The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on April 26 participated in the inaugural ceremony of year-long joint celebrations of the 90th anniversary of Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidhyalayaat 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
- He also launched the logo for year- long joint celebrations.
- Both Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Brahma Vidhyalaya were started with the blessing and guidance of great social reformer Shri Narayana Guru.
Sivagiri Pilgrimage
- Sivagiri Pilgrimage is held every year for three days from December 30 to January 1 at Sivagiri, Thiruvananthapuram.
- According to the Shri Narayana Guru, the aim of pilgrimage should be the creation of comprehensive knowledge among the people and the pilgrimage should help in their overall development and prosperity.
- The pilgrimage, therefore, focuses on eight subjects viz education, cleanliness, piety, handicrafts, trade and commerce, agriculture, science & technology and organised endeavour.
- The pilgrimage started with a handful of devotees in 1933 but now has become one of the major events in South India.
- Every year, lakhs of devotees from all over the world irrespective of caste, creed, religion and language visit Sivagiri to participate in the pilgrimage.
Brahma Vidhyalaya
- Shri Narayan Guru had also envisioned a place to teach the principles of all religions with equanimity and equal respect.
- The Brahma Vidhyalaya of Sivagiri was set up to realise this vision. Brahma Vidhyalaya offers a course of 7-years on Indian Philosophy including the works of Shri Narayan Guru and scriptures of all-important religions of the world.
Sree Narayana Guru
- Sree Narayana Guru was born on August 22, 1856 (1032 Chingam in Malayalam calendar) in a humble cottage in Chempazhanthi near Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).
- He was named by his father as Narayanan; he affectionately called him Nanu. The villagers respectfully addressed him as “Nanu Asan”.
- In 1904 the Guru gave up his life of a wanderer and decided to settle down in a place to continue his spiritual practices.
- He chose Sivagiri at Varkala, twenty miles north of Thiruvananthapuram. In 1912, he built the Sharada Devi Temple at Sivagiri.
- In 1913, he founded the Advaita Ashram at Aluva. This was an important event in his spiritual quest. This Ashram was dedicated to a great principle – Om Sahodaryam Sarvatra (all men are equal in the eyes of God).
- This became the motto of the new Ashram. Between 1918 and 1923 he visited Sri Lanka many times. Sree Narayana Guru became one of the greatest proponents and re-evaluators of Advaita Vedanta.
- His famous words one caste, one religion and one god for man worked as a fresh waft in the socio-cultural realm of the then Kerala.
- In his renowned work Atmopadesa Satakam, which consists of one hundred verses of self-instruction, the Guru proposes his philosophy of egalitarianism.
(Source: PIB and Kerala Tourism)
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