Patan (Gujarat), April 10 Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat said on Friday that humanity should not be forgotten in the pursuit of material comfort, and called for using education for global welfare as well as self-development by keeping humanity at the forefront.
He was speaking at the convocation ceremony of Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University in Patan, where degrees were conferred upon a total of 54,346 students.
In his presidential address, the governor expressed happiness over Patan's historical identity as a city of knowledge, and remembered Acharya Hemchandracharya as a visionary of Indian life values.
"Patan holds a unique place across the country for education, skills, craftsmanship and arts. On the sacred banks of the Saraswati River, thousands of sages once engaged in penance and spread knowledge of the Vedas, scriptures and spirituality. Today, this centre of learning continues that glorious tradition and represents a moment of pride," he said.
Calling students the future of the nation and the builders of tomorrow's India, Devvrat said that in an era where technology and science are progressing rapidly, students must develop curiosity and interest in these fields.
Scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) work with the dedication and concentration of yogis, he said, urging students to visit the country's space agency to draw inspiration from them.
"The life philosophy of Indian sages remains highly relevant even today. In the pursuit of material comfort, humanity should not be forgotten. Use education for both global welfare and self-development while keeping humanity at the forefront," he advised the students.
He also urged them to consider their parents and teachers as divine figures, practise truth, continuously enhance knowledge.
Destiny is the result of one's actions, he said, adding that students must adopt the life values of Mahatma Gandhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been continuously working in the interest of the nation with a resolve to make India a developed country, and students should also come forward to actively contribute to national development.
Speaking on the occasion, ISRO's Space Applications Center (SAC) Director Nilesh Desai said that failures are viewed differently at the country's space organisation.
"I would like to ask students that you should not get disappointed due to limited success or lack of success in the exams, because at ISRO, we take failure differently. We never get bogged down by the three dreadful words that we shy away from hearing in life: 'no', 'end', and 'fail'," he said.
"These three words are something we all dread. But as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam taught us, at ISRO, we treat the word 'no' as next opportunity. It's not a 'no', it's 'the next opportunity', and it is not 'end', but his effort never dies," he said.
"The word 'fail' is not failure. You must know that two of our rockets have failed. But we are not scared of that; we try to learn from it...Failure is the first attempt in learning. So I would ask all these people who are facing all these difficulties in their lives, so never get bogged down by these three words," he said.