Dear friends,

Yoga, as we know, means ‘union’. By its intrinsic nature, yoga brings unity. The other intrinsic nature of yoga is peace. I am sure all of you would have felt peaceful after yoga practice. Yet another intrinsic nature of yoga is harmony. Yoga brings harmony between our inner self and the outside world. In the present time, when mankind is facing multitude of challenges, we can certainly benefit if there is more unity of purpose which brings peace to the world and harmony between man and nature. In addition to the competition between man and nature, we face another kind of competition, that is, what is good for oneself and what is good for the society. The question which we face every day is – should I sacrifice what is good for myself and family for the sake of society? Are there limits for such sacrifices? Are there fundamental individual aspects that cannot be compromised for any cause? As we allknow, there are no easy or uniform answers. That’s why the theme of this years’International Day of Yoga is very apt and relevant – ‘Yoga for Self and Society’.

Yoga provides us an answer that it is good for both self and society. By cultivating yoga practice, we heal ourselves from within, which in turns heals the society as well.Through yoga we become healthy from within, which in turns makes our societies healthier. Yoga also teaches us to cultivate attitude to respect the nature, which in turnhelps us to nurture the nature for the overall good of the society. Yoga also helps anindividual to realise what is important in life which helps societies to develop a bettermoral compass.I am, therefore, very happy to celebrate with you the 10th International Day of Yoga andhope that you all will carry the message of yoga to your families, communities and cities for the good of everyone.

Thank You!