Yoga is not relief, but revolution: Acharya Prashant

Goa: On International Yoga Day , Acharya Prashant challenged the mainstream view of yoga as just a wellness practice, highlighting instead its profound and transformative roots in the Bhagavad Gita.

While addressing the audience at PVR-INOX Osia in Goa on the topic 'Yoga in the Light of the Bhagavad Gita' on Saturday, he stated that yoga is not a means of relief, but a call to revolution.

The event, jointly organised by the PrashantAdvait Foundation and PVR-INOX, was simultaneously broadcast in over 40 cinemas across India — from Mumbai and Gurgaon to Patna and Bhopal.

"Yoga is about revolution. It begins where your excuses end. You cannot be in yoga and continue to live as you were," he said.

Known for his interpretations of Vedantic scriptures, he emphasised that the 'Yoga of the Gita' is not physical but existential — a lived realisation rather than a performed routine. “Yoga is not a set of postures. It is a state of poise. It’s not a technique, it is truth lived," he explained.

The author of over 160 books further stressed that yoga is not escapism, but preparation -- not a retreat from the world, but readiness to face it head-on. He has been credited with mobilising the younger generation to reconnect with ancient scriptures in a practical way. His Bhagavad Gita Teaching-Testing programme has drawn over one lakh participants, and a recent online Gita examination has been touted as the largest of its kind globally.