Mumbai/Nagpur, June 21 (IANS): Braving rain in most parts, Maharashtra celebrated International Yoga Day with hundreds of events in which senior citizens, youth, Bollywood celebrities, students and commoners participated enthusiastically on Sunday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led the main event of over 21,000 people who practiced yoga at the Yeshwant Stadium in his home town Nagpur.

"Yoga not only brings peace to inner mind and body, but frees one from many diseases. Yoga should be adopted as a way of life. I appeal to all -- become yoga gurus from yoga practioners," Fadnavis said on the occasion.

BJP state unit president Raosaheb Danve and others took part in a major event 'Yoga by the Bay', coordinated by state spokesperson Shaina N.C. and others at Marine Drive in south Mumbai.

Several hundreds of participants carried their mats and performed yoga as they were showered with rain and salty spray from the Arabian Sea.

Employees in various public and private offices, schools and colleges also invited their staffers or students to come and perform yoga for health and spiritual benefits.

The Central Railway led by General Manager S.K. Sood, big and small yoga training institutions, corporate houses and others celebrated the day with their members, staffers, and families.

Also, similar events were held in several jails in the state, including the Nagpur Central Jail where Fadnavis visited and exhorted the inmates to adopt yoga.

Bollywood celebrities joined yoga events, and they included Rakhi Sawant, Shweta Khanduri, Raju Shrivastava, Raina Agni at a private venue, Subhash Ghai, Tiger Shroff and Kirti Sanon at the Whistling Woods, Olympian Elli Avram and Arjuna winner Rehan Poncha at Kaivalyadham Yoga Institute.

This is the first time the event is being celebrated globally after the UN declared June 21 as the International Yoga Day.