Indian culture and spiritualism have attracted people from other countries for centuries, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Saturday.
Indian culture and spiritualism have attracted people from other countries for centuries, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Saturday.
Speaking at the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sister Nivedita, organised by the Ramakrishna Mission in New Delhi, Kovind said she was part of this tradition, and came to India and to Swami Vivekananda for enlightenment.
He said Buddhist monks from China came to Nalanda in ancient times.
On Saturday, the appeal of yoga and vipasanna to people across the world -- and the response to International Yoga Day -- is another example, he said.
"Sister Nivedita was part of this tradition, and came to India and to Swamiji for enlightenment. And yet she was different. She did not come and learn a little and leave. She learnt a lot -- and stayed on," he said.
He said she made India her life's mission and became an Indian nation builder even though she was born in Ireland.
"Sister Nivedita's original name was Margaret Noble. True to her name, she served India with nobility. She was a pioneer in girls' education in India and in providing health services to the poor," he said.
Kovind said Swami Vivekananda was one of those who shaped our modern national consciousness.
"He rediscovered Indian values not only for us but for the world. He was a true cultural ambassador, as became so apparent during his visit to Chicago in 1893 for the Parliament of Religions," he said.
He said his legacy is reflected in the Ramakrishna Mission, which is itself 120 years old and has grown from strength to strength.
"The Ramakrishna Mission's education and health-care initiatives, its schools and hospitals, can be found all over the country. In parts of the Northeast and in our frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, the Ramakrishna Mission has been a pioneer institution," he said.
Kovind said in "Maoist-troubled" Chhattisgarh, he had seen the dedication with which the Ramakrishna Mission has worked among very poor and underprivileged tribal communities in Narayanpur.
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 "President Kovind attends150th birth anniv celebrations of his sister")
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