Let's spread yoga from classrooms: Ravi Shankar

Spiritual guru Ravi Shankar Friday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the UN declared June 21 the International Yoga Day, and said the time had come to take yoga to school classrooms.

"I congratulate Modi... It is very difficult for any philosophy, religion or culture to survive without state patronage. Yoga has existed so far almost like an orphan," the Art of Living founder said.

"Now, official recognition by the UN would further spread the benefit of yoga to the entire world."

Ravi Shankar added: "India is the land where yoga was born and (it) must finally take the responsibility to spread it everywhere, starting from classrooms. This will help young people to move away from gun culture and violence."

He said yoga was a lifestyle and should not be mistaken only as 'asanas'.

"A disease-free body, quiver-free breath, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, obsession-free memory, ego that includes all, and soul which is free from sorrow are the signs of a perfect yogi."

Ravi Shankar said when The Art of Living programme started in the early 80s, yoga was seen as being practised by freaks and Himalayan yogis standing upside down or on one leg.

"That is one of the reasons why we called our programme The Art of Living, a generic term that people could relate to across race, religion and culture.

"It was Paramhansa Yogananda and then Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought respectability to yoga in the West."

He said in the last three decades, the Art of Living had taken yoga to 152 countries and had 26,000 yoga teachers worldwide.