Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders have tirelessly emphasised yoga is an integral part of Indian life. So, on Friday, the Indian Navy pulled out all stops to mark the fifth edition of International Day of Yoga.
New Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh was among the enthusiastic participants at a yoga session organised at Chanakya Bagh in Delhi. Singh was seen performing yoga with scores of Navy personnel and their families, including children.
The Southern Naval Command celebrated International Day of Yoga in all the seven states in which it operates. Vice Admiral A.K. Chawla, commander-in-chief of Southern Naval Command, participated in a yoga session at the hangar of the INAS 550 naval squadron in Kochi. The session also featured Navy personnel and their families as well as officers from friendly nations. Yoga sessions were held at the INS Dronacharya shore facility in Kochi, which was attended by more than 200 Navy personnel and their families.
Before one mistakenly thinks International Day of Yoga was an occasion for Navy personnel to relax on land, know that ships of the Southern Naval Command carried out yoga sessions while at sea! Approximately 450 personnel did yoga on board the INS Sujata, INS Magar and INS Sagardhawani, while deployed on maritime surveillance duties.
Yoga for Indian armed forces personnel at the first indigenously built floating dock of the Indian Navy FDN2 made this Yoga Day very special. The men & women who maintain this engineering marvel to guard the nation are the true heroes. We bow to you. -Sg @indiannavy #YogaDay2019 pic.twitter.com/pQnA8cBDOl
— Sadhguru (@SadhguruJV) June 21, 2019
Renowned yoga guru Jaggi Vasudev (popularly known as Sadhguru) led a yoga session at the Andaman and Nicobar Command. Sadhguru led the session on a floating dock of the Indian Navy. Sadhguru posted a number of tweets about his yoga session with the Indian Navy personnel, referring to them as “true heroes”.
Sadhguru noted the personnel, “miles away from their families & the mainland, are putting their lives at stake to protect the nation. It's of utmost importance to equip them with the Yogic tools of transformation for inner-well being”. Sadhguru also noted the dedication and devotion of the forces to the nation was “overwhelming and inspiring”.
Images of Navy personnel performing yoga on the deck of the INS Sindhudhvaj, a submarine, also went viral on Friday morning. The submarine, which uses diesel engines and electric batteries for propulsion, was purchased from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1987.
Active Indian Navy ships and bases were not the only places where International Day of Yoga was celebrated. Navy personnel gathered on the vast flight deck of INS Viraat, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, in Mumbai to perform yoga. The Viraat, which was purchased from the UK in 1987, was decommissioned in 2017.
