“Doctors at hospitals cure only a particular ailment at a time but yoga cures all disorders at one go. The medical science might have registered a remarkable progress today, but if we do not adopt the holistic methods of treatments which are in yoga, we might have to pay a heavy price in the coming days,? said Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, former Vice President of India. He was inaugurating the first Iyengar Yoga Centre, Yogakshema, in New Delhi on April 25. The centre has been set up by the Indian Heritage Society at Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and NDA'sPrime Ministerial candidate Shri L.K. Advani, senior BJP leader and former Union HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, internationally known Yogacharya Dr Bellur Krishrama-charya Sundararaja Iyengar, popularly known as Dr BKS Iyengar, and Mayor of Delhi Smt. Arti Mehra were also present at the inaugural ceremony.
More than 30 per cent people of the country, Shri Shekhawat said, are below poverty line. Even if they are uplifted and yet are not healthy enough, their upliftment would prove to be futile. He stressed the need to develop awareness in the society about yoga.
Shri L.K. Advani said that this yoga centre came up in Delhi only due to the efforts of Nivedita Joshi, daughter of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. If one develops conviction to the task, one can achieve what is not achieved even by experts, Shri Advani said.
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said it was Nanaji Desh-mukh who advised him to take Nivedita to Dr Iyengar'sRamamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune when she was not well and they had lost all hopes. After getting cured she started this centre only to share her knowledge of yoga and experience with others. The significance of yoga in this 21 century will practically be experienced at this centre. It will also underline the importance of yoga with the medical science,? he added.
Dr B.K.S. Iyengar said, ?Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter is the flame. The body is temple of your soul. Keep it pure and clean for your soul to reside in. I want everybody to pay attention and respect to their body as they pay to God.? He said he has 300 yoga centres in capitals of almost all countries of the world but had no centre in the capital of his own motherland. That dream has come true today with the opening of this center, he said. He appealed to the people to avail the benefit of yoga as it makes one free of ailment. ?The sufferers will gain health from this centre. There is no medicine in the world, which can give us health. But yoga has this power,? he added.
Smt Arti Mehra, Mayor of Delhi, said all would experience the positive vibrations of this centre. She said those who wish to live long must turn to yoga. She further said in the fast moving world in order to be de-stressed and to remain physically and mentally fit people must practice yoga.
Sushri Nivedita Joshi said, ?Whatever I have lost no one should. Whatever I have achieved through yoga, everyone should and I would like to share it with everyone. Yoga is an effective system for the full development of the human personality making it capable of converting challenges into opportunities.? She said the centre would be developed as a hub for collaboration with institutions engaged in similar activities. President of the Indian Heritage Society, Shri K.N. Joshi welcomed the guests and Smt. Tarala Joshi, wife of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, proposed a vote of thanks.
