Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday released a special commemorative coin on the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Addressing the gathering through video-conferencing, the Prime Minister also lauded the efforts of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) founded by Prabhupada for their service to humanity during earthquake in Kutch, Uttarakhand tragedy, cyclones in Odisha and Bengal and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Prime Minister said Srila Prabhupada connected Bhakti Vedanta with the consciousness of the world.
Modi hailed the role Prabhupada had in the freedom struggle and recalled that the spiritual leader had refused to accept his diploma from Scottish College in support of the non-cooperation movement.
The Prime Minister said that in the times of slavery, the Bhakti movement kept the spirit of India alive.
He said scholars assess that if there was no social revolution of the Bhakti period, it would have been difficult to imagine the status and form of India.
Bhakti connected the living beings with God by removing the discrimination of faith, social hierarchies and privileges, the prime minister said.
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