Hari Om Tat Sat
I wish you all a very warm welcome on behalf of the Bihar School of Yoga on this occasion of the International Day of Yoga.
Though there is not a particularly large gathering of people present here at Paduka Darshan, yoga as a lifestyle is being practised at this very moment within the courtyards and on the rooftops of more than 2,000 homes in Munger, the 'City of Yoga.' Not only here, but all over India and overseas yoga lovers and aspirants belonging to the Bihar Yoga tradition are expressing their faith and resolve to practise yoga in a simple and unassuming yet deeply steadfast manner.
On this historic day our focus, our thoughts, our memories are naturally drawn towards our guru's tradition because it was Sri Swami Satyananda's dream and his resolve that the Yoga-Ganga would flow down from the heights of the Himalayas to nourish and enrich the plains of society the world over.
Our paramguru Swami Sivananda used to say, "Every moment of life should be infused with yoga." Here at the Bihar School of Yoga it is this principle that we live by and endeavour to bring alive in each and every moment.
Swami Sivananda held the belief that through yoga humankind can achieve the highest expression of intellect, emotions and actions. It is this belief that took a concrete form when his foremost disciple, Sri Swami Satyananda, established the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963 with the resolve of bringing yoga from door to door and shore to shore and transforming this challenge into a living reality.
Sri Swami Satyananda was a seer with incredible foresight, declaring way back at that time, "Yoga will emerge as a mighty world culture and shape the course of world events." The veracity of this declaration was borne out in the year 2014 when our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal to observe an International Day of Yoga was placed before the United Nations General Assembly with the support of 177 member nations and was readily accepted and passed by the world community. This is a moment of great glory for the whole nation.
The fact that yoga is an integrated method which bestows good health and is uplifting to all has in this way received international recognition and acceptance. Through the declaration and observation of the International Day of Yoga the world over, all nations and representatives of different traditions have signalled their acceptance and involvement in the teaching of yoga. The Bihar School of Yoga wholeheartedly supports the International Day of Yoga and expresses its best wishes for its complete success.
Today in Munger the hardworking members of the children's yoga movements Bal Yoga Mitra Mandal and Yuva Yoga Mitra Mandal, and the Ramayana Mandali are enthusiastically engaged in over 108 centres guiding yoga sessions on the rooftops and in the courtyards of countless homes so that the maximum number of people can receive its benefits. Not just that but even in the prison close by we are conducting a yoga program for our brothers there. We pray and hope that this ancient vidya or science of yoga brings health, happiness and peace into the lives of all. Hari Om Tat Sat.
Swami Sivadhyanam