In June 2025, as 3.01 lakh souls stretched in unison along Visakhapatnam’s shores for Yogandhra 2025, shattering a Guinness World Record, India’s ancient practice of yoga revealed its modern potency. From Tokyo’s parks to London’s squares, over 10 crore people worldwide joined the 11th International Yoga Day, a testament to India’s soft power—a force not of coercion, but of connection. In a world riven by conflict and distrust, yoga emerges as India’s symphony, harmonizing humanity with a quiet, transformative grace.
Since the United Nations embraced International Yoga Day in 2014, backed by 175 nations, yoga has woven itself into global culture. Studios dot cities from New York to Nairobi; apps stream asanas to millions; medical journals tout yoga’s benefits for mental health. This is no mere fitness trend but a philosophical export, rooted in India’s Upanishadic wisdom: the self and universe are one. Unlike Hollywood or K-pop, yoga’s allure lies in its universality—it demands no ideology, only breath. India’s soft power triumph is deliberate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s global yoga advocacy, from UN speeches to leading sessions in New York, has branded India as a beacon of wellness. Yet, the surprise lies in yoga’s subversive strength: in an age of digital noise and geopolitical strife, it offers silence, resilience, a counterpoint to chaos. Critics may call it cultural commodification, but yoga’s global spread empowers, not exploits—teaching mindfulness to schoolchildren in Brazil, stress relief to war-torn refugees in Syria. India must now wield this soft power with purpose. By fostering global yoga summits and research hubs, it can deepen its influence, proving that truth, as Satyam Eva Jayate declares, triumphs through unity. Yoga is India’s gift—a bridge across divides, a whisper of peace in a discordant world
