Sadhu Vaswani Vidya Mandir Vadodara organized the grand festival to commemorate the Mira Movement launched in Hyderabad Sindh for spreading education among the womenfolk
Sindh Courier Correspondent
Vadodara, Gujarat, India
A day long grand festival ‘FEST MIRA’ was organized by Sadhu Vaswani Vidya Mandir (Temple) in Vadodara city (Former Baroda city) of Gujarat state of India on Saturday December 23, 2023 to celebrate 90 Years of Mira Movement in Education launched by a great educationist, advocate of human and animal rights, writer, orator, and social reformer Sadhu T. L Vaswani in 1933 in Hyderabad city of Sindh (Presently a province of Pakistan).
Mayor of Vadodara city Mrs. Pinky Soni inaugurated the festival held at Dindayal Auditorium of the city.
The memories, life and works of Dada T. L. Vaswani and Dada J. P. Vaswani (Jashan Pahlajrai Vaswani), the spiritual head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission, were shared with the audience through documentaries and videos. Songs praising the social services of Dada Vaswani were played. School children performed dance on such songs and also presented tableaus.
Mr. Chandan Gyanchandani, Head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission,Vadodara, Madam Dipika, Principal of Mira School, Mr. Haresh Agnani, and other notables of Sindhi community of Vadodara, parents of performing students and a large number of students participated in the festival.
About Sadhu Vaswani and Mira Movement
Sadhu T L Vaswani (Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani) was born on 25 November 1879 in Hyderabad Sindh and passed away on 16 January 1966 in India. He was an educationist and a prolific writer who authored several books in English and Sindhi. A born orator, when he spoke, he filled the hall with the rich lyrics of his words and even richer music of his heart. He was a poet, a mystic, a sage and, in the words of Dr. Cousins, the Irish Poet he was “a thinker and a revealer of the deep truths of the Spirit.”
As a boy, he first learned about the sacred texts called the Upanishads from Brahmabandhav Upadhyay, a Brahmin from Bengal. He was also a skilled interpreter of the Bible and the Qur’an. He passed matriculation and completed his B.A. from the University of Bombay in 1899, after which he received the Ellis Scholarship and became a Dakshina Fellow at D.J. Sindh College in Karachi while studying for his master’s degree. He received his Master’s degree also from the University of Bombay in 1902 at the age of 22. He then asked his mother for permission to devote his life to the service of God and man. His mother desired that her son have success in life and would not agree. As a result, Vaswani agreed to take a teaching job at his alma mater, Union Academy. His mother sought to arrange a marriage for her son but Vaswani vowed to remain a brahmachari and never to marry. He soon accepted a position as Professor of History and Philosophy at Metropolitan College in Calcutta in 1903. In 1908 he moved to Karachi to join D. J. Science College as Professor of English and Philosophy, before participating in the Indian independence movement
In July 1910, when Vaswani was 30 years old, he and his guru, Sri Promotholal Sen, sailed from Mumbai to Berlin. In August 1910, they participated in the Welt Congress or the World Congress of Religions in Berlin. Sadhu Vaswani spoke to the conference as a representative of India and expressed a message of peace, tranquility.
Watch Video: 90 years of Mira Movement – Children Perform on Songs
As early as 1929, he started the Sakhi Satsang and Sakhi Stores for welfare of women. In 1933, he established the Mira Movement in education sector where character building learning was imparted to the girl child. Following the partition of Indian subcontinent, Sadhu Vaswani moved to India and made Pune his headquarters and brought with him the Mira Movement.
Sadhu Vadhwani also worked with Gandhi for freedom of India and other stalwarts including Rabindranath Tagore and others.
Sadhu Vaswani often said: Give up thy rosary, and the temple bells. Go to the broken cottages of the poor, and there greet the Beloved.
Saint of Modern India
Sadhu Vaswani was a true visionary Saint of Modern India who spoke about women empowerment and high-quality education in times when the country was still struggling for Independence and women were confined to the kitchen.
In 1929, Sadhu Vaswani incorporated the Sakhi Satsang that was largely composed of women coming together for spiritual uplifting through satsangs and sewas. He vocalized His idea that women had a great potential – a great Shakti (Power) which could be utilized for the betterment of the society and the nation.
It was the vision of Sadhu Vaswani to create a school for girls. In the year 1933, the Mira School for Girls was inaugurated and this school lay the cornerstone of the Mira Movement in Education that went on to build scores of schools and colleges across India and abroad.
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