Dr. Vijay Bhatkar

Dr. Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar is an Indian computer scientist, IT leader and educationalist. He is best known as the architect of Param supercomputers. He is a Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and Maharashtra Bhushan awardee.

During one of his extensive travels across India in 1897, Swami Vivekananda was asked a pertinent question by one of his devotees, ‘Swamiji, you speak on various issues of our motherland covering her antiquity, history, philosophy, religion, and her problems and challenges, but you rarely speak on her independence, why is it so?’ To this earnest question, Swamiji replied, ‘time for India’s independence has not yet come and also perhaps India is not yet fully ready for her independence’. Swamiji further said ‘but let me tell you India will get independence in about 50 years from now’. This prophesy was actually fulfilled and we got independence in the year 1947, on 15^th August! Swamiji went on further to say, ‘Mark me. 100 years later, after independence, India will go on to reclaim her ancient glory and create such prosperity which she has never seen before and become a Vishwaguru once again for the entire world’. This was an unbelievable prophesy at that time, as India was under British rule and was facing several extreme challenges such as British rule, poverty, illiteracy, and the like. No one could imagine even in his wildest dream freedom from British rule so soon, leave apart reclaiming prosperity of the past. Nevertheless, India got her independence in 1947 and started reclaiming her destiny as Swamiji had imagined in 1897.  

I believe Narendra Modi has spoken on several occasions about Swami Vivekananda and his grand dream of India becoming Vishwaguru on the world stage in the coming years. There are several striking similarities between Swamiji and PM Narendra Modi. Both are named ‘Narendra’, meaning incredible leaders of people (India’s); both are Sanyasis, one direct disciple of revered Swami Atmasthanandji, the monk of Ramakrishna Math who changed Modiji’s life; both have incredible devotion to their mothers and their motherland; both are exemplary and extraordinary sons of mother India; both have extensively travelled across India and across the world, making deep impact on people wherever they went; and both are extraordinary speakers and known for their inspiring speeches leaving unforgettable impressions on their audiences. 

A recent example of this is the amazing impact making speech of Narendra Modi in Ayodhya during the ground breaking ceremony of Shri Ram Mandir on August 5, 2020. This emotive speech of PM in Hindi stuck chord with crores of Hindus, young and old, across the world as they watched the proceedings of various ceremonies of Bhumi Pujan prior to PM’s remarkable Hindi speech. This speech reminds us of similar impact making address on the ideal of Shri Ram by Swami Vivekananda as a ‘Purushottam’, the very excellence of human life. The idealism of Ramrajya was brought to life my Modiji in his incredible speech in chaste Hindi. It is now clear that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the city of Ayodhya will once again reclaim the glory of ancient Ayodhya in the coming years with the emergence of majestic Ram Mandir whose magnificent architecture was unveiled during the Bhumi Pujan ceremony performed by PM. Indeed, I have no doubt that Ayodhya will emerge as a spiritual capital not only of India but also of the entire world in this century. Swami Vivekananda had envisioned this in speeches on Ramayana. In a way the erection of Shriram temple in Ayodhya will herald the emergence of Bharat as the Vishwaguru as visualized by Swami Vivekananda. I have no doubt that PM Narendra Modi will animate this dream during his life time itself, fulfilling the prophesy of Swami Vivekananda about the future of our Mother India. 

Inspired by this dream my friend, philosopher and guide Prof. Vishwanath Karad, the Founder Chancellor of MIT World Peace University and I have proposed Ram Janma Bhumi Nyas help in architecting and constructing the Girbha-Griha of the proposed Ram Mandir in radiant, pure white marble with beautiful idols of Shri Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman in the proposed Shri Ram temple in the making by the Sompuras, the celebrated temple architects of Rajasthan. 

It is our aspiration that the Shriram temple complex should have a grand library of books on Ramayana from all over the world showing the far-reaching impact Ramayana had across the globe. The temple complex can also have a digital museum of Shri Ram showing the entire journey of Shri Ram, Sita and Laxman from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka and back to Ayodhya with the life time animations of various incidences from Ramayana as narrated by Maharshi Valmiki, Tulsidas and other celebrated authors of Ramayana. The proposed digital museum of Shriram at the temple site can be designed using Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technology driven by powerful supercomputers that are in the making the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) at Pune, India. This is our grand dream for realizing the dream of Narendra Modi of Bharat as Vishwaguru showing the path of Ramrajya to the entire world.