Saints, industrialists, and renowned personalities from various walks of life expected at two-day gathering at Jio World Convention Centre; eleven young devotees to take vows of renunciation
Mumbai, Sep 25 – Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD) will mark the 60th birthday of its founder, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, with a two-day gathering at the Jio World Convention Centre here on September 25 and 26. During the gathering, the organisation will announce 60 new initiatives, half of them spiritual and half focused on selfless service, organisers said.
Titled ‘Aho Gurudev’, the celebration has three sessions spread over two days. Thousands of devotees from 23 countries are expected to attend each session.
According to the organisers, spiritual leaders of various faiths are expected to attend. They will be joined by noted industrialists and other dignitaries.
The opening session on Friday evening will see the 60 initiatives announced.
On Saturday, which is Pujya Gurudevshri’s birthday, eleven young, educated devotees from different parts of the world will take Atmarpit Diksha, a lifelong vow of celibacy and dedication to spiritual practice and service. The Saturday evening programme will feature a musical on his life, scripted and performed entirely by about 600 devotees and staged with LED projections. A commemorative coffee-table book on his life will also be released worldwide that evening, and a new service project will be inaugurated.
Every session will be further enriched with Pujya Gurudevshri’s discourse and addresses by eminent saints.
Greetings from around the world, and from notable dignitaries will be pouring in through the day.
Born in Mumbai on September 26, 1966, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji holds an M.A. in Philosophy with a gold medal and received his doctorate from the University of Mumbai in 1998 for a treatise on Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra, a work by the Jain philosopher Shrimad Rajchandraji. He founded SRMD in 1994 and established its headquarters at Dharampur in south Gujarat in 2001. The Mission now works through 136 centres across six continents.
According to the Mission, its spiritual and service work has touched more than 42 million lives globally, a figure higher than the population of Australia. Its healthcare initiatives have treated 16.4 million people in rural areas. It says its educational activities have benefited over 3.4 million students, its emergency relief work has reached 8.9 million people, and its animal care initiatives have tended to more than five lakh animals.
Its hospital at Dharampur is the only one in the area performing paediatric open-heart surgeries, the Mission said. The hospital’s District Early Intervention Centre has treated over 1.1 million children. Under ‘Mission Africa’, the organisation works in 16 countries and provides over 70,000 meals a day.
The Mumbai event opens a year-long series of celebrations that will travel to cities in India and abroad, including Ahmedabad, Pune, Dubai, London and Toronto, and conclude in September 2027.
About Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur
Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur is a global spiritual movement founded in 1994 by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, guided by the principle “Realise one’s true self and serve others selflessly.” Its seva arm, Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care, runs programmes across health, education, animal care, environment, women’s empowerment, emergency relief and more. It holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NRDPL and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.).
(PTI News)
