His Excellency the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited ISKCON, Bangalore on June 7, 2003 to inaugurate Kids for Kids scheme of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. Dr. Kalam was welcomed with a traditional purna kumbha reception and had darshana of Sri Radha Krishna Chandra, Sri Krishna Balarama and Sri Nitai Gauranga in the main temple hall. He was visibly touched on seeing the transcendental beauty of Sri Radha Krishna Chandra and exclaimed that by seeing Them, all one's sins and sorrows are washed away and vanish.
Accompanying Dr. Kalam were the Governor of Karnataka Sri T.N. Chaturvedi, Chief Minister Sri S.M. Krishna, the Mayor of Bangalore Sri C.M. Nagaraj and Ministers Sri H.C. Srikantaiah and Sri A. Krishnappa.
 At the open-air theatre of the temple where hundreds of school children were assembled, Dr. Kalam unveiled a plaque, upscaling the feeding of mid-day meals by the Akshaya Patra program to 1,00,000 Government school children.
He also launched the Kids for Kids program which aims at teaching urban children the joy of sharing with their lesser privileged sisters and brothers.
Pranav Pai, a student of St. Joseph 's Indian High School , presented a memorandum to Dr. Kalam, urging the President to make sure State Governments utilized more funds on mid-day meal and literacy programs for children.
Dr. Kalam presented a list of 200 students who have won scholarships, to Sri Baligar, Commissioner of Public Instruction. These scholarships have been awarded by the Pratiksha Foundation and the Sarojini Damodaran Trust, partners of Akshaya Patra, providing scholarships to economically challenged students adopted under the Akshaya Patra program.
In his address, Dr. Kalam lauded the endeavor of the Akshaya Patra Foundation in successfully implementing the mid-day meal program. He appealed to children from privileged families to help in providing food for the lesser privileged.
After the event, the President shared lunch with the children and even served lunch to them.
Address by Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation & President, ISKCON, Bangalore, on the occasion of the launching of Kids for Kids program.
"On this joyous occasion, on behalf of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, I would like to offer my greetings and hearty welcome to all. When His Excellency Dr. Abdul Kalam heard about the Akshaya Patra program he was very touched by it and happily agreed to be with the Akshaya Patra children today. Thank you sir. His Excellency has realized the wisdom of an age-old saying, which though now seemingly a cliche, is most appropriate in today's context - the adage, "CHILD IS THE FATHER OF MAN." ISKCON founder and our spiritual master Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wrote in 1972, "Child is the father of man, so train the children by kind instructions and feed them well, it will be a great service."
When children are born, they do not know hate or power. They know not Hindu, Muslim or Christian. They know not higher or lower caste. Yet if they do not grow up mentally and physically healthy, very often these very things create undesirable separation between them. Hence a strong nation can be created only by making children mentally and physically healthy.
Hunger and ignorance know not religion. Spirituality by definition reaches out to the spirit which is in every one of us, beyond any particular religious faith. Spirituality alone can unite everyone. We are all children of God. God is never partial that while some feast, others starve. The world has been designed to provide enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. Hunger like other evils is man's own doing.
Whatever imbalance man has created, it is his own responsibility. He alone must undo it. Crores of hungry children of this country are waiting for us to act responsibly.
The Akshaya Patra movement is a step taken by this temple towards fulfilling this responsibility. Not only being a model of the logistics of feeding large number of children, the Akshaya Patra program radiates waves of a positive consciousness, the consciousness that wherever there is a sincere attempt made for a selfless task, it will not fail, because selfless projects are energized by the Divine Will. Mysteriously and miraculously, by the grace of the Almighty, funds, guidance and skills appear wherever there are sincere efforts for any selfless cause. Akshaya Patra program is a typical demonstration of this. This project was started with no money in hand nor any advance commitments for its recurring cost. Yet today the program is feeding forty three thousand children every day. And we are certain that it will continue as long as human commitment and Divine Grace are behind the cause.
Ishavasya idam sarvam. Everything belongs to God and hence everything is meant to be shared. In Mahabharata Sri Krishna instructs Yudhistira, dadasvannam, dadasvannam, dadsvannam,yudhistira: "Give food, give food, give food, Yudhistira."
This message of Sri Krishna is the message of Akshaya Patra, especially to all the leaders of this country-
"Give food, give food, and give food."
Let there be a national mid-day meal program for our children. We are grateful to our Chief Minister Sri S.M Krishna for initiating the mid-day meal program for the entire state from this academic year. Let us free our children from ignorance and hunger and our nation will grow as healthily as our children.
Thank you very much. |
