Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has appealed the citizens to bail out the country from rampant scams and reform it by adopting the spiritual path. Addressing a mammoth gathering on the occasion of Makar Sankranti here last night at the packed Dadoji Konddeo Stadium,he asked the people to become self reliant and reduce dependency on the government. "Be your own and strive for development. Unless you take matters seriously and in your hand. nothing will work," he said at a function organised jointly by Sanskar and Art of Living to celebrate his first ever visit to the district. "On this 30th anniversary of 'Art of Living' and on the occasion of Makar Sankranti,let us begin a 'Kranti' (revolution) for building a strong and spiritual India devoid of scams and slums," he appealed. Ravi Shankar asked people to devote sometime for sadhana and meditation everday that the mind gets rejuvenated. "Take out sometime for spiritual activities and meditation on a daily basis to enable personal progress and the country's development. Like you wipe out what is written on the slate and write a new thing,you should wipe out the old things in the mind and write fresh new things," he said. He also wanted teachers and doctors to come out and give their services free of cost by organising medical and educational camps. "One should be like a sugarcane,a strong body externally and a sweet soul internally giving love and care to others," he said. The spiritual leader also referred to the work done in Kathiawadi,Kapti and 188 other villages across the country where there were no thefts and court cases. "We should aim to make many more such Adarsha villages," he said appreciating the 'Adarsha Utsav' initiated in states of Gujarat,Andhra,Karnataka,MP and Rajasthan. Ravishankar concluded his discourse with the famous Marathi hymn 'Vitthal Vitthal Vitthala',sending the audience into a trance. Earlier,the 'Sudharshan Kriya' was held for devotees which lasted for about one hour. Sanskar Chief Sanjay Kelkar,besides Thane Mayor Ashok Vaity,Shiv Sena Thane district Chief Eknath Shinde,MLA Rajan Vichare,MP Anand Paranjpe,MLC Charansingh Sapra were among those present on the occasion.
