect of Yoga which is the most popular one. And it is this aspect which more or less gets emphasized and proves attractive to people.
Thus, on the suggestion of Prime Minister of India, during his address to the UN General Assembly in October, 2014 , 177 member nations of the United Nations adopted unanimously a resolution to observe June 21 as International Day of Yoga.
It is heartening to know that an old science of India has received such overwhelming support among the nations of the world who are now all set to celebrate the day this coming Sunday.
On the purely material side, Yoga holds promise of a multi-billion dollar business. A Yogi Harbhajan not only created a large following in the US but also made a lot of money through Yoga. One can expect great job opportunities for thousands of yoga instructors and gurus who would reach over to distant parts of the world, and like Yogi Harbhajan, create their own empires. One can expect these people to bring to India a lot of foreign exchange. Yoga then would be a sound business proposition and Prime Minister Modi understands business well, as he himself has claimed.
Let us celebrate, them, with all enthusiasm and zeal, the first International Day of Yoga, this coming Sunday, June 21, 2015.