Pooja, 14, living in Shisham Jhari area of Rishikesh, was beaming while she was practising meditation along with members of a group who came from Nagpur as part of an educational/ spiritual tour, now visiting various ashrams of the twin cities. Pooja was one of those slum kids who have been attending the yoga retreats and camps to learn the art of living a good life over the past 10 days. Sharing their experiences of learning various sports and martial arts like karate-the programme culminated in the International Yoga Day on Wednesday the children were ready to face the challenges of the world with their newly-gained energy.
Organiser of the tour, Tanu Verma from Yoga Dharnendra Charitable Society said, “For the first time, these children have had the taste of spirituality from the masters who taught them various skills in arts, sports, Yoga and meditation. Their performance was no less perfect than that of the children studying in public schools during such schools’ annual function.”
Presiding over the function as the chief guest on the concluding day, Pro-VC of Patanjali University, Vachaspati Kulwant said, “Yoga is a way of living which helps the practitioner to balance both mind and body to reach a State of equilibrium. These students have showed no sign that they were from the unprivileged classes and were unable to compete with their friends who are from sound economic backgrounds. It is the moral duty of every citizen to bring the underprivileged children into the mainstream.”
The president of the Yoga Dharnendra Gurukulum Prince Kumar Jaiswal said, “Visits to the seats of education and spirituality have inspired these children during the guided tours. They were taken to Sivananda Ashram, Neelkanth Mahadev, Buddha temple in Dekhraun, FRI and Shantikuknj. A spark has been kindled in them which would guide them in their future lives.”