The Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU) was jointly launched on Tuesday by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on External Affairs P P Chaudhary during a virtual event held at the Consulate General of India in New York.
Eminent Indian yoga guru Dr. H R Nagendra, Chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA) is the first Chairman of VaYU.
Addressing the virtual launch, Muraleedharan said Swami Vivekananda gave the message of universal brotherhood from the US and through the first of its kind yoga university outside India, the message of yoga will be broadcast from America to the world.
The event was jointly hosted by the Consulate General and Jaipur Foot USA Chairperson and founding director of VaYU Prem Bhandari.
In his message, Nagendra, well known as the yoga consultant to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Swami Vivekananda “heralded the grandeur” of Indian yoga dimension to the world through his famous speech in Chicago in 1893.
He noted that the university “combines best of the East and best of the West. Best of the East is yoga and its applications and the best of the West is modern scientific research.”
India’s Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty said that New York has deep ties with yoga as many years ago Swami Vivekananda spent time in the city and wrote books on yoga which popularised the Indian practice all over the world.
Founded on the principles of Swami Vivekananda’s preion for universal welfare, VaYU will offer online graduate programmes based on scientific principles and modern research approaches to yoga.