PM chairs the first meeting of the committee to commemorate Sri Aurobindo's 150th birthday

cc chaired the group's inaugural meeting on Friday, only days after the Centre formed a high-level committee to honour Sri Aurobindo's 150th birthday.

Former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, eight cabinet ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors, artists, and spiritual leaders are among the 53 members of the committee.

Modi, speaking at the event, stated that the two components of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of'revolution' and 'evolution' are crucial and should be highlighted as part of the celebration. To develop a "Maha Manav" as proposed by Sri Aurobindo, the youth should be encouraged to embrace the concept of greatness as expressed in the philosophy of "Nar to Narayan."

Aurobindo was followed by members of the Hyderabad Nizam family in the 1920s when Aurobindo was there, according to a fresh disclosure made during the conference.

So much so that one of them took Aurobindo's name, Prashant, as his own. As a result, activities will be planned in Hyderabad, as well as in Baroda, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, to highlight this feature."

There were also discussions of holding international conferences and seminars to spread Aurobindo's message throughout the meeting. While festivities would be staged across the country, insiders said a slew of events will be planned in Puducherry, where he spent 40 years of his life.

The celebrations will begin on January 1, 2022, and will last until March 20, 2024, according to sources. Despite the fact that the next meeting's date has yet to be determined, the Union Ministry of Culture will compile a schedule of events based on the suggestions.

The Prime Minister went on to say that it is India's job as the world's spiritual leader to contribute to spiritualism in nations all across the world. He proposed that 150 universities around the country write papers on various elements of Aurobindo's life and philosophy, and that these papers be published on the occasion, which falls on August 15, 2022, which also happens to be India's 75th anniversary of independence.

During the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, Modi also requested that the Aurobindo remembrance be launched from Puducherry, coinciding with the National Youth Day celebrations.

"This will encourage the youth to visit Puducherry and learn about his life and teachings where Sri Aurobindo spent his life from 1910 to 1950," he said, while recalling his discussions with Kireet Joshi, who was a disciple of Sri Aurobindo.

He went on to say that these discussions endowed him with Sri Aurobindo's ideas, which he pondered on when drafting the National Education Policy. The Prime Minister stated that Joshi's Sri Aurobindo literature should be extensively distributed around the world.

The meeting was held in a hybrid format, with 16 participants in person and 22 others participating online by video conference. Govind Mohan, Secretary (Culture), presented a presentation on the commemoration's roadmap and solicited feedback from the members on the activities.