Actor Ranbir Kapoor has donated to Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care after attending the 60th birthday celebration of founder Gurudevshri Rakeshji. Kapoor praised the mission’s healthcare work and shared his own spiritual journey.
Actor Ranbir Kapoor has made a donation to Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care (SRLC), the humanitarian wing of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD). The contribution comes after he attended ‘Aho Gurudev’, the two-day celebration of the 60th birthday of the Mission’s founder, Gurudevshri Rakeshji, at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre on September 25 and 26. It follows what Kapoor singled out on stage. “To see specialized doctors, healthcare traveling to remotest parts of our country, healing people, helping people, I think that’s what true spirituality is,” he said.
‘Speechless’ in the hall
It was Kapoor’s first meeting with Gurudevshri, and he began by admitting he had not expected what he found. “Well, I’m really speechless,” he said. “I was not expecting this walking in this hall and experiencing this collective energy of joy and happiness.” He said he had been invited to the Mission’s Global Youth Festival last year but could not attend because of prior commitments, and called it an honour to be present for the birthday celebrations. He then turned to the Mission’s work, inspired by Gurudevshri. “For all the selfless work that you’ve done over the years, for the countless lives you’ve touched and healed, for uplifting humanity, I wish you a blessed life filled with love, laughter, and happiness,” he said. Referring to Gurudevshri as a ‘youth magnet’, he said it was “really incredible to see young minds coming together, walking the path of spirituality under Gurudev’s guidance.”
Kapoor also shared a personal note. Becoming a father for the first time Four years ago, he said, coincided with “a gift from above,” the chance to play Bhagwan Ram in ‘Ramayana’. Both, he said, brought him closer to his own spirituality and to “understanding our country’s spirituality.” He added: “And now, after knowing you, I know that I will get closer to my goal. And I cannot wait to visit your ashram in Dharampur.” Speaking after the satsang, he said he sensed in Gurudevshri “the goodness and some power, some aura which is very hard to define,” and that his teaching was simple enough to be “relevant to a person who’s 10 years old also.”
Releasing ‘Beyond’
Earlier that evening, Kapoor and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, amongst others including Ashok Hinduja of the Hinduja Group, released ‘Beyond – The Life and Works of Gurudevshri’, a visual biography of the founder. The release, the 60th of the landmark projects announced for the occasion, was followed by the satsang and then a musical on Gurudevshri’s life performed by around 600 devotees.
60 projects for the 60th year
On the opening evening, the Mission unveiled 60 landmark projects: 30 for selfless service and 30 for spiritual growth. The 30 service projects come under SRLC, which was set up over two decades ago and works through a ten-fold care programme spanning health, education, humanitarian, animal care and more.
Healthcare Initiatives
Healthcare leads the list. The Shrimad Rajchandra Sarvamangal Hospital in Surendranagar, has 700 beds, 18 operation theatres and 100 ICU beds, and treats over 2,000 patients a day. The Mission’s hospital network, which began with 40 beds more than two decades ago, now has 2,000. A medical college beside it trains over 1,400 MBBS and postgraduate students a year, and a new Kidney and Eye Hospital will soon offer dialysis, kidney transplants and eye care. The Mission also announced the Shrimad Rajchandra Sarvamangal Cancer Hospital, planned to serve over 11 lakh tribal residents with 10,000 chemotherapy sessions and 1,000 surgeries a year, including Da Vinci robotic surgery. A mental health initiative already reaches over 500 villages. Three projects, covering mega medical camps, anaemia mitigation and vision care, aim to reach 60 million lives in Gurudevshri’s 60th year, about one in every 26 Indians. The anaemia project has already conducted over 10 million screenings across 19 states, while the vision care project has screened over 10.4 million people and provided 1.2 million spectacles. SRLC runs 60 medical camps a day with over 100 partners.
Animal Care and Education Projects
For animals, the 44-acre Shrimad Rajchandra Jivamaitridham in Dharampur brings together an animal hospital, shelters, an Institute of Veterinary Science and an Ahimsa Awareness Centre, with India’s first private-sector animal blood bank. It is set to open this year, alongside a new animal hospital in Mumbai and 10 animal care centres across India that treat over 200,000 animals a year.
In education, the projects include DISHA, a free AI-powered career guidance platform covering 1,600-plus careers, a new Gurukul campus for 700 children in Dharampur, a school for children with special needs in Mumbai, and Mumbai’s largest government ITI (Industrial Training Institute), which SRLC manages and which is moving towards a capacity of 4,000 students. Construction is under way on the Shrimad Rajchandra Sarvamangal University in Dharampur.
Community and Global Outreach
Other projects extend to women’s livelihoods, through the Centre of Excellence for Women and 10 new satellite centres, and to the last mile, through a community development programme that links rural families to government schemes, a de-addiction drive in 2,000 schools and an afforestation initiative with the UN Environment Programme. Abroad, the work covers 60 under-served schools in the United States, relief in South America, two adopted villages in the Philippines and Mission Africa across 16 countries.
Spiritual Growth Projects
The 30 spiritual projects include 10 new ashrams in India and abroad, a Wellness Centre, solitude retreats and the Shrimad Rajchandra Museum at Dharampur, a network of spiritual centres across Mumbai led by a 35,000 sq ft centre in BKC, six new centres in South America, and Gurudevshri’s teachings in new languages. At the close of the announcements, the Mission invited people to visit its work and to “join in, collaborate, partner, support, and offer seva.” (ANI)
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