The first national Mahavir-Mahatma Awards and the launch of The Oneness Forum were held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 20 April, 2005.
20 April, 2005
April 20, 2005
Isha Foundation:
[New Delhi] The first national Mahavir-Mahatma Awards and the launch of The Oneness Forum were held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 20 April, 2005.
The Oneness Forum conferred the Mahavir-Mahatma Award upon Swami Nisarga of Isha Foundation, in recognition of the services rendered to the society by the Foundation.
The Mahavir Mahatma Awards are being conferred on youthful and active members of various socio-economic, spiritual and religious groups at ceremonies which shall be held at district, state, national and global levels.
Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Home Minister Shri Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Soka Gakkai dignitaries from Japan, industrialist B.K Modi, Shri Mahamantra Das, and musician AR Rehman graced the occasion in an illuminating ceremony. The event began with prayer, Mahavir Stuti, which was followed by offerings to the sacred plant Tulsi.
Mrs Indu Jain, Chairperson of the Times of India Group and one of the sponsors of the award, enthralled the audience in her lively speech and urged them to unite in this endeavor of creating oneness not only in small communities but across the globe. She said: “The forum is a helipad, a launching for everyone. Come, begin your campaign of oneness from here.”
Sri Sri Ravishankar who presented the award said: “Nature is diverse yet it is one. There is one human race, one truth and that's why this endeavour becomes significant.”
Complimenting the initiative, Mr Patil said: “This is a wonderful effort to propagate the ideals of unity.” Narrating an interesting anecdote, Mr Mukherjee emphasized on how power can never determine the course of civilizations.
The awards for the national and global levels were given away to Martha Merchant of Baha'i Foundation, Hiromasa Ikeda on behalf of Dr Daisaku Ikeda from Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Tushar A Gandhi from Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, Brahmatej Ji from the Art of Living Foundation, Swami Nisarga from Isha Foundation, Shulamith Ezekiel Malekar from Judah Hyam Synagogue, Ranjit Makkuni and Dr Madhu Khanna from Sacred World Foundation, musician A R Rehman, Namman Ji from Oneness University and Shashi Kumar Nair from Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram. The Times Group sponsored Rs 10 lakh worth of prizes in kind.
AR Rehman said: “I am honored to get this award. I hope this endeavor brings people together”. He expressed his father's ‘lasting gratitude’ to Times Foundation for conferring this award.
Hiromasa read out Dr Daisaku Ikeda’s acceptance speech and said: “Given the greatness of the two giants whose names adorn this award, its recipient bears an enormous weight of expectation for he or she must be actively engaged in the worthiest of endeavors to establish lasting peace for humanity.” He added that peace and youth may prevail in the 21st Century.
“Mahavir and Mahatma are the pinnacle of spiritual and social movements of all times. Any meaningful and lasting transformation in the world can only happen by including both these dimensions in our thought and actions. This is the vision of Sadhguru and the nature of the work by Isha Foundation”, said Swami Nisarga of Isha Foundation.
The purpose of the Oneness Forum is to unite global humanitarian organizations for collective actions to save and transform mankind by social, political and spiritual awakening.
This is a part of a series of events being organized across the country to acknowledge and felicitate youth leaders from various social, spiritual and economic groups. The broader vision is to support and create a network of those involved in positive change, peace initiatives and protection of cultural integrity.
