Yoga has nothing to do with religion: Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu 

He also hailed the Institute for promoting yoga across the world for three generations and training many yoga teachers.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu (File | PTI)
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu (File | PTI)

MUMBAI: Rather than having a narrow religious connotation, Yoga is a holistic approach to well being. It is the only way to healthy life, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said here on Sunday while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the centenary celebrations of 'The Yoga Institute' in Santacruz.

“In today’s sedentary lifestyle, which hardly allows us to do physical exercise, yoga is the only way through which we can keep ourselves physically and mentally fit,” Naidu said.

“Yoga is India’s gift to the modern world. Unfortunately, a few people link yoga with a particular religion. Yoga has nothing to do with religion, it’s a science of how to live a peaceful life,” the vice-president said.

Naidu said that proponents of yogic science have gone deeper into the interconnectedness of human life an emphasized the importance of concentration and being able to think, reflect and meditate quietly on the events happening around us. In those quiet moments, they visualized that all of us can make sound ethical decisions, he added.

The VP said that this worldview has ethics as the underlying bedrock of a harmonious, sustainable lifestyle. The components of this yogic philosophy form the ethical principles that are so universal: Non-Violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, fidelity to one's partner and not being avaricious, he added

He also hailed the Institute for promoting yoga across the world for three generations and training many yoga teachers.

“If work, knowledge and devotion are combined, the work we do gets transformed into something quite extraordinary. Institutions like the Yoga Institute that have combined these three aspects have been pacesetters,” he said.

Maharashtra’s Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, former vice-chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhan Samstha (SVASA) Dr H R Nagendra, founder of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharati Acharya Lokesh Muniji, president of Paramarth Niketan Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji and education minister Vinod Tawde were among who attended the event.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com