Ranchi: Appealing to people to take yoga to all sections of society, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said yoga is above everything, as he performed various asanas with around 40,000 enthusiasts at the Prabhat Tara ground here to mark the fifth International Day of Yoga.
Modi also urged people to make yoga an integral part of life.
"We should make efforts to take yoga from cities to villages and tribal areas. Yoga is above religion, caste, colour, gender and region, it is above everything," he told the gathering.
The main event for the yoga day was held in the Jharkhand capital.
"It (yoga) is constant and evolving for centuries. The essence of yoga has been stable and remained the same -- healthy body, stable mind, spirit of oneness. Yoga has provided a perfect blend of knowledge, karma and bhakti," the prime minister said.
Expressing concern that young people were becoming vulnerable to heart ailments, Modi said, "Yoga can play a huge role in tackling the issue and hence, this year's theme is 'Yoga for Heart'."
Heart-related ailments have increased manifold in the country, for which awareness on heart care, prevention through yoga and proper treatment are necessary, the prime minister said.
Modi also said the government has been working to make yoga a pillar of preventive healthcare.
"We can say, in India, awareness of yoga has reached every corner and section. From drawing room to boardroom, from parks in cities to sports complex, all around yoga can be experienced," he told the gathering.
Noting that good health motivates to scale new heights, Modi said, neither dreams can be realised nor objectives achieved through a tired body and broken mind.
"We should make efforts to take yoga from cities to villages and tribal areas", the prime minister said.
"Yoga should be taken to tribal homes and made an inseparable part of the life of the indigenous people."
He stressed that for yoga to become popular, infrastructure for it must be strengthened.
The government, he said, was working on it.
As the world is adopting yoga, Modi said, research on yoga should be given emphasis for providing updated information about yoga, just like a phone is updated with the latest software.
"With the increasing importance of yoga, the role of trainers and institutions related to yoga will also increase," he said.
"Peace and harmony are related to yoga. People across the world must practice it," Modi said.
The prime minister had arrived here Thursday night.
On his way out of the venue, Modi shook hands with several participants, including school children, who reached out to the prime minister over barricades.
The International Day of Yoga is being celebrated annually on June 21 since 2015.
Events to mark the day are being held across the globe and in India, several of them are being led by Union ministers, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh.
