This year’s Shivarathri marked the unveiling of the massive statue of the ‘Adiyogi’, Lord Shiva by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Isha Yoga Foundation, Coimbatore. Here’s a quick run-down of all the interesting aspects of this project:
The statue is MASSIVE The ‘Adiyogi’ statue is 112-feet tall, as Lord Shiva opened 112 possibilities for human beings to reach their ultimate potential, and the bust symbolises those possibilities. And it weighs over 500 tonnes. Now, isn’t that awe-inspiring for a bust of Lord Shiva?
The statue was built quicker than you think The founder of Isha Foundation, Jaggi Vasudev, said the bust of 'Adiyogi' was built in eight months.
The reason behind ‘Adiyogi’ As the name suggests ‘Adiyogi’ refers to the first yogi (Lord Shiva) who is believed to have offered the yogic sciences to the world over 15,000 years ago. As the Isha Yoga Foundation mentions in their website ‘he brought technology and methods, not as a philosophy or teaching, as to how one can raise their energies and transform their lives into a great possibility.’
Yoga drive The Maha Yoga Yagna was kicked off on Shivarathri by PM Modi. Basically, it was an oath taken by a million people to teach yoga to at least 100 other people. The target is to involve 100 million people into yoga before the next Shivarathri.
No event is without controversy And so was the unveiling of this statue. According to The Economic Times, ‘Several environmental groups and political outfits have urged PM Modi not to attend the event as they believe that the construction of the Shiva murti is in violation of environment laws.’
