President Chandrikapersad (Chan) Santokhi of Suriname visited the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Centenary Celebrations in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as part of his week-long visit to India. He was accompanied by First Lady Mellisa Santokhi-Seenacherry

The president was welcomed and honored in traditional style by Anandswarup Swami and was guided around the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Nagar festival site by Brahmavihari Swami.

The president also had a meeting with and was blessed by His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj.

President Santokhi stated, “This visit gave me a good feeling. This visit also gave me blessings. This visit gave me, as president, more encouragement to lead the country the way God wants and to bring prosperity to my people, to bring relief to my people, to bring peace in the hearts and the minds of my people. The meeting with His Holiness is more than meeting with a person. His presence is giving a lot of energy. He is very silent, but it is the energy he is providing. It’s coming from his heart. From Almighty God… through to my heart and my atma. I am very happy, and I will go back home with happiness.”

Based on his visit to the festival, the president described Pramukh Swami Maharaj, “Peace is coming from his heart. And when you have peace in your heart, when you have peace in your atma, then you are a very peaceful man. From that position, he is spreading peace. And I think that peace is coming from the almighty God. He is not keeping that peace only for himself, but is spreading it to make everyone happy. ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ – to make the world happy and to bring peace everywhere. Now, we are the messengers, to bring his peace further in the world. I am taking that message of peace back home, to bring that peace to the hearts and minds of my people.”