Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur commemorates its Silver Jubilee with the ‘Rajat Mahotsav'

EE News Desk Jan 03, 2020

Inspired by the great Indian saint, poet and philosopher Shrimad Rajchandraji, who was also the spiritual guide of Mahatma Gandhiji, Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur is a global spiritual movement for inner transformation. Founded by Shrimadji’s ardent devotee and a spiritual visionary, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai, the Mission has grown exponentially. Initially, a few hundred began attending regular discourses by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai in Mumbai, and the numbers kept increasing as a result of the impactful, life-transforming lessons expounded by him. This led to the establishment of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur with its International Headquarters in Gujarat and 108 centres across the world today. Actualizing its Mission Statement: ‘Realise one’s True Self and serve others selflessly’, the Mission has been carrying out various initiatives to enhance one’s own well-being, as well as the lives of the underprivileged sections of society.

Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur fervently celebrated the ‘Rajat Mahotsav’, to mark the completion of 25 years of transforming lives through its numerous social and spiritual initiatives. This celebration hosted thousands of seekers from across the world at the International Headquarters.

The Rajat Mahotsav celebrations were flagged off with a grand ‘Mahamastak Abhishek’ of the 34-feet tall idol of Shrimad Rajchandraji. On this day, Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vijaybhai Rupani also graced the occasion and in a brief address, appreciated how Pujya Gurudevshri is guiding the youth on the path of spirituality and praised the work undertaken by the Mission through the social development initiatives, especially in the tribal and rural areas in and around Dharampur.

On this occasion, recognizing the global impact of the play Yugpurush-Mahatma’s Mahatma, World Book of Records, London recorded Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur as producers of the play Yugpurush- for the “Most Viewed Play worldwide with over 1060 Live Performances and TV Telecasts in 7 languages, with content and message for Social Renaissance in Modern India.” The Certificate was presented to Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai by Ms. Tithi Bhalla (Adjudicator, WBR-India).

The Rajat Mahotsav witnessed special discourses by Pujya Gurudevshri, prominent spiritual saints such as Pujyashri Brahmavihari Swami of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and Pujya Swami Tadrupanand Saraswatiji graced the occasion too. Evenings were adorned with special performances including dance musical- ‘Bhaktini Mausam Chalke’ and spirited performance by ‘Miracle on Wheels’- India's first wheelchair dance theatre performance group. The magnificent celebrations culminated with a soulful live performance by the renowned singer Kailash Kher, thus entering the New Year 2020 with Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai. As a part of the celebrations, youth from over 200 cities across the globe gathered in Dharampur to offer Seva through for a mega ‘SRMD Youth Festival’. They undertook 9 social projects including: beautification of tribal schools, rural medical outreach camps, manufacturing products with tribal women at Mahila Gruha Udyog, harvesting and caretaking of cattle, and more.

The Rajat Mahotsav was thus a celebration of the huge impact made by Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur on millions of people worldwide.

25 Golden Years of Spirituality:

To serve its primary purpose of helping seekers advance towards their goal of self-realisation, the Mission conducts various spiritual activities at its International Headquarters and global centres. Some key activities include monthly weekend retreats with a diverse series of discourses, meditation retreats, corporate retreats to enhance life-skills, retreats for children and youth, etc. Through his discourses, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai explains philosophies and teachings from diverse scriptures, making them relevant for all age-groups and backgrounds in the contemporary times.

Promoting all-round growth for children, the Mission runs a unique value-based life skills programme called Shrimad Rajchandra Divinetouch. It caters to the self-development of children from 4 to 16 years, instilling virtues in them through unique pedagogies and teaching methods. This programme is currently running at 251 centres globally, across 5 continents. Fondly known as the ‘Leader of the Youth’, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai has steered thousands of youngsters towards self-enhancement and social service, through 92 Youth groups globally.

25 Golden Years of Selfless Service:

Along with enhancing one’s own well-being, the Mission has also been enhancing millions of underprivileged lives through Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care- an initiative to offer service for the welfare of mankind, animals and the environment.

Currently running over 75 sustainable social projects globally, this programme involves 10 Cares –Health Care, Educational Care, Child Care, Woman Care, Tribal Care, Community Care, Humanitarian Care, Animal Care, Environmental Care and Emergency Relief Care.

Some of the flagship initiatives undertaken by Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care are: Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital- an existing 75-bed hospital serving lakhs of people from the rural areas and an upcoming 250-bed multispecialty charity hospital, the Shrimad Rajchandra Viklang Centre in South Gujarat that are focused towards improving the conditions of the extremely deprived tribal sections, free of cost or at highly subsidised rates; Mahila Gruha Udyog- a skill-development programme to empower rural women with employment opportunities; Shrimad Rajchandra Vidyapeeth- the only Science College amidst 238 villages; Shrimad Rajchandra Gurukul- a fully-equipped school for rural children, and Shrimad Rajchandra Animal Nursing Home.

Expanding its boundaries to touch more lives globally, the Mission is growing exponentially. The Shrimad Rajchandra London Spiritual Centre, U.K. was inaugurated in 2018 and the construction of Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram, U.S.A is already underway. Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur has been consistently lighting up and transforming millions of lives across the globe, and journey continues onwards and upwards.