Shoolini University to set up Yogananda Ville for yoga and naturopathy research

Shoolini University, a research-based private university with a focus on biological sciences, will set up Yogananda Ville to carry out research in the fields of yoga and naturopathy.

The Yogananda Ville will be set up at the university campus in Solan district of adjoining Himachal Pradesh, around 75 km from here, a spokesman for the university said here on Monday.

The Yogananda Ville will encompass an international hostel, a meditation hall, an academic block, meditation huts and caves, and recreational facilities. The Ville will provide an eastern look and feel with western facilities, the spokesman added.

"It will, therefore, be a spiritual institute wherein scholars from both East and West will jointly investigate the principles of kriya yoga by the application of modern physical tools for its acceptance as the supreme science for leading a balanced life. The Yogananda Ville is planned to be established on five acres of land," he added.

The spokesman said that the university has signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Tarwinder S. Sabharwal, Founder, Sevak Construction Company, Mumbai, in this regard.

A grant of Rs 5 crore has been sanctioned to the university for the construction of the Yogananda Ville, including a hospital for yoga and naturopathy and collaboration for research.

"This is the highest grant ever given to any nascent private university in India in general and in Himachal Pradesh in particular," the spokesman said.

The university has made rapid strides to become a leading centre of research in yoga and naturopathy besides DNA sequencing, cancer and maternal diseases, biosensors, food microbes, nutraceuticals and pharmaceutical sciences.

The university has also been given Rs 80 lakh for the establishment of a 100-bedded hospital (naturopathy and yoga) by the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy under the Union Ministry of AYUSH.

"It has been felt that the university should also play a key role in investigating the role of yoga in general and transcendental meditation in particular for studying metabolic changes in human biology. The university has already constructed three huts for pursuing research in meditation and kriya yoga," the spokesman added.

(With inputs from agencies.)