Modi unveils Swami Vivekananda statue in PJ

PETALING JAYA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took a short break from the ongoing Asean-India and East Asia Summits to unveil the statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Ramakrishna Mission centre in Section 10 here.
Modi and his entourage arrived at the mission grounds about 4.20pm and were greeted by Swami Supriyananda, the president of the Ramakrishna Mission in Malaysia, and hundreds of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the Indian leader.
Upon arrival, he proceeded to unveil the 4m high bronze statue of the great Indian spiritual leader in his famous pose photographed during the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893 in Chicago, United States.
Modi, an ardent follower of the Vivekananda school of thought, later in his speech said the great Indian sage was not only a great religious scholar but also the personification of the thousands of years-old Indian civilisation.
He highlighted that sages like Vivekananda had endured to search for the truth, and if the people today accepted the fact that there were many ways of attaining the truth, rather than taking the holier-than-thou stand, mankind would be living in a more harmonious world.
The Indian prime minister also pointed that Vivekananda was visionary as well, where he foresaw a One Asia that Asean and the East Asia Summits were currently working out.
At the end of his speech, Modi announced that the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur would be releasing a bilingual book, in English and Malay, on yoga and wellness by yoga master Ajay Sahoo.
The Ramakrishna Mission is a philanthropic, volunteer organisation based on Hinduism and founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of a 19th century Hindu saint, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. — Bernama