This is the live news feed. The entries below are anchor content — the HARI team adds new press mentions, research publications, and institutional milestones as they occur.
October 2025
The Ministry of Education, Government of India, publishes the Gazette Notification formally declaring HARI an Institution Deemed to be University under the Distinct Category (Notification No. 9-8/2024-U.3(A)) — India's first greenfield, privately sponsored deemed-to-be university approved under UGC's Distinct Category.
October 2025
HARI is formally launched by Daaji. Academic Year 2026-27 commences with the School of Agricultural Sciences — B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture and B.Sc. (Hons) Horticulture.
July 2025
Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation's compliance report is accepted by the UGC Expert Committee; the recommendation is approved by the Commission in its 592nd meeting on 23 July 2025.
February 2025
The Ministry of Education issues the Letter of Intent to Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation — the formal precursor to full University notification.
October 2024
The UGC Expert Committee recommends issuance of the Letter of Intent; approved at the Commission's 584th meeting on 3 October 2024.
Ongoing
Kanha Shanti Vanam holds IGBC Platinum Green Building Certification — India's highest environmental rating for a campus development.
Coverage of HARI’s launch as India’s first greenfield, privately sponsored deemed-to-be university, approved under UGC’s Distinct Category.
As featured in
Peer-reviewed research from the Heartfulness research community and its collaborators — 21 selected studies spanning mental health, the neuroscience of meditation, cellular aging, education, digital health, and ecological regeneration.
cross-sectional EEG
Neural Dynamics of Heartfulness Meditation: EEG Alpha Modulation Across Experience Levels
Gyaneshwar Singh, Saleema J. S., Krishna Dwivedi, Deepeshwar Singh
Annals of Neurosciences 2026
An EEG study comparing alpha-band activity in long-term meditators, short-term meditators and controls across the phases of Heartfulness practice (including yogic transmission). Both meditator groups showed higher alpha power than controls in frontal, parietal and occipital regions during and after meditation, and short-term meditators showed enhancements comparable to long-term meditators during early meditation. Published as an advance-online article.
field documentation / observational
The keystone species: emphasizing the conservation of Ficus (Fig) species at Kanha Shanti Vanam, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Ananthaneni Sreenath, Bhuvaragasamy Rathinasabapathy
Phytology 2026 6(1): 5-9
A field-documentation paper by Forests by Heartfulness conservation scientists cataloguing 26 Ficus (fig) species planted and conserved at Kanha Shanti Vanam, a biodiversity sanctuary on the Deccan Plateau that has been restored from largely barren land. It describes the figs' role as keystone species — providing year-round fruit and habitat that sustain birds, bats and other fauna — within the site's ecological-restoration model. The paper is descriptive rather than experimental and appears in a niche journal.
RCT
Effect of Heartfulness Meditation on Stress Biomarkers, Burnout and Well-Being: A Randomized Controlled Study
Mansee Thakur, Sanjana T. Philip, Kunal R. Desai, Kapil Thakur
Stress and Health 2025 41(2): e70034
A randomized controlled trial comparing a Heartfulness meditation group with a control group using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and WHO Well-Being Index alongside biochemical markers of psychological stress (serum cortisol) and oxidative stress (serum nitrate/nitrite and malondialdehyde). The meditation group showed significant reductions in exhaustion, cynicism and cortisol and significant gains in professional efficacy and well-being versus controls. The authors note larger samples are needed to strengthen the findings (registered as CTRI/2023/10/058423).
RCT (crossover)
Heartfulness meditation alters neuroendocrine profiles: A randomized controlled trial on hormones of stress and well-being
Sanjana T. Philip, Jayaram Thimmapuram, Kapil Thakur, Nidhi Dayal, Yogesh Patil, Kishore Sabbu, Snehal Surve, Pradnya Patil, Mansee Thakur
Medicine (Baltimore) 2025 104(47): e45559
A randomized controlled crossover trial in meditation-naive adults measuring serum oxytocin, beta-endorphins and cortisol along with meditation depth (MEDEQ) and affect (PANAS) before and after a 30-day Heartfulness program. Oxytocin and beta-endorphin levels rose significantly and cortisol fell, accompanied by greater meditation depth and positive affect; the control group showed similar improvements after crossing over to the intervention. Cortisol correlated negatively with both oxytocin and beta-endorphins.
cross-sectional EEG
Determining the depth of meditation through frontal alpha asymmetry
Dwivedi Krishna, Deepeshwar Singh, N. K. Manjunath
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2025 19: 1576642
A cross-sectional EEG study of 26 long-term Heartfulness meditators and 33 non-meditators (aged 30-45) examining frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) against self-reported meditation depth measured by the Meditation Depth Questionnaire and a Visual Analogue Scale. Long-term meditators reported significantly greater meditation depth, and FAA correlated positively with depth, suggesting FAA may serve as a neurophysiological marker of meditative states. A published correction accompanies the article.
quasi-experimental
Effectiveness of meditation on wellness management among corporate employees in India: An interventional study
Avani Radheshyam, Vinod K. Ramani, Subramanyam Thupalle, Tejaswini Bangalore Darukaradhya, Radheshyam Naik
Health Science Reports 2024 7: e1950
A quasi-experimental controlled study of a meditation-based workplace wellness program among Indian insurance-company employees (146 intervention, 74 control), assessing stress, quality of life and wellness indices using the DASS, WHOQOL, Satisfaction With Life and WHO-5 scales. The intervention group showed improved quality of life, satisfaction with life and well-being and reduced stress relative to controls. The study is featured in the Heartfulness research collection.
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