Date: 27 February 2024
On 27th February, 2024, Renaissance team organised a special event at Sri Aurobindo Society to felicitate Sri Kiran Vyas Ji who was recently awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Sri Kiran Vyas is an ex-student of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE), Pondicherry. He is the Founder-Director of Tapovan University of Ayurveda and Yoga in France and also the Founder and Executive Member of the European Council on Yoga. An author of several books on Yoga and Ayurveda he also serves as an advisor to Education Ministers of UNESCO member countries.
He was welcomed and felicitated by our Chairman Sri Pradeep Narang. Thereafter, our Chairman recalled his long association with Sri Kiran Vyas Ji and expressed his happiness and pleasure that his old friend has been conferred with Padma Shri.
In her introductory remarks, Dr Beloo Mehra briefly introduced Sri Kiran Vyas and about his association and contribution to the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Thereafter, the stage was handed over to Kiran Vyas Ji with a request to share his wisdom and experience. He shared several experiences from his student days at SAICE, recounting how the Ashram school was organised at the time, how the system of Free Progress evolved over time, and the intimate relations shared by teachers and students. A notable experience that he shared was about his Darshan of Sri Aurobindo at the age of four in 1948. He said that later in life when he was asked “Did you really see Sri Aurobindo?” his witty and insightfulresponse was: “I don’t know whether I saw him, but he definitely saw me!”
He also recalled some humourous anecdotes about his interactions with K. D. Sethna (whom Sri Aurobindo gave the name Amal Kiran) and how he could joke about his own disability. Apart from this he shared some snippets about his interactions with the Mother. He added that the lessons and values about life, work and inner attitude toward progress, which he picked up during his childhood and early youth in the most natural way through his interactions with the Mother, have served him well throughout his life.
It was an inspiring and learning experience for all the participants to be in the presence of such an august personality. Dr. Mehra thanked Shri Vyas on behalf of all the participants, and requested Shri Pradeep Narang to present our ‘guest of honour’ with a small token of our appreciation. The evening concluded with some group photos on the terrace and some refreshments and tea at the dining room.
A full album of photos from that visit can be seen HERE.