Vice President inaugurates yoga festival

Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday visited Rishikesh and inaugurated the International Yoga Festival along with governor K K Paul and chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that yoga is an intrinsic part of Uttarakhand’s cultural legacy. “It is a matter of pride for me to inaugurate the international yoga festival on the bank of the river Ganga,” he said, adding that the festival has now acquired a global identity.

Naidu dubbed the yoga festival as a platform that “provides” individuals an opportunity to reform and transform their inner self. “It (yoga) is India’s gift to the world…Yoga touches people at spiritual, physical and emotional levels,” he said adding that India’s ancient legacy is all about connectivity, control of mind and concentration.

Naidu said that everything in the contemporary world is becoming online. “In fact the entire way of life has become online…In such a situation, yoga keeps us rooted and nurtures us spiritually and physically,” he said adding that yoga should be a part of the routine.

Naidu termed yoga as a process that rids us of diseases and ailments. “This is a method of healing that paves the way for peace and spiritual well being of man,” he said. Naidu said that ancient Indian science of exercise and healing (yoga) was the only way to rid the world of a number of ills it is replete with.

Chief minister Rawat welcomed around 1,500 participants in the yoga festival from 94 countries. “All these participants will go back to their respective countries with a sense of joy, peace and satisfaction,” he said. “It is the power of yoga that has brought together so many yoga enthusiasts from across the world.”