SAMAJ WEEKLY UK
LONDON- The Ayurveda Centre of Excellence supported by the APPG Indian Traditional Sciences celebrated UN Int’l Yoga Day for the 11th consecutive year at the Houses of Commons on Tuesday 17th June 2025. Bob Blacman MP warmly hosted over a hundred participants celebrating ‘Unity Within the Diversity’ of our international family of faiths in the British Parliament.
The Proposal to delegates attending was to collaborate on preparing a White Paper on Integrative HealthCare as an essential contribution to the radical reform of the NHS in the UK.
The Independent Report on the NHS in September 2024 by Professor Lord Darzi for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, called on Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer to make ongoing financial support for the NHS conditional upon the immediate cost savings and greater efficiency advised in the report.
Integrative healthcare is expanding rapidly in response to the growing demand for a more People-Centric approach to wellness and a deeper understanding that ill-health is due to an imbalance in the various levels of our life and the relationships between the different systems of mental, physical and societal life on an individual and a collective level.
Our contributions as leaders in our societies gives us the opportunity to collaborate so that together we can create meaningful change in the lives of our people and thereby in the quality of life of our interdependent global family members. The priority in our time is life in the direction of world peace, which not only tolerates but embraces difference on the basis of greater unity. International Yoga Day is International Unity Day.
VIP Guest via zoom Dr. Manoj Nesari, MD(Ay), PhD. has thirty years’ experience in Ayurvedic academia, clinical practices, policy planning, international cooperation and public Health. He is the Advisor to the Government of India at Ministry of AYUSH to advise on policy matters relating to improving health of citizens, integrating Ayurveda and other Indian traditional systems of medicine in public health care delivery, strengthening and capacity building the infrastructure as well as human resource of doctors, supporting staff etc. He is the head for the International Cooperation of Ministry of AYUSH.
“I appreciate your initiative of integrating faith aspects under the broad umbrella of Integrative healthcare. This is more so important especially in the western community in the light of their insistence on Double Blind Randomised Clinical Trials in studying the efficacy of a drug or intervention. The topic of faith you have chosen for this Intl Yoga Day is very much appropriate for the philosophy of Yoga, that primarily promotes the conjoining of the soul with the spirit in our search for peace, security, happiness.
At the outset, Mr Bhamra, I congratulate you for the various initiatives the APPG Indian Traditional Sciences have taken under your leadership.
The Launch of the Ayurveda Centre of Excellence (ACE) in October 2024 is a major milestone of your movement for promoting Indian Culture and Ayurveda in UK.
Preparing a White Paper on Integrative Health Care is a fundamental requirement to bring reforms in the NHS in UK. This is a major step taken by the ACE, which may play a pivotal role in reshaping the NHS.
Faith and belief play vital roles in people for restoring their health. There could be different applications of faith from culture to culture, the modus operandi could be different from region to region. However, the fundamental logic remains the same behind all the practices of faith.
I recall an English story, wherein a young girl is depicted as suffering with some incurable disease and lying on her bed, she keeps watching a tree through a window adjacent to her bed. Being the winter, many leaves are shaded every day. She believes that she will have her last breath when the last leaf falls. Her friend, an artist, paints leaves in the shivering cold of night. Every morning, she looks out and finds that they are still green and fresh. Gradually she recovers, gets out of the bed and goes closer to the window to find that those were the real looking paintings on the leafless branches. She thinks of her friend and sends an invite. Later she learns that because continuous exposure to the bone chilling cold, her friend has succumbed to pneumonia.
The moral of the story is she recovers because of mental upliftment driven by her strong faith. It is immaterial whether those faiths are related to religion or not.
The cultural traditions organize these faiths in the hearts of a large set of the population of every country by virtue of rules of guidance and a set of practices. Thank you and wishing you much progress with the good efforts of the UK parliamentary community”.
Special Guests who also spoke:
The Lord Ranger of Northwood, Gurinder Joshan MP. The Lord Hussain of Luton.
Bob Blackman CBE MP. The Rt Hon John McDonnell MP. Virendra Sharma Ex MP.
Prof. Dr. Tanuja Nesari MD (Ayu) PhD Ministry of Ayush Government of India.
Swami Dr Jose Rague Brazil. Dr Dimple Devadas NHS GP UK. Dr Joaquim Jose Da Costa Jorge Portugal. Prof Dr Yash Gupta FRCS UK. Dr Ravishankar Polisetty India. Dr Vivek Kaul UK. Kavita Khanna (wife of the late legendary actor and four-time MP from Punjab’s Gurdaspur constituency Vinod Khanna.
Dr Rishi Handa Sanskrit UK. Robin Marsh UPF UK. Swamini Atmaprakashananda Saraswati UK. Tomás Pfeiffer Czech Republic. Mandip Singh Gurdwara Aid UK.
Dr Bhavana Pandya NHS Consultant UK. Sukhvinder Singh Gill Sant Nirankari Mission UK. Trupti Patel Hindu Forum Britain.
Contribution of Param Singh MBE City Sikhs is included hereunder as he could not attend the event in person and the zoom connection could not be secured:
“It’s an honour to be here in Parliament, to reflect on the role of faith and tradition in building a healthier, more compassionate society. From a Sikh perspective, healing isn’t just about curing illness — it’s about achieving balance across body, mind, and spirit, and living in harmony with others and the world around us. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, taught that wellbeing comes from ethical living, stillness of mind, service to others, and connection to something greater than ourselves. Later, Guru Har Rai, the seventh Guru, became known for establishing herbal dispensaries and training natural healers. He recognised the importance of caring for people’s physical and emotional health as part of spiritual practice. These ideas were deeply informed by the broader Indian tradition of holistic healing, including Ayurveda, Yoga, and plant-based medicine. This was, in many ways, an early form of integrated care — where knowledge systems worked together to support the whole person. Today, modern science increasingly validates that view. Research shows that integrative health approaches — blending conventional medicine with traditional practices like meditation, nutrition, and community care — can help manage chronic disease, reduce healthcare costs, and improve quality of life. We’re rediscovering what many traditions have long known: that healing is multidimensional. This understanding isn’t unique to the Indian subcontinent. The UK has its own rich heritage of spiritual healing — from the holy wells of Wales and Cornwall to pilgrimage sites like Walsingham and Glastonbury, where people have long sought renewal and restoration. Even today, the NHS recognises spiritual care as an essential part of palliative and holistic health — a reminder that faith and science can work hand in hand. This shared insight — across cultures and centuries — reminds us that health should be approached in its full depth. So, as we explore new models of integrated care, we should remain open to both scientific evidence and the wisdom of our traditions — because there is real potential for synergy and alignment between the two. Thank you.”
Video recorded messages were very kindly received from the following and together with all the above speakers will be upload on our YouTube by early next month:
1. The Head Monk of the London Buddhist Vihara and the Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain the Most Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala UK
2. Bhai Sahiba, Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Sikh Dharma wife of late Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji Kundalini Yoga
3. Swami Brahmaswarupananda Peetadish of Brahma Vidya Peetham Trinidad & Tobago
4. Rev Gideon Reuben Senior Minister at Slough Baptist Church UK
5. Swami Anubhavananda Saraswati Be Happy spiritual guide, educator, speaker and writer Canada
6. Dr Tony Nader neuroscientist, researcher and leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement USA
7. Chief Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi is the global face of the Imam Organization and therefore, represent it at all the international forums of religion, spirituality and interfaith dialogue India
8. Swami Suryananda Saraswati Italy
Yogakaar, spoke of a truly holistic wellness venture that integrates Traditional Yoga and Ayurveda with modern medicine. A venture co-founded by one of India’s top most wellness expert Shirish Gupta and Kamakhya Prasad Das a medical doctor along with their colleagues Jeeta Mona and Sweta Mohanty who arrived exclusively from India.
Ambassador for Ayurveda Awards were offered to Hon. Dr Pawan Kumar Sharma (Ires Ayush Samriddhi India), Ranjula Madhani MBE UK and Ayurveda Ratna to Dr Joaquim Jose Da Costa Jorge Portugal.
Bob Blackman MP officially released a book “Journey Across Boundaries” by
Dr Rajinder Pal Singh a renowned consultant and transplant surgeon in Manchester University Hospitals. Dr Singh is also hopeful that his pathbreaking research with a fusion of ancient and modern sciences will take a great leap forward.
