Dr Chinmay Pandya addressed over a thousand volunteers at Bharat Mandapam, calling for national unity. He said, "The day India awakens, the world will awaken." The event prepared followers for a three-day festival starting October 31 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Leaders urged citizens to focus on service and heritage.

New Delhi: "The day India awakens, the world will awaken." With that message, Dr Chinmay Pandya called on more than a thousand volunteers of the All World Gayatri Pariwar at Bharat Mandapam to commit themselves to nation-building.

Dr Pandya, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, is leading the Pariwar's centenary celebrations. He said India can become great only when Indians stand as one, and warned that divisions of caste and region are weakening the country.

"We will rise together only when we fight together. Nation-building is possible only through a sense of belonging," he said.

Naming self-forgetfulness as the country's first problem, Dr Pandya said a nation cannot build its future by turning away from its history. "Without diagnosis, there is no treatment," he said, adding that India forgot its strength, and so strength forgot India.

He said this is a time of awakening for India's identity, spirituality and potential. The Gayatri Pariwar, he said, is committed to building an India where every citizen takes pride in a glorious heritage and has confidence in a secure future for the generations to come.

Dr Pandya noted that three centenaries converge this year: the birth centenary of Mata Bhagwati Devi Sharma, the centenary of the Akhand Deep, and the centenary of the spiritual practice of Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya. Together, he said, they inspire people to turn devotion into service and values into conduct.

Three-Day Festival from October 31

The gathering was held in preparation for a three-day festival marking Mata Bhagwati Devi Sharma's birth centenary, to be held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from October 31 to November 2. Thousands of followers from India and abroad are expected to attend. The event is being organised under the guidance of Shantikunj, Haridwar, the Pariwar's international headquarters.

Chief guest and Union Minister of State Durgadas Uikey said this is an era of transformation in which new possibilities for positive change are taking shape. Women, he said, are playing a vital role in the country's progress through their talent, capability and organisational strength. He cautioned that the nation has fractured whenever individualism has dominated, and called for a life of restraint.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Sidharth Luthra said the real strength of a nation is its citizens, and that nation-building is meaningless without citizen-building. There can be no outer peace without inner peace, he said, urging that the energy of the youth be channelled into nation-building.

"Values are not handed down, they are lived," he said.

DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar said nation-building comes not merely from roads, bridges and buildings but from building consciousness. Awareness of civic duties, love for the nation and active participation in development are the foundation of a strong India, he said, cautioning that development without moral values leads to decline.

MP and former Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said every citizen must contribute to nation-building through small efforts.