Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 25 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday asserted that they succeeded in their goal of organizing the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj with 66 crore devotees in 45 days in a temporary city.

CM Yogi attended the inaugural ceremony of the two-day national seminar on 'Contribution of Yogiraj Baba Gambhirnath of Indian Yoga tradition' organized at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University.

'I held the first meeting regarding the Maha Kumbh in November 2022. It took a year to finalize everything and then to implement it on the ground. If a good team isn't selected, the situation will be similar to what happened during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The CWG had ended, but the stadiums were still being built. Some people started criticizing the Maha Kumbh. I knew that the 7,000 crore Rs we were spending was the hard-earned money of the people of Uttar Pradesh, but in return, we would give Uttar Pradesh a three lakh crore Rs return and show the world that faith can become a cause of prosperity. We had not understood its strength,' CM Yogi said.

'We succeeded in our goal. The Maha Kumbh was magnificent and divine. The world was amazed to see the spiritual and cultural organization of India, with 66 crore devotees in just 45 days in a temporary city,' he said.

He further emphasized that 66 crore devotees coming to Prayagraj, where they bathe in Maa Ganga and take a sip of water shows the spiritual strength of India.

'The power of spirituality cannot be bound by the limitations of the physical world,' he pointed out.

The Uttar Pradesh CM also highlighted that India's Upanishads are the greatest treasures not only in this physical world but also if one wants to understand the mysteries of the universe.

'The problem was not in the world but within us. We had distanced ourselves from Upanishads. The result of this is visible today. The world that once ran behind us, we are now running after that world,' he said.

'In the past 10 years, we have seen India change. Earlier, no one paid attention to India. But after 10 years of transformation, today, everyone wants to come to India. Everyone feels proud of India. Today, 193 countries around the world are practicing Indian yoga techniques. Even an atheist country like China organizes yoga events. The same China, which once did not believe in religion, is now researching Buddhist philosophy. Isn't this India's victory?' CM Yogi Adityanath highlighted. (ANI)