NEW YORK/BENGALURU: Meditation transcends all religions and borders and is also a powerful instrument of diplomacy in the current global landscape marked by escalating conflicts, top spiritual and UN leaders said on the first World Meditation Day commemorated in New York.
The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations organised a special event ‘Meditation for Global Peace and Harmony’ to mark the day at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday. “Today meditation is not a luxury, as it was thought, but it is a necessity,” spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said in his keynote address at the packed event attended by UN ambassadors, officials, staff, civil society members as well as members of the Indian-American diaspora.
“Meditation is something you can do anywhere, everywhere, by everyone. In this sense, international Meditation Day plays a very important role and opens the door to those who have some reservations,” Sri Sri said. He underscored that meditation “transcends all religions, all geographical boundaries and age groups so it is very useful in many, many ways.
Earlier this month, the 193-member UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring Dec 21 as World Meditation Day.
‘World Meditates with Gurudev’, an event organised by the Art of Living Foundation and led by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, saw over 8.5 million people from over 180 countries joining in online and offline. In a press release, the foundation said the event made it to the Guinness World Records as the ‘most-viewed guided meditation livestream on YouTube’.
