Ahimsa Yatra Story : 18,000 kilometers long historic, sacred, and one-of-a-kind march covering three countries and twenty states of India, holy with the footsteps, marks the first-ever event in history. The original hero of this historical act is Acharya Mahashraman. This journey was not just a walk, but it was associated with three significant objectives: Hormony, Morality, and De-addiction.
The supreme leader of Jain Shwetambar Terapanth Association, Acharya Mahashraman, started the ‘Ahimsa Yatra’ for the upliftment of society on 9th November 2014 from Red Fort in Delhi. This eight- year-long journey will conclude on 27th March 2022 at Delhi’s massive Talkatora Stadium. Many politicians and socialists and highly influential figures will also actively address this grand ceremony.
After covering one and a quarter times the earth’s circumference and one hundred and fifty times more than Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi Yatra, i.e., more than fifty-two thousand kilometers, Acharya Shree Mahashraman met the purpose of self-welfare and humanism. He walked around many villages and cities during this journey and made millions of people pledging on goodwill, morality, and de- addiction. This selfless dedication for humanity made him mark crores of steps all over India, from Kutch to Kaziranga, Kathmandu to Kanyakumari, and gain huge support from the people of every caste, class, or region. From politicians to actors, judges to industrialists, army soldiers, police personnel to the general public, massive industry giants came in contact with Acharyashree during this journey, got highly inspired, and took the resolutions of non-violence into their lives.
Acharya Shree Mahashraman always continued to move forward while remaining adamant in every challenge, be it Nepal’s earthquake of 2015 or area affected by Naxalism-insurgency or storm, rain or hail, severe cold, or scorching heat, his selfless spirit never crumbled down in any situation.
Ahimsa Yatra started from Delhi
At the young age of twelve, ordained as a disciple of Acharyashree Tulsi, the Originator of Anuvrat and as the successor of Acharyashree Mahapragya, the Originator of Preksha, the eminent Jain Acharya Acharyashree Mahashraman travelled on this journey to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Nepal, and Bhutan, thereby motivated people to walk on the path of virtue, inspired them to practice meditation and yoga and paved the way for the sophistication of their misdeeds by giving training. More than one crore people accepted the pledge of de-addiction by seeking inspiration from Acharyashree.
While various religious leaders like The Dalai Lama, Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Avdheshanand Giri, Swami Niranjanananda, Maulana Arshad Madani met Acharyashree and addressed their support for his public welfare campaign. President Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Former President Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of Nepal Smt. Vidya Bhandari Prime Minister Shri Sher Bahadur Deuva, Former President Shri Ram Baran Yadav, Former Prime Minister Shri Sushil Koirala, Lok Sabha Speaker of India Shri Om Birla, Former Prime Minister Shri H.D. Deve Gowda, Shri Mohan Bhagwat, Shri Suresh Bhaiya Ji Joshi, Shri Amit Shah, Shri LK Advani, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Shri Piyush Goyal, Shri Rajnath Singh, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Shri P. Chidambaram, etc., and many other politicians arrived in the proximity to register their participation in the critical social upliftment works he carried forward.
Along with this, Chief Ministers such as Mr. Nitish Kumar, Mr. Ashok Gehlot, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Mr. Sarbananda Sonowal, Mrs. Mamta Banerjee, Mr. Yeduyirappa, Mr. Palani Swami, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Mr. Bhupesh Baghel, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Mr. Mukul Sangma, Mr. Raman Singh, etc.; and various eminent people including Mr. Kalraj Mishra, Shri Banwarilal Purohit, Shri Bajubhaiwala, Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Shri P.V. Acharya, Draupadi Anusuiya Uikey, Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan, Shri Ramesh Bains also took part in the Ahimsa journey.
Acharya Shree Mahashraman religiously follows the strict routine of a Jain monk, gets up at four o’clock in the morning, and travels a distance of 15-20 kilometers every day during his foot-march. He also addresses the public through discourses every day and is keenly absorbed in the practice of chanting meditation for hours. Along with this, various religious conferences, workshops, seminars, enlightened classes, etc., emphasized on change of heart are organised under his presence, proving to be very beneficial in social reform. Also, more than 800 Sadhus and thousands of workers are actively involved in the vital work of social upliftment in the country and abroad under his guidance.
Thus by awakening the consciousness of virtue in millions of human beings, not just in India, even beyond the border, serving the suffering of thousands and thousands of people and selflessly distributing happiness and peace to all, Acharya Shree Mahashraman has again reached the Capital, Delhi, after covering one and a half times more than the circumference of the earth through his two soft feet for charity. Therefore, to celebrate this historic ‘Ahimsa Yatra’, a closing ceremony is being organised under the presence of Acharyashree on 27th March 2022 at Talkatora Stadium, at 9.30 am.
The veterans of the country will get connected virtually
Many distinguished dignitaries of the country and abroad, Governors of more than fifteen states, Chief Ministers, etc., will be present on this occasion in a virtual form to pay their tribute to the pioneer of non-violence. With this, an exciting and thrilling story of ‘Ahimsa Yatra’ will be presented as to how a journey evolved into an incredible journey, and the message of humanity resonating from the country’s capital became resonant worldwide.