[In Pictures] PM Leads Yoga Day Celebrations, Thousands Take Part In Odisha

Mysuru/Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday led the country’s Yoga Day celebrations from Karnataka’s Mysuru. “Yoga is no longer a part of life, but is becoming a way of life,” he said, addressing the event at the Mysore Palace grounds.

“The peace from yoga is not merely for individuals. Yoga brings peace to our society. Yoga brings peace to our nations and the world. And, yoga brings peace to our universe,” he said.

“No matter how stressful an atmosphere we are in, meditation for a few minutes relaxes us and boosts our productivity. So we should not consider yoga an additional work. We have to know yoga and live yoga and make it our own,” the Prime Minister added

In Odisha, thousands gathered across the state to mark Yoga Day. The day is being marked at 75 historical sites including three from Odisha — Jagannath Temple in Puri, Sun Temple in Konark and Tampara lake in Ganjam.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw led the celebrations at Konark Temple.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan led the celebrations at Kangra Fort in Himachal Pradesh.

Union Minister Mahendra Pandey, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, Puri MLA Jayanta Sarangi and party’s state general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar took part in the celebrations in Puri.

Union Minister Bishweswar Tudu took part in the celebrations at Khiching in Mayurbhanj district.

International sand artist Manas Kumar Sahoo has created a sand art on Puri Beach near the light house Baliapanda on the occasion.

Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a seven-foot sand sculpture of Modi doing yoga at a beach in Puri to mark the day. Pattnaik used around six tonnes of sand to create the sculpture depicting ‘Surya Namaskar’.