President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday inaugurated the International Gita Festival -2022 organized on the banks of Brahma Sarovar here, stressing on imbibing the teachings of ‘Bhagavad Gita’, saying it is a book whose messages spread hope in despair and also give solutions to all doubts of practical life.

The President arrived on a two-day visit to Haryana to attend various programmes earlier in the day and then offered prayers amidst chanting of mantras at Brahma Sarovar and also offered flowers on the holy religious scripture Gita as she performed the ‘yagna’ near Lord Shri Krishna’s huge chariot idol located at Purushottampura Bagh.

She was accompanied by Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.  The President launched a Nirogi Haryana scheme, an e-ticketing system in Haryana Transport and virtually laid the foundation stone of a medical college in Sirsa district to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 950 crore.  She also participated in the International Gita Seminar.

Addressing the gathering, President Murmu said that she was happy to be here and lauded the state government for organising the International Gita Festival and for the launch of the Nirogi Haryana scheme, e-ticketing system and upcoming medical college at Sirsa.  She was also informed that the Gita festival was being organised at the international level since 2016. She said she considers it a blessing of Lord Krishna that she got an opportunity to begin her first visit to Haryana as the President from this ‘Dharma-kshetra’.

The President said ‘Bhagavad Gita’ is an international book in a real sense and it has been translated into many languages.  “Like Yoga is India’s gift to the entire world, in the same way, Yoga-Shastra Gita is also the spiritual gift of Mother India to the entire humanity. The Gita is a life code for the whole of humanity, a spiritual beacon,” she said.

The President said Gita which comprises 700 ‘Shaloks’ has the essence of all Vedas.  “Gita is the important ‘granth’ of ‘Vedanta’. Gita is such a book in which solutions to all the doubts of practical life and spirituality are easily found,” she said.  Maintaining balance in all situations is the most useful message of Gita, she added.

The President said, “Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is a ‘granth’ of encouragement in adverse circumstances and spreads hope in despair. This is a ‘granth’ for life-building.” She stressed that it is most important to imbibe the messages of the Gita. Leaders like Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, who gave direction to our freedom struggle, took guidance from Bhagavad Gita in every sphere of life, she said.

The President further said Mahatma Gandhi used to call ‘Shrimad Bhagavad Gita’ as ‘Gita Mata’.  Gandhi had said, “The mother who gave birth to me is gone, but I have learned to go to ‘Gita Mata’ in times of crisis,” Murmu added. The President said that Swami Vivekananda used to say that Gita gives a message of shedding cowardice and adopting bravery.

Brave jawans, hardworking farmers and daughters of Haryana made the state and the whole country proud in their respective fields by imbibing the teachings of the Gita, Murmu said.  She will be meeting sisters and daughters of Haryana who contributed immensely in their respective fields.

Earlier, the President visited the state-level progressive Haryana exhibition at the International Gita Festival. In the progressive Haryana state-level exhibition, the President saw the artwork of evidence of Gita teachings and got a glimpse of the stories of valour and contribution of Haryana’s heroes in the freedom struggle displayed through photographs.

President attends 18th convocation of NIT Kurukshetra 

The President graced the 18th Convocation of National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra as the chief guest and also inaugurated the blockchain technology-based degree solutions developed by the institute and other collaborators for awarding degrees through digital medium and conferred degrees to the students of the year 2020 and 2021 batch through the same medium.   She said that she feels special and happy while attending any programme related to education because before starting her public life, she had worked as a teacher in a school. She said that the NIT University is celebrating its diamond jubilee and has received special recognition nationally and internationally.

“More than 40,000 former students of this university had contributed to nation-building and had played an important role in raising the prestige of the country globally,” she said, adding that from Singapore to Silicon Valley and from civil society to civil services; the students of this university have made their place in all the fields. She said that out of 5,800 students of NIT, more than 1,100 are girls and out of 2,800 students graduating today, more than 500 are girls. “This is also a proud moment. Today daughters are setting records in every field. More and more girls should come forward in the field of science, mathematics, technology and engineering,” she said.