The Fourth International Day of Yoga is just a few days away. Since June 21, 2015, when International Day of Yoga was first celebrated, IDY celebrations have multiplied, spreading over a couple of days. This year, with quite a few celebrations already scheduled, we will be seeing the celebrations starting as early as June 15 and going up to the end of the month. However, among all other celebrations, there are two which are official and more noteworthy. The one is organized by Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations, and, the other, by the Indian Consulate.

The Indian Panorama Chief Editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja spoke with Consul General of India in New York, Ambassador Sandeep Chakraborty, and Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Permanent representative of India to the United Nations to know from them how the historic event was planned this year.

Here are excerpts from the interview with Ambassador Sandeep Chakraborty.

TIP: Thank you so much and we are meeting for the 4th International Day of Yoga Celebrations this year and it was a wonderful, very successful day of Yoga last year; the first that probably was organized after you took over, and congratulations for that. And since you have already set the bar so high, people are expecting a lot better performance and celebration this year. So, without waiting, for my readers to know, I would request you first to highlight the program that you have devised for people to celebrate International Day of Yoga.

Amb: Thank you Saluja Sahib. There are two aspects of this year’s celebration. One is that we are working with many organizations, particularly organizations which have and share this idea & vision of Yoga, associated to Yoga.  So, we are partnering with large number of organizations in many states and many counties. So, that part has already started. You know a few weeks back we had a big curtain raiser event at TV Asia, you must have seen it, many people came, I think it was covered in your Newspaper.

TIP: Yeah, we even covered that right on the front page.

Amb:  Yes. Yes…absolutely. So there if you saw, large number of organizations came. So, this year I think what we are trying to do is that we are partnering with many organizations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Boston area and everybody has been joining hands under this one framework. So that celebrations have started and will continue. We have 2 weekends in frame of reference in the sense that starting from June 16 to June 24, we are celebrating Yoga Day, our main event. So, not only we did the TV Asia Program we also had a Yoga cruise partnering with Vegetarian Vision and Malcolm Foundation. So, around 400 people came for that Yoga cruise where there were a lot of discussions, asanans, a lot of yoga, and yoga related events took place on the cruise for 4 hours. So, that also is a part of our yoga day celebrations.

Secondly, our main event is on June 16 at 11 o’clock. I invite everybody to Governor’s Island. We have chosen that to be a very iconic place in New York. And we though if we do Yoga there you know what the idea of Yoga Day is. The idea is to focus on the importance of Yoga and it’s like any anniversary that we celebrate so we thought that if we do it at an iconic place then the message will go loud and clear. So, on June 16, invite your readers to join us. It’s a beautiful place against the backdrop of the ocean, the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Skyline. Carolyn Maloney who is our Congresswoman of Manhattan will be our chief guest. So that will be a 2-hour program with various aspects of Yoga and meditation, music and dance. So, it will be a fiesta of Yoga. Then various organizations like temples, cultural organizations, Indian community all over this region are doing and we are trying to support them and trying to attend their functions. So, that will be the Consulate’s footprint of Yoga Day. Then of course our permanent mission to the UN will be organizing I think 2 events, on 20th and 21st. Those are also important events. So, the Yoga calendar is rather packed, I must say.

TIP: I understand you are having for the first time an International conference also.

Amb: Yes, I was coming to that as well. Now as part of the Yoga day celebrations on June 20th and 21st, we are having an international conference on Yoga here in the Consulate. That is an event that is a specialized event, not an event for Yoga practitioners that way but much more about people who do research on Yoga, academicians, you know people who have been seriously working on Yoga, doctors, scientists, academicians so that will be technical seminar where people will read papers and you know trying to give more clinical and scientific basis to what we know is Yoga. So, that will be of 2 days on June 20th and 21st and President of ICCR Mr. Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, he will be coming as chief guest at this event.

TIP:  And you have something on June 22, 23 and 24, 3rd International Conference on Integrative medicine?

Amb: That is also there. We are joining hands with Center of Excellence of in Integrative Medicine in Boston. So that will be in Boston not here.  They are partnering with Harvard Medical School and some other prominent Institutions of the Boston area. So, those will take place from June 23 to June 25. So, it’s a very packed calendar, yes.

TIP: Yes, I do see it’s a very packed calendar for community as well, as there are Yoga celebrations at various places starting from Hicksville, after that, Connecticut, Westchester, Hartsdale.  There are so many of them coming up.  These are all being supported by the Consulate?

Amb:  These are all, yes in coordination, we are meeting, we are talking, and we are working together.

TIP:  Now, having talked about this packed calendar, Congratulations! You know there is so much activity going on. It has now been 3 years you know. Now this is 4th year that we are into celebrating the International Day of Yoga, what has been the achievement because it means huge investment in terms of human energy, in terms of funds, finances; what has been the gain-the overall gain. How do you sum up this aspect?

Amb: You see what we are trying to do, I think, the effort of Government of India and Consulate is that so far Yoga was seen as spherical, you know you do everything and then you do some Yoga. Yoga was more seen in the West at least as an exercise. You want to lose weight, you have back pain, you have a neck pain, you do Yoga. Our effort is now to mainstream Yoga. Yoga is a lifestyle. Yoga is not only doing asanas; yoga is meditation, yoga is keeping your mind and body under control. Yesterday I was addressing a seminar in Bhakti Center where eminent Professors from Yale and Indiana Universities had come. You know today some of the questions that are being raised, I think the only answer is in what we broadly term as Yoga. How do you treat depression? how do you treat addiction? how do you treat suicidal tendencies? how much of pills will you take?  The answer is Yoga…it teaches us to keep our mind and body and soul under control.

TIP: Ultimately, all boils down to one thing “Health”

Amb: Yeah, Mental & physical health.

TIP: That is why the West is interested in it.

Amb: I think all of us should be interested in it. Our effort is to mainstream Yoga and I think it is happening because the kind of interest that is being exhibited by Universities and Hospitals. A renowned Hospital in Manhattan now has a gallery on Ayurveda including Yoga. It was unthinkable a few years back that a mainstream hospital of New York will have a gallery on Yoga and which I went and inaugurated. Harvard Business School, Massachusetts Hospital, General Hospital, all these people have been doing work on Yoga because they realize you know that after some point this allopathy doesn’t give any answer. If a patient is dying how will you console him? What is that you have to do to control the pain? Here meditation and Yoga helps you. People are realizing it and that is the biggest gain of celebrating Yoga Day.

TIP: You added to Yoga, Ayurveda which is altogether a different stream? This is now being combined and I have a question here for you. I understand the businesses in India, the business houses particularly the ones I can name like Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali. They are into manufacturing so may herbal medicines and all that and they claim to be curing so many maladies which even the higher end allopathic medicines cannot cure. Now you may look into this aspect also. Is there a thinking on the part of the government which is of course business friendly that one day Yoga would become a trillion-dollar business all over the world and with that Ayurveda would also become trillion or may be many more trillion, zillion dollar business?

TIP: Is there a thinking of that kind?

Amb: Yes, there are 2 aspects to it. One is I don’t see any problem in the sense that you know if our Indian medicines become popular in the world and generate revenue for the people, I see no harm in that but there is a slight difference in popularizing Yoga and popularizing Ayurveda. I am talking from experience. Yoga is very noninvasive; anybody can do Yoga and Yoga comes with caviars. If back pain, don’t do this exercise. If obese, don’t do this exercise, if spondylitis, don’t do this exercise, but there is no popping of pills, there is nothing that you consume but Ayurveda you have to consume you know herbs and other medicines. Now, when you consume there are regulatory issues like if you have to import a medicine into the US there is FDA regulation. So, then there is a barrier there and it is not so easy to overcome that barrier. So, I would say as and when companies will overcome that barrier they will register their products in foreign markets. Then what is the harm in popularizing Indian medicines in foreign markets?

TIP: That’s why I say, like right now Yoga has been promoted over the years, So Ayurveda is now being promoted and we don’t do any of these kinds of things- promotions or something- unless and until we have something else on the back of our mind.

Amb: I will not be able to focus on Ayurveda because there are issues in Ayurveda in terms of regulatory methods, but Yoga is noninvasive, Yoga is not subject to any regulatory control, Yoga is soft power. Yoga is a life style. I think it’s a very win-win kind of a formula that we have adopted, and it shows India in good light. It is an ancient Indian tradition, People are accepting it you know It’s not that Yoga has become popular only because Consulate or Government is promoting it.  Yoga has been popular in the US for many many years. In fact, although it originated in India it became very popular because of the work done in the US. So, I see a lot of synergy between what is happening in the US and our efforts in popularizing Yoga. Yoga is a way of thinking you know how you control your mind, how you become impulsive, how you become reflective, how you take care of the environment, how you build relationships. A lot of aspects are there, and I think it’s a very positive story which needs to be told and we feel very happy to be associated with the story.

TIP: Let me phrase a question connected with entrepreneurship and Yoga removing Ayurveda, I understand Ayurveda products are being brought in as dietary supplements mostly, you cannot bring them in as medicines so there is that issue. Yoga as we know as of now connects with products like yoga mats , yoga pants , you have even shoes included etc. whereas in our original practice of yoga, we have bamboo mats or jute mats , so when we talk about entrepreneurship we are in the land of opportunities, America, promoting Indian products connected with Yoga only could be a focus point, removing everything when we see a lot of companies promoting all the above products,  even hot yoga studios, Is it possible that Govt. of India brings out one such business or branch for people who are connected with it may be we can have Kerala people making yoga mats with bamboo or Jute leading to a handicraft promotion?

Amb: I think what you are saying is very relevant because yoga products, books are selling and becoming popular like hot cakes. Yoga professionals are getting jobs, yoga gurus have become more popular, Yoga sites and there is a yoga TV channel, popular, run by ZEE TV. So, these are spin offs of the concept

TIP: That’s why I said Yoga could become a trillion-dollar business

Amb: Yes, Why not? If Soccer and cricket are trillion dollar business then why not Yoga?

TIP: Is there going to be a blueprint regarding the products.

Amb: I think Govt, of India could be thinking about this but I am not really aware, but I know they were talking to Khadi Gram Udyog and they asked us for what products will do well. So, we told them to manufacture high quality Yoga mats in Khadi.

TIP So there is a plan?

Amb: Yes, there is. But I don’t think India is an open society. So most of the entrepreneurship will come from Private sector and I am sure it is there. I am sure, but we must not expect the govt to do so.

TIP: The government is not into business. Govt. can make policies to promote.

Amb: Yes, But I will be very happy if private sector does that and I am sure they are doing it. Like for example, Ghee. It is being rediscovered.  American Indians earlier referred to Ghee as a bad thing. Nowadays ghee is in demand, and popular. America companies are making it. In fact, some people came, and I gave them ghee as a return gift and told them to have it. It was a cardamom flavor made in the US. One Indian entrepreneur featured in a popular American TV show for manufacturing ghee. In fact, coconut oil is very popular and manufactured in the US. Then turmeric, of course, sweets and saffron. Turmeric is known to cure many diseases. So, we used to be carefree to consume all these things but in America people take these cautiously.

TIP: Any message for readers of the Indian Panorama?

Amb: Yes, please come to Governor’s Island on June 16 to celebrate International Day of Yoga. Hopefully, the weather will be fine, and we will have a great celebration.