125-year-old yoga guru Swami Sivananda, dressed in a white kurta and dhoti, received the Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday.

Sivananda from Uttar Pradesh walked bare feet in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan and bowed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reciprocated the gesture twice. .

The footage shows that Sivananda bowed twice while walking towards the dais — once in the middle of the path and again before President Ram Nath Kovind.

The Twitter handle of the President of India noted Sivananda's dedication to human welfare and serving leprosy-affected people at Puri for the past 50 years.

Anand Mahindra, the chairperson of Mahindra, retweeted the video of Sivananda receiving the prestigious award and said, "Proud to belong to the country of Yoga’s origin."

Sivananda was born on 8 August 1896 in Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh), India. The yoga practitioner, drawn by poverty since childhood, lost his parents at the age of six. He was raised by Guru Omkarananda Goswami. For the last 50 years, Sivananda has been serving the underprivileged in different parts of the country — in North-East India, at Varanasi, Puri, Haridwar, and Nabadwip, according to the Rashtrapati Bhavan document on Padma awardees.

He has received various awards, including the Yoga Ratna Award in 2019 at Bengaluru and the Basundhara Ratan Award by Respect Age International for his contribution to society on 30 November 2019.

The Prime Minister also tweeted his presence at the Padma awards ceremony 2022. 

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