Ranbir Kapoor Called This Spiritual Leader A "Youth Magnet". Know All About Him

The actor joined the celebrations for Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji's 60th birthday in Mumbai, unveiled a book on his life, and spoke about how fatherhood drew him closer to spirituality.

Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor was among the guests at Aho Gurudev, as Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji's 60th birthday was celebrated at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Addressing the spiritual leader of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD), the actor said: 

"Happy birthday, Gurudev. It is an honour to be present here at your 60th birthday celebration. I know you are often called a youth magnet. It is always inspiring to see young people walking on the path of spirituality and choosing the path of humanity."

Kapoor also opened up about his own journey, sharing that the birth of his daughter has brought him closer to spirituality. On the occasion, he unveiled Beyond, a book on the life of Gurudevshri Rakeshji.

So who is the man a Bollywood superstar calls a youth magnet? Born in Mumbai, educated as a philosopher, and now the founder of a mission that runs a 2,000-bed hospital network and health programmes reaching millions, Gurudevshri Rakeshji turns 60 today.

A spiritual calling that began in childhood

Gurudevshri Rakeshji was born in Mumbai on 26 September 1966. According to SRMD, he began meditating for extended periods from the age of four. At eight, he entered a three-day meditative state after seeing an image of the nineteenth-century Jain philosopher Shrimad Rajchandraji, whose teachings would go on to shape his spiritual and institutional work.

He also built a strong academic foundation. He holds an M.A. in Philosophy with a gold medal, a PhD from the University of Mumbai for a research treatise on Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology.

From one guiding line to a global movement

In 1994, he founded Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur, built on a single guiding line: Realise One's True Self and Serve Others Selflessly. In 2001, he established the Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram at Dharampur in South Gujarat, which remains the mission's international headquarters.

From that base, the organisation has grown into what its own literature calls a global spiritual and seva movement, with institutions spanning healthcare, education, women's empowerment, environmental care, animal welfare and disaster relief, run through centres across six continents.

Why the young are listening

Kapoor's "youth magnet" remark reflects a deliberate focus. A significant share of the mission's energy is directed at people under 35, through a framework it calls the 5 S: Satsang, Sadhana, Seva, Sanskruti and Sports. The mission says it runs 77 youth centres worldwide and fields a sports association that competes internationally. For those who go further, the mission counts 130 Atmarpits, celibate devotees who have completed a training programme and committed to a life of practice and service.

The seva network: what the mission actually runs

The scale of the mission's service work is what sets it apart. According to the mission, the charitable Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital Network has now grown to 2,000 beds. Its upcoming addition, the Shrimad Rajchandra Sarvamangal Cancer Hospital, is set to provide what the mission describes as world-class cancer care to more than 11 lakh tribal patients, conducting 10,000 chemotherapy sessions and 1,000 surgeries a year.

The mission's annual Multi-Speciality Mega Medical Camps each screen more than 5,00,000 patients, deliver 24,500 treatments and perform over 7,500 surgeries, the mission says. Its Anaemia Mitigation Project has conducted more than 10 million screenings across 19 states and distributed 3 million iron supplements, with the mission reporting an 84 percent increase in haemoglobin levels among those treated.

The Shrimad Rajchandra Vision Care Project has screened over 10.4 million patients and, according to the mission, provided more than 1.2 million spectacles and treated 350,000 cataract patients. Taken together, the mission says these three initiatives are set to touch 60 million lives over the course of Gurudevshri Rakeshji's 60th year.

Compassion extends beyond people too. Shrimad Rajchandra Jivamaitridham, the mission's animal welfare institution, sits on a 44-acre campus and nurses more than 5,000 animals at a time. Within this campus, the hospital operates what the mission describes as the first private-sector blood bank for animals in the country.

Sixty years, one message

As Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji's 60th birthday was celebrated in Mumbai, with voices from cinema and beyond joining thousands of seekers, the message at the heart of the evening was the one he set down three decades ago: know yourself, and serve others selflessly. For a growing generation of young Indians, including, it seems, one of Bollywood's biggest stars, that message is finding its audience.