On 6th December 2024, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring December 21st as World Meditation Day — recognising meditation as a universal practice that contributes to inner peace and the well-being of humanity.
A long quiet effort
The seed for this recognition was planted long before. Swami Anand Arun, founder of Osho Tapoban, spent decades carrying the message of meditation to governments, schools and embassies — meeting heads of state, UN ambassadors, and parliamentarians, asking only that the world give meditation the same place it has given to yoga.
Virginia, February 16, 2019
The Virginia House of Delegates passed House Resolution #443 recognising the contribution of Osho Tapoban and Swami Anand Arun to the meditation movement — among the first official US recognitions of its kind.
Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN
On 18th February 2019, Swami Anand Arun visited the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York. The next day he addressed an audience at the Nepalese Embassy on the role of Nepal as the birthplace of the Buddha and the natural home of world meditation.
Lumbini, October 21, 2023
UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, and called upon the world to embrace the message of peace and meditation that began on this very land twenty-six centuries ago.
In the schools of Nepal
Following years of advocacy, the Government of Nepal has integrated yoga and meditation into the national school curriculum — so the next generation can grow up with the silent friend of meditation already by their side.