Dharamshala hails members of Peace Yatra
Thursday, 16 September 2006, 4:00 p.m.
Dharamshala: Shri Yashpal Mittal has been a true supporter of the Tibetan cause and a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of truth and non-violence, Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche said in his introductory speech at a public talk held at the Main Temple here this morning.
The public talk was a part of the Yatra (procession) being carried on by followers of the Mahama Gandhi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Shri Jayaprakash Narayan.
Kalon Tripa said Shri Mittal who is leading the Yatra and who is also the president of Prasthan Ashram in Pathankot, has supported Tibetans when he participated in the first Afro-Asian Conference with the late Shri Jayaprakash Narayan.
Shri Yashpal Mittal |
In his keynote address Shri Mittal spoke on the life of the Acharya Vinoba Bhave and shared his knowledge on the basic principles of Satyagraha (peace) as taught and practiced by the Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Bhave.
The Yatra started on 18 June 2006 from Prasthan Ashram and it will end on 11 October 2006. The Yatra is a tribute to the great Indian saint, Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave.
The Yatra covers the north Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Hariyana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Shri Vinoba Bhave was born in a Brahmin family on September 11, 1895 at the village of Gagoda in Kolaba district of Maharashtra. Vinoba stands as a symbol for the struggle of good against evil, of spirituality against the mundane. He was a spiritual visionary, whose spirituality had a pragmatic stance with intense concern for the deprived. He was a brilliant scholar. He was Gandhiji’s ardent follower.
Vinoba knew the strength of the padyatra (march on foot). He walked for 13 years throughout India. He left Paunar on September 12, 1951 and returned on April 10, 1964. He started his Toofanyatra (journey with the speed of high-velocity wind), using a vehicle, in Bihar in July 1965, which lasted for almost four years. He covered thousands of miles, addressed thousands of meetings and mobilised the people cutting the barriers of caste, class, language and religion. Some dacoits from the notorious Chambal Valley (a hideout of dacoits in the northern India) surrendered themselves to Vinoba in May 1960. For Vinoba, it was a victory of nonviolence. He breathed his last on November 15, 1982 at this ashram.
(www.tibet.net is the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.)