Puri : Different religious traditions and practices are followed in different parts of the country, but there is only one belief to work for the welfare of all considering everyone as one family, President Ramnath Kovind said on Sunday.
Inaugurating the three-year-long celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Sriman Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada, the founder of Goudiya Math and Mission, the President said God is worshipped in all forms but the traditions of worshipping God with devotion has been significant in India. Many great saints have practised selfless worship here. Among such great saints, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has a special place.
Inspired by his extraordinary devotion, a large number of people chose the path of Bhakti, he said. The president said Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to say that people should remember God with a humble attitude considering themselves to be smaller than grass. One must be more tolerant than a tree devoid of any sense of ego and must give respect to others, he said.
The President said this feeling is found in all the followers of the Bhakti Marg. He said Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s constant love for God and his drive to connect society with the thread of equality gives him a unique reputation in Indian culture and history. He said saints of Bhakti Marg were above the prevailing discrimination of that time based on religion, caste, gender, and rituals.
Therefore people of all classes were not only inspired by them but also took refuge in this path. Guru Nanak Dev Ji tried to build an egalitarian society while walking on the Bhakti Marg. The president said the Bhakti Marg’s speciality of complete devotion to God is witnessed not only in the spiritual side of life but also in the day today life of every individual. Serving the needy has been given top priority in our culture.
Our doctors, nurses, and health workers displayed this spirit of service during the covid pandemic. They were also infected with Coronavirus but even in such extreme circumstances they did not lose courage and were engaged in the treatment of people. Many of our corona warriors sacrificed their lives but the dedication of their co-workers remained unwavering.
The whole country would always be indebted to such warriors. The president said apart from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, other great saints of the Bhakti movement too strengthened the unity in our cultural diversity. The saints of Bhakti community did not contradict each other in their teachings but were often inspired by each other’s writings.
Swami Vivekananda while presenting the spiritual message of India to the world community in his speech in Chicago said as rivers originating from different places eventually join the sea, in the same way, man chooses different paths of his own will. These paths may seem different but in the end, all reach God. This principle of India’s spiritual unity was propagated by Ramakrishna Paramhans and Swami Vivekananda which was also adopted by Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.
The President expressed confidence that the Goudiya Mission would be successful in its resolve of spreading the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to the world keeping its objective of human welfare as paramount.