Modi speaks at UN Yoga Day event

STORY: The United Nations in 2014 declared June 21 the International Day of Yoga, adopting a measure proposed by Modi.

"Let us use the power of yoga, not only to be healthy, happy, but also to be kind to ourselves and to each other," Modi told a gathering of yoga devotees seated on yellow mats on the north lawn of U.N. headquarters by New York's East River.

"Let us use the power of yoga to build bridges of friendship, a peaceful world, and a cleaner, greener and sustainable future," he said.

Modi is in the United States for talks with President Joe Biden that the White House sees as bolstering "one of the defining partnerships of our age."

Modi has been to the United States five times since becoming prime minister in 2014, but the trip will be his first with the full diplomatic status of a state visit, despite concerns over what is seen as a deteriorating human rights situation under his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi is to head from New York to Washington for a private dinner with Biden on Wednesday evening, followed by talks at the White House and a state dinner on Thursday.

Before taking to the stage to speak on Wednesday, Modi paid his respects before a bust of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi in the U.N. grounds.