Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said yoga not only gives us the physical strength but also the mental balance and emotional stability to “confidently negotiate the challenges before us”.
The Prime Minister, in his address to the nation on the sixth edition of the International Yoga Day, recited shlokas from the Gita to talk about what yoga means.
“Friends, if we can fine-tune our codes of health and hope, the day is not far away when the world will witness the success of healthy and happy humanity. Yoga can definitely help us make this happen,” the PM said.
He also talked about karma yoga, saying if we do our jobs with discipline and carry our responsibilities well, even that is yoga.
“In the Gita, Lord Krishna while explaining yoga has said: ‘Yoga: Karmasu Kaushalam’ which means that the efficiency in action is yoga. This mantra always teaches that if we practice yoga, we can make ourselves better in our lives,” he said.
“There is a saying here that yuktāhāravihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu, yuktasvapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā. It means eating the right food, exercising in the right way, following right habits of sleeping and waking up, and doing our work and our duties correctly is yoga,” he added.
Karma yoga helps us find a solution to all our pains and problems, he said.
“The meaning of yoga is samtvam yoga uchayate. That is remaining steadfast in every situation: adversity and hostility, success and failure, happiness and crisis is yoga,” PM Modi said.
This is the first time since June 21, 2015, the International Yoga Day is being observed digitally amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s theme is ‘Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family’.
PM Modi had urged people, in a video message on Thursday, to observe the day from their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
