Second Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Lecture

[city02 63]

The Second Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial lecture was held on July 6, 2004 at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai to mark the second death anniversary of Founder Chairman late Shri Dhirubhai Ambani.

Noted thinker and preacher, Pujya Moraribapu delivered the memorial lecture.

The evening started with an audio-visual presentation - ‘Indomitable Spirit', which traced Dhirubhai's life from Saurashtra to Aden, from a petrol pump attendant to building one of India's largest corporate empires. This included audio and video clips containing reminiscences from President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and introduced Dhirubhai Ambani as the man ‘who dared to dream'.

Chairman Mukesh Ambani introduced Moraribapu as a great scholar, an outstanding religious teacher and an incredibly powerful communicator. “While Pujya Moraribapu is a Dharma Purush in the real sense of the word, Dhirubhai was an extraordinary Karma Purush ... he belongs to the millions who helped him make his dream come true," said Mukesh Ambani. He said that to the Reliance family, Dhirubhai Ambani July 12, 2004 remained the messiah of the meaning of life, as he had internalized Lord Krishna's advice to Arjuna to excel.

In his address titled 'Spirit of Life', Moraribapu brought out Dhirubhai's zest for life, karm, vivek and bhav, which made him a great person. In his inspiring discourse, Moraribapu beautifully described Dhirubhai as a visionary, a Karmayogi, a patriot, a nation-builder and a philanthropist.

Dignitaries present on the occasion included Maharashtra Governor Mohammed Fazal, Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar, Digvijay Singh, Narayan Rane, RK Dhawan, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, Amar S i n g h , V i n o d Khanna, Shabana Azmi, Adi Godrej, Smita Parekh, Dilip and Shobhaa De, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hamendra Kothari and Aditya Purie.

Shrimati Kokilaben Ambani in her written message emphasized that Dhirubhai's secret of success was that he belonged to all. Vice Chairman Anil Ambani personalized his vote of thanks as he shared a few of his personal conversations with his father for whom the spirit of life was his work. He further stated that Dhirubhai believed that destiny was a matter of choice not chance and that to achieve the impossible one needed to meet extraordinary demands.