Rev. Daaji honoured on International Yoga Day in Jabalpur coinciding with Ekatm Abhiyan’s reach of 42000 villages and 1.13 crore people
Jabalpur : The International Yoga Day brought by the Ministry of Ayush at Jabalpur saw participation of thousands of enthusiastic participants practicing yoga followed by Heartfulness Meditation at Garrison Ground in Jabalpur early morning. The yoga fest also coincided with Heartfulness’s and Madhya Pradesh’s Jan Abhiyan Parishad’s Ekatm Abhiyan reaching 42,000 villages and 1.13 crore people in the state taking yoga and meditation to every village and teaching life skills. Rev. Daaji – Spiritual Guide of Heartfulness and President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission and Padma Bhushan Awardee was invited as the Guest of Honour to bless the event and be felicitated by His Excellency Shri Jagdeep Dhankar – Hon’ble Vice President of India and Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan – Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for guiding the largest Yoga and Dhyan outreach program in the world.
Chief Guest Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Hon’ble Vice-President of India; and Guests of Honour Shri Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel, Hon’ble Governor of Madhya Pradesh; Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan ji – Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Rev. Daaji – Spiritual Guide of Heartfulness and President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission apart from Shri Ravi Mali Math, Hon’ble Chief Justice, High Court; Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways; Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Hon’ble MoS for Ayush and Ports, Shipping and Waterways; Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Hon’ble MoS for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Industries; Shri Gopal Bhargav, Hon’ble Minister for Public Works Department and Cottage & Rural Industries, Govt. of MP; Shri Ram Kishore (Nano) Kawre, Hon’ble Minister for Ayush & Water Resources, Govt. of MP; Shri Inder Singh Parmar, Hon’ble MoS for School Education & General Administration, Govt. of MP; Shri V. D. Sharma, Hon’ble MP (Khajuraho Constituency; Shri Rakesh Singh, Hon’ble MP (Jabalpur Constituency); and Shri Vivek Tankha, Hon’ble MP (Jabalpur Constituency) graced the occasion with profound thoughts on the importance and relevance of yoga.
Rev. Daaji – Guide of Heartfulness, President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission and Padma Bhushan awardee said, “We are very touched by the initiative by the Ministry of AYUSH to bring the country together on International Yoga Day especially when it also coincides with the Ekatm Abhiyan being led by Heartfulness and Jan Shakti Abhiyan jointly to touch one crore lives in Madhya Pradesh state – taking yoga and meditation to every village and every door and empowering youth with mind-sharpening faculties. A sound health is necessary to reach the equilibrium of mind and only through the right frame of mind we can build the nation. We pray that India continues to be the beacon of holistic wellness as our Hon’ble Prime Minister is also taking the message of yoga today during his visit to the United States. But most importantly each of us has to be motivated and make yoga part of our daily lives.”
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan ji said, “We all should you do Yoga every day. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is an ardent yoga follower and carrying the message of yoga during his current visit to the United States. When he can find time from his busy schedule for daily yoga, we as responsible citizens must follow suit devoting time for yoga in our daily lives. Schools will have mandatory yoga in MP. Yoga is not associated with any religion, it is meant for the overall wellness for humanity. There is no bigger asset than good health – with all my gratitude to our great sage Patanjali who passed down the knowledge of Yoga. Only through good health and high energy levels can we contribute to the country’s progress.”
Recently Heartfulness in association with Jan Abhiyaan Parishad successfully had launched a campaign called ‘Ekatm Abhiyaan’ – Har Dil Dyhan, Har Din Dhyan with the aim to introduce Heartfulness yoga and meditation practices, life skills program free of cost to over one crore residents of Madhya Pradesh that began on 4th May 2023 to 21 June 2023. The mission has touched 42,000 villages, 52 districts, 370 blocks; and touched over 1.13 crore people, trained over 14 lacs master trainers involving over 8000 volunteers under the keen guidance of Rev. Daaji – Spiritual Guide of Heartfulness, President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission and Padma Bhushan awardee.
The target audience of the programme includes students from schools and colleges, doctors and healthcare professionals at village and district levels, Government employees in various departments and partner institutions. Maximum residents of 52000 villages of Madhya Pradesh across 52 district headquarters and 133 blocks headquarters in the state were slated for participation in the programme.
Both Heartfulness and Jan Abhiyan Parishad are taking the efforts for mass awareness about Yoga, Mudra, Asana, Pranayama in all village panchayat and villages of Madhya Pradesh. The aim of “EKATM ABHIYAAN is to connect with self through yoga and meditation and establish the concept of unity, social harmony, good health and freedom from stress, yoga as a lifestyle at the village level. Also, Heartfulness’s Brighter Minds programme is being brought to every village for young students.
Earlier in the past too Madhya Pradesh Government joined hands with Heartfulness as has been witnessed in their joint Afforestation activities, Empowering Individuals, Enriching Communities and deaddiction drives among others.
Trainers/ volunteers of Heartfulness institute are coming from various parts of India and overseas to conduct these sessions at various villages. For each village three sessions are being conducted by Heartfulness trainers and volunteers.
About Heartfulness: Heartfulness offers a simple set of meditative practices and lifestyle changes, first developed at the turn of the twentieth century and formalized into teaching through Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945 in India with a goal to bring peace, happiness and wisdom to one heart at a time. These practices are a modern form of Yoga designed to support contentment, inner calm, and stillness, compassion, courage, and clarity of thought, as the first step towards a purposeful life. They are simple and easily adopted and are appropriate for people from all walks of life, cultures, religious beliefs, and economic situations, who are over the age of fifteen. Ongoing training in Heartfulness practices is going on at thousands of schools and colleges, and over 100,000 professionals are meditating in corporations, non-governmental, and government bodies worldwide. More than 5,000 Heartfulness Centers are supported by many thousands of certified volunteer trainers and millions of practitioners in 160 countries.