“Grateful for Compassion to Karnataka”: Narayana Murthy Applauds Gurudevshri Rakeshji’s Massive Medical Mission

His remarks followed the unveiling of the mission's 60 initiatives for its founder's 60th year. Among them are the Shrimad Rajchandra Multi-Speciality Mega Medical Camps, one of which will be held at Vaamanjoor in Dakshina Kannada.

Mumbai: Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday welcomed the expansion of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur’s (SRMD) service work into Karnataka, speaking at Aho Gurudev, the celebration of Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji’s 60th birth anniversary at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre.

“As a person coming from Karnataka, I am so pleased to see that Gurudevshri has shown compassion even to the state of Karnataka. That is rare, that is extraordinary,” Murthy said.

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His remarks followed the unveiling of the mission’s 60 initiatives for its founder’s 60th year. Among them are the Shrimad Rajchandra Multi-Speciality Mega Medical Camps, one of which will be held at Vaamanjoor in Dakshina Kannada. The mission says each of its six mega camps screens over 5 lakh patients, delivers 24,500 treatments on site and performs over 7,500 surgeries, run by volunteers with doctors from India and abroad.

Murthy, who began his career in Ahmedabad in 1969, said that in his experience of nearly six decades, “the NRIs from Gujarat and the people of Gujarat are probably the most societal oriented people in our country.”

Offering his salutations to Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, he described the mission’s work as “the acts that reaffirm our belief in God, in saints and in good action.” “I’ve long believed that the true measure of any spiritual tradition lies not in teachings alone, but in the compassion it inspires in action. And that’s what I saw today,” he said.

“Institutions are recognised by the outcomes they produce for the people they serve,” Murthy added. “What matters is that doctor, that veterinary doctor, that teacher, that care centre worker actually bring a moment of relief.”

He recalled telling Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji that spiritual leaders could come together to transform the country’s culture, which he called the fastest route to a developed India. “He was very kind to listen to me, and I am positive that extraordinary people like him will start such a movement,” he said. Invoking the vision of India’s founding fathers, he spoke of “a nation where the poorest child in the remotest village has decent access to nutrition, healthcare, shelter, education, and most importantly, hope.”

What the mission runs

Beyond Karnataka, the mission’s other mega camps are held at Dharampur in Gujarat, Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Purulia in West Bengal, Leh in Ladakh and Darbhanga in Bihar. According to SRMD, its hospital network now spans 2,000 beds, and a new cancer hospital announced at the event will serve over 11 lakh tribal people. Its anaemia project has conducted over 10 million screenings across 19 states, and its vision care project has screened over 10.4 million people and treated 3.5 lakh cataract patients. The mission says these programmes aim to reach 60 million lives in his 60th year, roughly one in every 26 Indians. It also runs animal care institutions nursing over 5,000 animals at a time, a school de-addiction programme reaching 9 lakh students, 10 new women empowerment centres across rural India, and humanitarian work in the US, Peru, Venezuela, the Philippines and 16 African countries.

About Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji

Born in Mumbai on 26 September 1966, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji is a gold medallist in philosophy and holds a PhD from the University of Mumbai for his research on Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra. He was later conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the Claremont School of Theology. He founded Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur in 1994 on the principle of realising one’s true self and serving others selflessly, and set up its international headquarters at Dharampur in South Gujarat in 2001. The mission today works through 136 centres across six continents.

Aho Gurudev

Aho Gurudev, marking his 60th birth anniversary, is being held at the Jio World Convention Centre on 25 and 26 September, with attendees from 214 cities across 24 countries. On the first evening, the mission unveiled 60 initiatives, 30 in seva and 30 in spiritual growth, and the gathering was also addressed by Swami Swaroopananda of Chinmaya Mission and Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani. The celebrations continue on 26 September, his birthday, with the Atmarpit Diksha ceremony, a musical and the launch of a coffee table book on his life.