Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation

Salient Points of PM Modi’s inaugural address at the Sri Ramakrishna Vachanamrita Satram, Tiruvalla, Kerala on 21 Feb, 2017

  • India’s oral tradition has evolved constantly to adapt to changing times and circumstances, keeping the eternal values intact
  • To reach the common people, there was a need to make dharma, or right living, more accessible, closer to their daily lives
  • Bhakti saints used music, poetry, local languages to bring God closer to people – they broke barriers of caste, class, religion & gender
  • India is a land that is blessed with a rich cultural and intellectual milieu
  • Our land is home to writers, scholars, saints and seers who have expressed themselves freely and fearlessly
  • And whenever the history of human civilization entered into the era of knowledge, it is India that has always shown the way
  • A false perception was created about India that India needed social, political and economic reform initiated by outsiders
  • India’s soil is that soil from where change has always originated
  • Our Saints integrated each and every citizen in their quest for social reform. Nobody was left outside the ambit
  • Our civilization stands tall, overcoming obstacles
  • Our Saints did things that may seem seemingly small but the impact was very big and this altered the course of our history
  • In Hindu philosophy, time is accepted as a very important factor of the absolute -we are dik-kal- badhita- conditioned by space and time
  • We all remember the role of Shri Narayana Guru in transforming Kerala
  • Sri Sri Thakur Ramakrishna broke the mental barriers that keep us apart
  • He lived the Muslim way of life, he lived the Christian way of life, he practised tantra
  • “The Reality is one and the same;” he said, ” the difference is in name and form”
  • His teachings are relevant to us today, when we are confronted with people who use religion, caste to divide & create animosity
  • If we had not a teacher like this, would there have been a disciple like Swami Vivekananda
  • Let Sri Sri Thakur Ramakrishna’s words inspire us to see the divine in all things
  • To harness self & the ego in the service of the poorest & weakest so that we find the greater truth that is the essence of all religions