Good health a byproduct of yoga: Joshi

Pune, Dec 15: Hailing yoga for its health benefits, former Union minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi lauded late yogacharya BKS Iyengar for his contribution in spreading the ancient Indian practice across the globe.

Joshi was speaking on Friday at the concluding session of the 10-day long event on yoga organised at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi here to mark the birth centenary of yoga guru Iyengar. More than 1,000 people from across 50 countries took part in the event.

"I was introduced to Guruji (Iyengar) while treating some illness of my daughter, who was not benefiting from any kind of medical treatment. "I am happy to say that Guruji transformed her life.

I also had a chance to introduce Guruji to the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vaypayee and Guruji gave some tips to fight his knee problem," recalled Joshi. He said that Iyengar played a key role in taking the "real yoga" to the world.

"After a lot of research and trials, it has now been proven that yoga gives verifiable, observable and true results. The UN accepted yoga as the greatest gift of India to the world and that's how the World Yoga Day is celebrated now," he said.

The veteran BJP leader said, "For the youth I can only say that yoga is not for health, but good health is a byproduct of yoga." Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis also addressed the gathering through a video message.