New Delhi: Hailing India as the most ancient living civilisation in the world due to the immortal ideas and philosophies of its saints and seers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that India is a country where service and humanity are central to its ethos.Speaking at the centenary celebrations of Jain spiritual figure Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj Ji’s birth anniversary, Mr Modi paid rich tributes to his contribution in different fields and said that his ideas have inspired the government’s welfare schemes. He also referred to the preceding speech of a Jain seer, noting that he was apparently blessing Operation Sindoor.The Prime Minister’s mere mention of “jo humein chhedega” brought massive cheers from the audience, but he did not dwell any further on the issue.”When for ages, efforts were being made to quell violence with violence, then India introduced to the world the power of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence)… We have kept the sentiment of serving humanity supreme. Our ethos for serving is unconditional and beyond selfishness and inspired by ‘parmarth’ (the Supreme Being),” Mr Modi said.In his address, the Prime Minister added that his government is working by taking inspiration from those ideals. He said the welfare schemes of his government signify the “sense of service” towards the last person in the social hierarchy. Mr Modi extolled Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj Ji’s legacy and his contribution to the revival of the Prakrit language, the restoration of many old temples and his contribution in the fields of literature and music.”Our India is the oldest living civilisation in the world. We are immortal for thousands of years because our thoughts are immortal, our thinking is immortal, our philosophy is immortal,” he said, adding that the source of this philosophy is “our saints, seers, mahants and acharyas”.Th Prime Minister asserted that the voices of Indian Tirthankars, saints and seers and their teachings are equally contextual in different eras.Hailing the Jain seer being celebrated as a “yug purush” and “yug drashta”, Mr Modi underlined that through his literature and music, he had endeavoured to revive the ancient Prakrit language.”Prakrit is one of the oldest languages in the world. It is the language of sermons of Bhagwan Mahaveer. Ancient texts of Jainism are scripted in this language,” Mr Modi said.”In our mission to digitise ancient manuscripts, a large section of it includes religious texts related to Jainism and manuscripts associated with acharyas,” Mr Modi added.”We want to go further on this subject,” the PM said, adding that mother tongues are being promoted in higher education as well.The Prime Minister also reiterated his nine pledges and urged people to follow them. The pledges are — saving water, planting a tree in mother’s memory, cleanliness, going “vocal for local”, travelling to explore different places in the country, adopting natural farming, having a healthy lifestyle, sports and yoga adoption, and helping the poor.Rashtrasant Paramparacharya Shri 108 Pragyasagar ji Muniraj and Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were also present on the dais at the event.The Jain seer in his address recalled the renaming of Rajpath in New Delhi a few years ago and demanded that India Gate be rechristened to “Bharat Dwar”, as well as a Prakrit research institute be set up in Delhi.The centenary year will be observed from June 28, this year to April 22, 2026, with a range of cultural, literary, educational and spiritual initiatives across the country aimed at “celebrating the life and legacy of Acharya Shri 108 Vidyanand Ji Maharaj”, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
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