Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Friday chaired the first meeting of the high-level committee to commemorate 150^th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, called upon youth to emulate “the concept of greatness as embodied in his philosophy of ‘Nar to Narayan’.”

“Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Evolution’ should be emphasized as part of commemoration. Youth should be encouraged towards the concept of greatness as embodied in the philosophy of Nar to Narayan. It is the responsibility of India as a spiritual leader of the world to contribute in terms of spiritualism,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quoted as saying at the meeting by the PMO.

The 53-member high-level committee was constituted last year to commemorate Sri Aurobindo’s 150^th birth anniversary in ‘a befitting manner,’ a PMO note giving details of the meeting said here.

Secretary (Culture) Govind Mohan gave a presentation on the road map for celebration of the Commemoration. He sought the advice of the committee members for holding the celebrations.

The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the committee members for their valuable thoughts and suggestions on Sri Aurobindo’s Commemoration. “The two aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Evolution’ are of key importance and should be emphasized as part of the commemoration. The youth should be encouraged towards the concept of greatness as embodied in the philosophy of Nar to Narayan to create a MahaManav as propounded by Sri Aurobindo,” he said.

The Prime Minister further added that it is the responsibility of India as a spiritual leader of the world to contribute in terms of spiritualism to nations across the globe. He suggested that 150 universities across the country should be involved in writing papers on different aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s life and philosophy and the 150 papers to be published on the occasion.

The Prime Minister proposed to launch the commemoration celebrations of Sri Aurobindo from Puducherry coinciding with the celebration of National Youth Day. This will encourage the youth to visit Puducherry and learn about his life and teachings, where Sri Aurobindo spent his life from 1910 to 1950.

Modi fondly recalled his discussions and deliberations as Gujarat Chief Minister with Shri Kireet Joshi, who was a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. He said that these discussions enriched him with the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo, which were deeply reflected when he was working on preparing the National Education Policy. Modi stated that the literature of Sri Kireet Joshi on Sri Aurobindo should be disseminated widely across the world.

Today’s meeting was held in a hybrid mode. Sixteen distinguished members were present physically and 22 members participated through Video Conference (VC). Union Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed the distinguished participants. Members gave their suggestions at the meeting.

All the members expressed the view that the concept of integral education of Sri Aurobindo should be a part of the New Education Policy and should be included in the curriculum at the college and university levels.