Belthangady, September 16: Senior journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu said that Hindu religion was survived today because of revolutionary social reformers like Narayana Guru and not because of Shankaracharya.
Speaking at the 164 Jayanti of Sri Narayana Guru, organised by the Sri Guru Narayana Swamy Seva Sangha, Billava Youth Association and Women Billava Association here on Sunday, he said that the movement started by Narayana Guru was not just a religious movement. It was a cultural movement and there was a need to continue it even today, he said.
“Varnashrama system is a curse to the Hindu society. If people say it is the Hindu religion, I will strongly oppose it. Everybody loves Narayana Guru. But his ideologies are not being emulated. Now, the patriotism has become the biggest political commodity of the country. But we can see the real patriotism among soldiers. There is no relationship between the soldiers and those who speak about patriotism and do politics in their name”, he said.
Billava community has the tradition of soldier and doctors. Koti Chennayya of this land had fought for truth, justice and self-respect and it was the first class conflict. His ideals should be emulated to the society. He had not fought for the entry of temples, but had brought the temples to the door steps of exploited classes. He had advocated simple rituals. But now, lavishness had got place due to which, the exploited class was lagging behind in all aspects, he said.
The person who accepts the ideologies of Narayana Guru would not become communal. Instead, he would love everyone. The Elava community which was an exploited class in Kerala has got all positions from Chief Minister to other higher positions. But in Karnataka, the representation of the Billava community was decreasing. At one time, there were six MPs. But now, only one MP was there in the community, he said.
Former MLA K Vasanth Bangera who inaugurated the programme said that only education could improve the condition of the exploited classes in the society.
Brahmananda Saraswati Swamiji of Kanyadi said that religion should be the lifeline of the society. The ideals of Narayana Guru should be adopted in real life instead of restricting them just for speeches. Gurukul education system was the best education method, he said.
Former presidents of the Association, Vasanth Salian, Padmanabh Maninja, Raju Poojary, Yogesh Kumar, Bhagiratha G, Jayaram Bangera, Women Billava Vedike president Rajashri Raman, vedike founder president Sujitha V Bangera, Yuva Billava Vedike president Santosh Uppar and others were present.
Association president Somanath Bangera Varpale presided over the programme in which 12 ex-servicemen and 12 soldiers of the community were felicitated. A sum of Rs 6 lakh scholarship was distributed. Sanjeeva Poojary Mooda and Dayananda Poojary Mittabagilu who have contributed for the agriculture sector were felicitated. Village Committees were given Brahmashri medals. Dinesh Suvarna Rayi, association secretary Rakesh Kumar Mudukodi and others were present.
“The ideology of Sri Narayana Guru was completely neglected at the Dharma Samsad held at Kanyadi. Forget me, my slipper would not go to such Dharma Sansad where the ideologies of Narayana Guru are neglected. When I listened to the speech of Kanyadi swamiji, I surprised whether it was Narayana Guru Jayanti or Shankaracharya Jayanti. Those who opposed the previous swamiji when the latter had established the mutt, were present at the programme which is a tragedy”.
-Dines Amin Mattu
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New Delhi (PTI): In a major decision, the Union government on Wednesday decided to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.
Announcing the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the census comes under the purview of the Centre but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys.
Alleging that the states ruled by opposition parties have done caste surveys for political reasons, the minister said it is Modi government's resolve to transparently include caste enumeration in the forthcoming pan-India census exercise.
The census exercise was to commence in April 2020 but got delayed due to the Covid pandemic.