Rishis Contribution In 21st Century - Yoga

New Delhi, Apr 26 (UNI) A woman who slipped a disc as a teen 23 years ago and was incapacitated over the next 12 years, thanked her healer by opening New Delhi's first Iyengar Yoga Centre last night.

''This centre belongs to Guruji,'' said Nivedita Joshi, a microbiologist and Yoga instructor, promising it would be a spring of ''hope to those who have lost hope.'' The nonagenarian Yogacharya B K S Iyengar, said he was happy that the facility finally arrived in the Indian Capital, as such centres already exist in most major cities of the world.

''It belongs,'' he told audience, ''to you who have come to learn what our rishis and sages have given to mankind.'' ''Body is a temple of soul,'' said Iyengar, underscoring the imperative to attend to one's body, keep it clean and respect it so it in turn aids the journey of the soul.

The Pune-headquartered institution has Yoga centres in London, Toronto, Tel Aviv, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Auckland, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Melbourne and elsewhere, not to mention Mumbai, Bangalore and Bellur.

The healing centre was inaugurated by former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in a ceremony attended by former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and former Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

Mr Shekhawat regretted the tendency to go straight for allopathic drugs at the first sign of ailment instead of tapping natural recourses such as Yoga. As for himself, he announced he would take his ailment to the new Centre.

Mr Advani, who missed an 11-year-old's art exhibit to attend the opening, said he had seen some of her paintings and been struck by a focus on 'conviction'-- the very characterstic that had helped Ms Joshi in her journey through pain and misery-- a conviction that Yoga was the way to end her suffering.

Dr Joshi recalled early days when his daughter thought she could never have a normal life. Top doctors could not seem to help. The suggestion to see the Pune based Yogacharya came from veteran Jan Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh. He said the experience showed how Yoga contributes to the 21st century.

UNI MJ KK HS1721