Pandurang Shastri Athavale

Pandurang Shastri Athavale

Pandurang Vaijnath Shastri Athavale(Marathi: पांडुरंगशास्त्री आठवले) (19 October 1920 – 25 October 2003), also known as Dada-ji (Marathi: दादा), which literally translates as elder brother in Marathi, was an Indian philosopher, spiritual leader, social reformer and Hinduism reformist, who founded the Swadhyay Movement and the Swadhyay Parivar organization (Swadhyay Family) in 1954, a self-knowledge movement based on the Bhagavad Gita, which has spread across nearly 100,000 villages in India, with over 5 million members. He was also noted for his discourses or "pravachans" on Srimad Bhagawad Gita and Upanishads.

He was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1997 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership and India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.