Sunita Williams, Tulsi Gabbard invited to Harayana government's event on Gita

CHANDIGARH: Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams and noted US politician Tulsi Gabbard have been invited to speak at an international seminar on the relevance of Bhagavad Gita in modern life, organized by the BJP government in Haryana on December 9. The event is part of the five-day International Gita Mahotsava being held in Kurukshetra that will be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 6.
A state government official said many famous scholars and lovers of Gita from all walks of life, like Williams, who is known to carry a copy of Gita during her stay in space, have been invited to attend the seminar.
Interestingly , Gabbard, 33, from Hawaii had made history in 2013 by not only becoming the first Hindu ever to be sworn in as a member of the US House of Representatives, but also being the first-ever US lawmaker to have taken oath of office on Bhagavad Gita.
The seminar is being orga nized on the campus of Kurukshetra University . The state government officials say that this would be a forum to continue the centuries-long practice of sharing of thoughts and experiences in the tradition of philosophers like Henry David Thoreau, R W Emerson, Aldous Huxley , Schopenhauer and J Robert Oppenheimer.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the Gita Mahotsava is being celebrated to take the eternal message of the holy book to the world stage.
He said that a series of programmes would be organized during the Mahotsava.At the inaugural function, 18,000 students from all over Haryana would recite the shlokas of Gita at the sacred Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra.
As many as 574 young men and women, each embodying one shloka spoken by Lord Krishna, would converge at Kurukshetra from different cities of the country. A number of cultural performances, art shows, literary events and festivities would mark the celebrations up to December 10.