United Nations has passed a resolution declaring June 21 every year as the International Yoga Day (World Yoga Day). India‘s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the International Community to adopt 21 June as the International Yoga Day.
Why 21 June was chosen as International Yoga Day?
Every year in Northern hemisphere, the Summer Solstice falls on June 21. It is the day when Day is longest and the night is shortest. It is the day when Earth is at its closest distance from the Sun on its orbit.
From the perspective of yoga, the Summer Solstice marks the transition of Sun from Uttarayana to Dakshinayana, according to ancient Vedic Calendar. According to Vedic Books, it was the day when Lord Shiva, first taught Yoga to his disciples. The knowledge of Yoga first descended from Shiva on this day. We can say, June 21 as the Birthday of Yoga. This is the reason why several Yogic Preachers had advocated celebrating June 21 as the International Yoga Day.
Uttarayana & Dakshinayana:
The term Uttarayana is derived from two different Sanskrit words “uttara” (North) and “ayana” (movement) thus indicating a semantic of the northward movement of the Earth on the celestial sphere. This movement begins to occur a day after the winter solstice in December which occurs around 22 December and continues for a six-month period through to the summer solstice around June 21 (dates vary). This difference is because the solstices are continually precessing at a rate of 50 arcseconds / year due to the precession of the equinoxes, i.e. this difference is the difference between the sidereal and tropical zodiacs. The Surya Siddhanta bridges this difference by juxtaposing the four solstitial and equinotial points with four of the twelve boundaries of the rashis.
The complement of Uttarayana is Dakshinayana, i.e. the period between Karka sankranti and Makara Sankranti as per the sidereal zodiac and between the Summer solstice and Winter solstice as per the tropical zodiac.
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