 It is an idea that is immortal, an emotion that can't. It's a thought that is embraced and it's a way of life that is cherished. The values and ideals of being Indian migrate the oceans. They celebrate the culture of diversity, yet are unique and personal. The minute I got off the plane in Mumbai in 1970, the minute my foot hit the ground, I immediately felt I'm home. Non-Indians in far-fetched corners of the world have assimilated their version of Indianness and radiated with joy and abandon. I'm so glad that I have met Ayurveda and that it inspires all my life. Every single spice we have has some effect on our bodies and people are understanding that, oh wow, this is pretty cool. We take you on a journey that unravels how and why India pulsates in the heart of the world. Tell me what's going on? Through the stories of ordinary people, we explore how the soul of a nation exists outside its own boundaries and what makes India so boundless. On a beautiful September morning in 1893, the city of Chicago hosted the first ever World's Parliament of Religions. The erudite Swami Vivekananda from India mesmerized the global audience with his Vedic notion of universal brotherhood. In the decades that followed, towering thought leaders like Tagore and Aurobindo carried the tenets of Indian philosophy across the oceans and drew the world's attention to the country's great spiritual heritage. In the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi's principles of truth and non-violence drew global attention yet again, inspiring leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. These are significant chapters in India's soft power narrative, a narrative that over the years has grown into a grand tale. Today, we're in the city of New York, trailing the thread of this narrative. Outside the historic church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, we watch a congregation quietly grow in size. Inside the church, there's a flurry of activity as the acoustics are put through a final check. In the next one hour, over a thousand people are expected to gather in this magnificent church hall. Krishnadas is chanting here today. You know, I was very unhappy. I felt like I had a big hole in my heart and I was missing something. I didn't know what it was, you know. A once aspiring rock star, Krishnadas sold all his possessions and walked away from his American dream in search of his inner peace. For three years, he lived in India and dedicated himself to learning the yoga of devotion. Krishnadas Kirtanwala has become a worldwide phenomenon and has been nominated for a Grammy for his chant album, Live Ananda. He travels the globe, transforming the lives of thousands with his soul-stirring Kirtans. Whatever culture you come from, whatever you look like, whatever part of the world, you want to be happy. And India has spent thousands of years refining the methods to enter into that space inside. So why would hundreds of non-Indian people come together to chant in a language they don't know? Vedic chanting transcends linguistic barriers and gives one the ability to tap the fundamental life energy within. It is but one of the unique practices that stem from the rich and ancient culture of India, a culture that has time and again provided seekers with the universal truths of life. But while spiritual seekers have often looked to India to provide them the tools and technology for well-being, today we find ourselves tracing this narrative in unexpected quarters. We're heading to Silicon Valley in California, home to some of the largest tech corporations in the world. At the Googleplex, the corporate headquarters of the internet's search engine giant, we connect with Gopi Kalail. Gopi is a hardcore technology evangelist at Google. We work in fairly demanding jobs and much of what happens around the Googleplex is really innovating and solving some big problems out there, using technology at scale, using real computer science and using massive data at scale. But in the midst of all of this, the most important technology that we all have access to, all 7.1 billion people, is right here. I call it our inner net, which is our body, our mind, our breath, our consciousness. Drawing from its Indian roots, Gopi instituted yoglars, a yoga and meditation program for Google employees worldwide. So while Google is helping the world to connect on the outside, the power of this great Indian internet helps Googlers to reconnect within. It's a fairly large, widespread global program that hundreds of people involved. There's an acknowledgement that a program like Yoga, for example, that the original teachings come out of an Indian tradition and Indian heritage. It's a living science that has evolved in many different directions, along with other streams of meditation mindfulness that have emerged in other parts of the world. While technology giants worldwide are acquiring the Indian science of well-being, in Africa, yoga is being used as a powerful tool to drive social change. This unique initiative is deploying yoga to bring physical and mental well-being to transform the lives of thousands of young people every day. For centuries, yoga has been known to harness the faculties of the mind, body and soul, providing a holistic approach to a being. On December 11th in 2014, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the benefits of this timeless Indian practice and, on the behest of the Indian Prime Minister, declared June 21st as the International Day of Yoga. 175 countries endorsed this resolution that united the world in a unique way. Over 150 million people across race, religion and continents came together and wrote a chapter in India's soft power narrative. Yoga had founded a universal language but cutting across the barriers of language is yet another compelling chapter in the story of India. Bollywood. I grew up watching so many Indian movies. I actually watched Sangam for more than seven times. In 1964, Magnum Opus, Sangam, was part of Bollywood's golden era and featured the legendary Raj Kapoor, also known as the greatest showman of Indian cinema. His films became extremely popular in the erstwhile Soviet Union, even bridging socio-political barriers. But today, we have trailed the thread of the Bollywood narrative to Stuttgart, the nerve center of the German auto industry. In this cold, mechanized city that revels in its contradictions, works a 20-year-old industrial management assistant. But then there's a flipside to him. René Lazar is a Sharuki as the die-hard fans in Deutschland are called. Like them all, neither he nor his father, Branko, know Hindi, but thrive on the magic of Bollywood films that give them license to laugh, cry and love with abandon. Such is their passion that on weekends, shot by shot, the Lazar family meticulously recreate their favorite Bollywood musicals. Not surprisingly, the German Shah Rukh has taken social media by storm, notching up more than 500,000 hits. I watch the movies because they have so much power, so much emotion. They have the respect, the people, to the nature, to the human father, the mother, the child, the mother, the child, the mother, the child, the people, to the nature, to the human father, mother. This all told me what Bollywood shows me. And the German movies don't have this. It's a big difference to Bollywood movies. Bollywood's global fandom has become a subject of academic research with prestigious universities offering courses to study this popular cultural phenomenon. We travel to Dusseldorf to meet the founder of Ishq, a Bollywood lifestyle magazine. But Ishq is in German. It boasts a monthly circulation of over 30,000 copies and has 200,000 social media followers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Part of these people here, they look for traditional stories, for traditional values, for married people. And in these kind of societies, these things are not there anymore sometimes. These gap is filled by Indian movies and that's definitely a part of the success. So a huge audience was there to watch and fell in love with these kind of beautiful romantic stories. Such is the reign of Bollywood that its blockbusters are now released simultaneously across the globe, bonding fans in just one stroke. We've just spotted a kurta clan Japanese girl coming out from a Bollywood film show. Curious, we follow her to her workplace only to be baffled by what she does. Emiko Jane Ishii is of Japanese origin but teaches Bollywood dancing, Bangra and Kathak to non-Indians in London. Bollywood is a drug for me. It's a happy pill. It empowers you because I think everyone can feel that they can do it. It's accessible to any person no matter what background you're from. There are so many aspects to it whether it is something emotional or something happy, something celebratory, there's something for everyone. The exuberant song and dance fare that Bollywood offers knows no nationality. The Arab world accounts for almost a third of its international revenue with Dubai even opening a Bollywood theme park to celebrate Mumbai's legendary film industry. Glitzy award functions, festivals and premieres tour to countries as diverse as South Africa, China and Spain. The overwhelming response from the non-diasporic community only proves that Bollywood has travelled to their hearts and souls. But India boasts an amazing wealth of soft power resources. So today, we have set out to explore how Indian food has made inroads in the world. Driving down from the signature Golden Gate Bridge into the financial district of San Francisco a strange anomaly greets us. Below the looming skyscrapers is a food cart which belongs to the Dosa brothers. But the absurdity doesn't end there. My name is Waheguru, I'm a Sikh, I'm white and here I am in San Francisco serving Dosa's South Indian food. But Waheguru doesn't just serve Dosa's. In the true Indian spirit of service he also provides food and hot tea to the homeless of the city. You know, San Francisco is such a diverse place full of different cultures and different ethnicities and we serve many of them. It's wonderful to see that gap being bridged with food. So while Waheguru sings out the streets of San Francisco with South Indian Dosa's we discover that in Britain the Punjabi Chicken Tikka Masala has found a place of pride on almost every pub menu. We've just walked into Dishoom quickly designed to look like the iconic Iranian cafes of Mumbai. Amid the aroma of freshly cooked basmati rice Navid Nasir, the executive chef tells us how Indian food in the UK has become a billion-dollar global industry stepping well beyond the confines of the diasporic community. Indian food in UK is actually very, very famous. There are almost about 10,000 curry houses which is kind of free to have in a country like UK which is such a small island. The food we do is basic and simple but a good food, a Pao Bhaji. Just a basic Pao Bhaji from my man. This is like Chole Bhature which is such a Delhi thing, people love it. The humble Pao Bhaji is gaining popularity globally. Savories like Samosa are immensely popular in countries like Canada, the Middle East and even China. Indian dishes like Biryani and Rogan Josh feature on top food shows with breakfast tables like Upma and Poha winning the popular vote. I believe that food is very important in bringing a culture to anybody and I think a great expression of who we are as a country comes to your food. But India's soft power narrative extends well beyond its culinary treats and today we have followed it into the gates of the Saint James School. So how is this British school a custodian of the Sanskrit language? Paul Palmoretsa, the director of Sanskrit at Saint James tells us how this institution offers its 800 plus students a unique education inspired by the highest philosophical principles. One of the founding principles of Saint James when it was founded in 1975 was that the teaching of language would be based upon Sanskrit and that's because the language is so rich in its content and this systematic grammar and it stands at the root of many eastern and western languages including English. Okay boys, how many roots are there in Sanskrit? Just over 2,000. And so the children learn not only the grammar but they learn about the spiritual dimension to the Indian culture. Sanskrit is not a language for the masses but has been a powerful medium for communicating scientific and philosophical thoughts and ideas. In ancient times it was a language of intellectual discourse across south and southeast Asia providing access to religious texts exquisite poetry and master works like the Mahabharata and Ramayana that have become a part of the global cultural reservoir. Forrest McGill is a senior curator of the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco. This museum is hosting a 3 month long exhibition on the Ramayana. The exhibition includes artworks from 1,500 years and not only from India but from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia showing how widespread this great Indian literary work religious work, artistic work so it just underlines how immensely important Indian art and culture have been in the culture of the entire world. Originally composed in India over 2,500 years ago the Ramayana percolated geographical boundaries and spread across southeast Asia through maritime trade and scholars. Here the story took a life of its own finding expression in the form of dance dramas music, shadow theater and architecture. The epic is one of the important pieces of evidence of the extraordinary impact and spread of Indian art and culture globally and we're trying to contribute to that in our little way. Across centuries, India's narratives and beliefs have enriched cultures even while absorbing and assimilating from others along the way. Buddhism is one of the most powerful ideas to have emerged from Indian soil. It traveled to Southern and Central Asia with monks and scholars and continues to endure there dwelling in their scriptures sculptures and souls. But today to our disbelief we have discovered the largest collection of Buddhas in Europe. This assortment of over 2,000 idols from across the world belongs to Wolfgang Prius. Prius was a thriving media technology baron but his life was full of angst and stress. Then one day he experienced the healing power of Panchkarma. He came out of it a rejuvenated person determined to bring the benefits of the ancient signs of Ayurveda to Europe. We meet his daughter Karina at their specialist Ayurvedic facility. So our clientele mainly comes for Panchakamal, that's why we opened the 23 years ago. We tried to set up the whole Ayurveda not too esoterically so that they get a lot of access to the Ayurvedic knowledge and they really appreciate to take that also into their own lifestyle. So we can really say we have done a great job in transporting Ayurveda to inspire people for healthier lifestyle and to detox. In Sanskrit the word Ayurveda means the science of life. Native to India Ayurveda is the oldest health management system in the world and is often known as the mother of medicine. Its uniqueness lies in not merely being a system of medicine but a way of life. I personally really like to chant mantras. I read the scriptures and really live spirituality and Ayurveda throughout my whole day. I just love it so much. Over the years Indian art forms, festivals and customs coloured the culture and calendar of many countries around the world. The joy and spirit of togetherness that they represent have bound communities that come together to observe significant Indian festivals like the Vali that are celebrated even in the White House and 10 Downing Street. I think it really shows the Indian community in the UK here absolutely at the heart of our British society. The diversity of life is the Indian diaspora that has gradually grown in size and importance. They hold key posts and influence government policies in countries where they live even as they nourish their roots back in India. Diaspora has a very important role to play. As they integrate in the global economy they are taking Indic ideas whether they are about Upanishads or about Bollywood stars circulating around the world. And the contribution of the diaspora in that is very significant. We are everywhere in some way confronted with a little India now. Obviously I'm German but there is a little Indian spark in me I have to say. The little spark of India has ignited many hearts. It has joined the world in yoga. It has healed many souls. It has given the world great leaders with lofty goals. Through the rhythm of its dances through the magic of its chants through the fragrance of its spices it has coloured the world. I've been exposed to many different cultures. Indian culture is at my core. It's very hard to escape the magic of being Indian. For the real wisdom of India isn't seeking to conquer the world through love, service and harmony. It's the bov. It's the feeling of connection. It seemed like India knew something that nobody else knew.