Yoga Day a platform to unite world: Sushma at UN

The International Day of Yoga was a perfect platform to bring the world together in a spirit of unity and harmony, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here on Sunday.

Addressing the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the world body, which was attended by UN Ban Ki-moon, Sushma Swaraj thanked the 192 other members of the UN for their support which allowed the India resolution declaring June 21 as the International Day of Yoga to be adopted by consensus.

"In a world increasingly divided by what the great poet Rabindranath Tagore called 'narrow domestic walls', Prime Minister Modi had a vision of India's ancient treasure that would do the opposite - that would, through the notion of holistic health, and a conscious search for the self, seek to bring us all together.

"Yoga literally means to join, to unite, and we see the International Day of Yoga as the perfect platform to bring the world together in a spirit of unity and harmony," she said.

Sushma Swaraj said yoga was not a religion and should not be seen as belonging to any particular religion.

"It is a science, the science of well-being, the science of integrating body, mind and soul, the science of actualising our true potential."

She said tens of thousands of New Yorkers performed yoga at Times Square.

"Millions of others all across the world in 192 nations joined them in their own unique national celebrations of this historic day.

"By celebrating the International Day of Yoga together, we celebrate our common humanity. We are recognising that we have shared opportunities. We are also acknowledging our sense of a shared global fate," she said.

By celebrating the International Day of Yoga at the UN, she said, "I believe we send a powerful message about men and women living in harmony with each other and also in harmony with nature".

She expressed confidence that yoga can become "a potent tool for the UN to promote the message of brotherhood and amity in the finest Indian tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The entire world is one family, and we can unite it with yoga."