National Institute of Education (NIE) – Sri Lanka celebrated the annual Navaratri festival during the first week of October. Participants were the Minister of Education Mr. Radhakrishnan and all leading educational officers from different districts of the country. On this occasion, ISKCON devotees were invited as guests along with Buddhist head-monks and Christian priest. As ISKCON’s representative, Vasudeva Datta Prabhu spoke in length on the importance of adding the study of Bhagavad Gita As It Is in the religious school curriculum in Sri Lanka. He stressed that the students are the future of the country, so it is great responsibility on the teachers, professors and government officers to give proper spiritual guidance to their pupils. Not only this, they should first teach by their good example – yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janah. He explained the word “acharya” and cautioned the esteemed audience not to be like his European teacher who would with a cigarette in his hand say to the students – “It is not good to smoke”.
He also explained that ISKCON devotees are offering various seminars and giving practical guidance to university students on how to give up their bad habits and how to live a pure life based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and chanting the holy names of Lord Krishna. At the end of the speech, the minister jubilantly came to the stage to receive a copy of Bhagavad Gita As It Is in Tamil. Seeing this, the Director General of NIE Mrs. Jayanthi Gunasekara also stood up from the audience and indicated that she would also like to have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. Vasudeva Prabhu called her on the stage and gifted her a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in English.
The Minister of Education approved on the importance of Bhagavad Gita and he was impressed with the proposal of including Bhagavad Gita in school curriculum for the Hindu students. He assured that he would try to do it. He welcomed devotees to meet him at his office anytime in the future.
NIE is very influential institute because it is the place where the school syllabus for the entire country is designed and published. Thus we hope that this step would be a turning point to disseminate the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita throughout the country through the educational system.
The photos from the event were published in Veerakesari, the most prominent Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka.
To see more photos click here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1849171755301611.1073741889.1639909306227858&type=3
– Sudarshan Cakra dasa
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