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Newspaper Reports
Hindustan Times
3.11.93
SILENCE, DISCIPLINE MARK YOGA CONFERENCE
BHAGALPUR, Nov. 2 (HTC) - The four-day World Yoga Convention which got off to a serene start yesterday at the sprawling
Ground at Munger has uni- que features. Though about 5,000 delegates from 32 countries and guests are attending this spiritual congregation, there is pin-drop silence all around the Yoga School hosting the conference and discipline rules the roost. Cleanliness is superb which together recapitulates the principle points of the science of yoga. The early morning kirtan and chorus singing of Om pervade the atmosphere with divinity.
Saffron-clad women are attending in good number. Whether the volunteers, the inmates of the School, delegates or guests, all are seen working in a spirit of oneness to make this convention, being held after 20 years and which also synchronizes with the Tyag Golden Jubilee celebration of Paramahamsa Satyananda, a success.
Incidentally the foreign guests have liked the Indian dishes very much, according to Mr. Amar Shankar Sahay, who
has been maintaining constant vigil over the catering service running round the clock. About 200 cooks including their helpers are running the kitchen in shifts to maintain time schedule because breakfast has to be served at 6 am fast.
Particularly among the foreigners, there were many who preferred black tea, others wanted tea without sugar and some without milk but they had great fancy for Indian vegetables, salad and sweets, Mr. Sahay says. Though yesterday's smart rain damaged three kitchen pandals but Mr. Sahay himself drenched in rain water with his army of cooks and helpers was determined to maintain the timeschedule.
Yoga is not a religion but a way to full life and this is what the spiritual stalwarts are trying to drive home in their own ways. The speeches are neither lengthy nor cumbersome but quite thought-provoking. Mr. Ashok Kumar, Divisional Commissioner, rightly observed that lively discussions would follow on the subject during the next two days and set a trend.
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