125 year old yoga guru receives Padma Shri
New Delhi(PTI): Walking bare feet in the palatial Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, 125-year-old Swami Sivananda received a standing ovation when he received the Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday.
Before receiving the award, the yoga practitioner prostrated first before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then before the President, drawing another round of applause from the guest at the civil investiture ceremony.
Returning the greeting, Prime Minister Modi promptly bowed and touched the ground.
The yoga guru, dressed in white kurta and dhoti, knelt one more time while moving towards the dais and the President stepped out and helped Sivananda rise to his feet, after which he handed over the award and the citation.
The President was seen talking to the Swami as the two posed for pictures with the Darbar hall echoing with the applause.
Dedicating his life for human welfare, Swami Sivananda has been serving leprosy-affected people at Puri for the past 50 years.
His simplest ways of disciplined and well-regulated life with early morning Yoga, oil-free boiled diet and selfless service to mankind in his own way have given him a disease-free and tension-free long life. He demonstrates his life as an exemplary lesson rather than preaching.
Born on 8 August 1896 in Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh) of undivided India, Swami Sivananda lost his mother and father at the age of six. Due to abject poverty, his beggar parents could feed him mainly boiled rice water during his childhood days.
After the funeral rites, he was brought to his Guruji's Ashram at Nabadwip in West Bengal. Guru Omkarananda Goswami brought him up, imparted all practical and spiritual education including Yoga without school education.
He has been a positive thinker throughout his life. 'The world is my home, its people are my fathers and mothers, to love and serve them is my religion'-- this has been his belief.
He is chasing that mission till today to serve the underprivileged in different parts of the country - in North East India, at Varanasi, Puri, Haridwar, Nabadwip and so on, according to the Rashtrapati Bhavan document on Padma awardees.
For the last 50 years, Swami Sivananda has been serving 400-600 leprosy-affected beggars with dignity at Puri by personally meeting them at their hutments.
"He perceives them as living God and serves them with the best available items. He arranges different materials like food items, fruits, clothes, winter garments, blankets, mosquito nets, cooking utensils based on their expressed need," it said.
He encourages others to hand over different items to the affected people to make them feel the joy of giving so that later on they are motivated to do such humanitarian work in their respective areas.
Swami Sivananda's healthy and long life has drawn attention from across the globe including his commitment to motivating countrymen for COVID vaccination after immunising himself at the age of 125 years.
The Narendra Modi government has been honouring many such "unsung heroes" who have been contributing to society in different ways with Padma awards since 2014 when it came to power for the first time.
Swami Sivananda has received various awards including the Yoga Ratna Award in 2019 at Bengaluru.
He was the senior-most participant from the country at yoga demonstration on June 21, the World Yoga Day in 2019.
He was awarded with Basundhara Ratan Award by Respect Age International for his contribution to society on 30 November 2019.
#WATCH Swami Sivananda receives Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind, for his contribution in the field of Yoga. pic.twitter.com/fMcClzmNye
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
