Swami Vivekananda
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milestones. Looking at the future, I am confident that this trend
will increase manifold. The love and affection with which a
prestigious University like yours has organized this event is only a
manifestation of this trend.
Last year during the same month, the University had
organized the first in the annual seminar series on Indian Ideas and
Thoughts on the topic “His Majesty the King’s Sufficiency Economy
Philosophy and Mahatma Gandhi’s Self-Sufficiency Concept”. The
Seminar was also part of the celebrations held to mark the
Centenary Celebration of Gandhiji’s Satyagraha. The seminar was
very successful and saw participation of more than 350 persons,
including leading Professors from several Universities in Thailand.
Mr. Narayan Desai, the noted Gandhian from India and Professor
Dr. Seri Pongpit, Director, Community Enterprise Institute of
Thailand were the distinguished speakers in that Seminar.
After the success of the last year’s Seminar, the
Committee of Mahidol University has decided to Institutionalize
the “Annual Mahidol Seminar on Indian Ideas and Thoughts”,
which the Embassy very much appreciates and acknowledges. These
annual seminars, I foresee, will further nurture the bilateral
relationship between India and Thailand, provide a big leap towards
India-Thailand friendship and simultaneously generate a useful
interaction among academicians,scholars and students. The most
notable feature of these Seminars is that people of all walks of life
may come and join to listen to the thoughts and ideas of experts
and scholars.
Coming to the theme of today’s Seminar
“Swami Vivekananda: A
Role Model for World Peace and Harmony”, I would like to project
an objective assessment of Swamiji’s contributions in this area.
The impressions made by men of great learning depend almost