New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- Highlighting emerging challenges and societal ills over the decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for collective efforts to address them, unite society against divisive forces and inspire citizens towards self-reliance.
Inaugurating the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav Global Sammelan here, Modi said he had spent the last 25 years serving the nation as head of government to the best of his ability, while carrying forward the vision of Swami Chinmayananda, founder of the Chinmaya Mission, a global spiritual movement dedicated to making the wisdom of Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita accessible to all.
He said the Chinmaya Mission was not merely an institution but a thought, with 'Chinmaya' meaning pure consciousness, and noted that its founder's journey over the decades had been marked by divine resolve.
"Over the decades, times have changed, new challenges have emerged, and new societal ills have surfaced. Today, the responsibility to solve them rests upon all of us," Modi said.
"We must unite society against divisive forces. We must inspire citizens toward self-reliance, and we must connect every individual to the vision of a Developed India by 2047. For these objectives, we must become even more proactive," he added.
The prime minister said the vision of far-sighted luminaries such as Swami Chinmayananda around the time of Independence reflected the direction in which the country was fulfilling its responsibilities today.
"To ensure that our education system meets the needs of a 'New India', we introduced the National Education Policy (NEP). This new policy accords high importance to Indian Knowledge Systems, instruction in mother tongues, modern science, and cutting-edge technology," he said.
Modi said the youth had remained at the core of his efforts and policies, over the last 25 years as head of government, first as Gujarat chief minister and later as prime minister.
Expressing delight over the role played by young people in the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav, he said several of them had travelled nearly 40,000 kilometres over approximately 300 days, reaching out to more than one lakh youth. "I congratulate the entire team for this phenomenal effort," he said.
He credited the Chinmaya Mission with nurturing hundreds of thousands of young people who were acting as cultural ambassadors of India and passing on Indian values to the next generation.
"This contribution of the most revered Gurudev (Swami Chinmayananda) forms an important chapter in the cultural and spiritual renaissance of India," he said.
Modi also highlighted the efforts to bring back India's stolen cultural artefacts, saying countless priceless statues had been taken abroad and sold in the past without anyone questioning their disappearance.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.