Spiritual tourism needs to be promoted more for India to attract more visitors, said Shri Vinod Khanna a.k.a. Swami Vinod Bharti when a group of friends from Osho World Foundation visited him to congratulate him on his appointment as Minister of State for Tourism and Culture.

Thousands of people have been coming to India for spiritual sustenance and this must be further encouraged. India has many good gurus today and most of our gurus are going abroad all the time but now we need to bring their followers to India to listen and to learn from here in India, said the newly appointed MOS giving his perspective on promoting tourism. Instead of gurus travelling abroad, we must encourage people from all over the world to visit the country and imbibe wisdom here,'' he said. Khanna is deeply interested in spirituality and has been a follower of Osho for more than two decades.

He will study the needs, problems and plans for promoting tourism and listen to the various stakeholders in this sector before making detailed statements, he added.

Talking about spending more time in Delhi than Mumbai due to his additional duties, he said he liked living in the capital to serve the nation. Although he grew up in Mumbai and had enjoyed his life and career there, he was equally at home in Delhi. If he could leave his film career at his peak to live with Osho, he had no problem in living in Delhi, he added.

Vinod Khanna's appointment as minister has been greeted with joy by Oshoites around the world, informed Swami Chaitanya Keerti of Delhi's Oshoworld. ''We are overjoyed that a person like Vinod Khanna, who has ripened through meditative practices, is now part of the government,'' he said.

Agreed Ma Prem Usha, another Oshoite and long-standing associate of Vinod Khanna: ''Vinod will bring vibrancy to the government, particularly because he has Osho's vision and blessings.'' The Osho community enthusiastically supported Vinod Khanna's plans for promoting spiritual tourism.

Said Swami Keerti: ''It is always the disciple who comes to the guru, and not the other way round. So, those who wish to gain spiritual knowledge should be encouraged to come to India, which is a fountainhead of spirituality.'' Swami Ravindra, another Oshoite, who lived with Vinod Khanna at Osho's ashram in Oregon, US, hopes that the new minister will focus on cleaning up pilgrimage spots.

The Osho community believes that with the induction of their fellow sanyasin, who is also known as Swami Vinod Bharti, in the government, spirituality in general and Osho's vision will be brought into in the mainstream life of the country.

India needs a Person of your dynamism to promote tourism and enhance its culture, said the congratulatory message from Osho World Foundation. Vinod Khanna said he was a committed Osho disciple and thanked the members of Osho World Foundation for their good wishes for his success.