Advani recollects contributions of Shankara, Vivekananda

Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday said President Pranab Mukherjee would attend the celebrations to be held in Mumbai on May 31 to commemorate the day on which Swami Vivekananda left for America by ship.

He was speaking at a valedictory function of a spiritual event organised by Vedanta Bharathi here.

“The two spiritual leaders Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda upheld values of nationalism, unity, equality and brotherhood during their brief life time.

“Shankaracharya founded four mutts in four different places of the country and spread the awareness about Hinduism, while Vivekananda stressed the importance of Hindu religion to foreigners.

“The Christian missionaries, who heard Swami Vivekananda’s speeches, claimed that India had made vast progress in the field of spiritualism and the Christian missionaries had no role in India,” he added.

“I was born in Karachi and the Sindhu river had flown there once.

‘Proud of Vivekananda’

“I spent my childhood there and Swami Ranganath would recite Bhagwad Gita every day. I would go there  daily to listen to his recitals.

“Over a period of time, I felt proud about Vivekananda,” Advani recalled.

Many people objected when it was decided to adopt Jana Gana Mana.... as the national anthem claiming that it referred to the Sindhu river. But, the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said the Hindu culture could not exist without the Sindhu river, he added.

A stream of Sindhu river flows at Ladakh.

Every year a festival is being organised there to seek the blessings of the river. 
Hence, there is no need to go to Pakistan to a glimpse of the river, he stated.
Krishnanaraj Nagar Yadatore Yoganandeshwara Saraswathi mutt pontiff Shankar Bharathi also spoke.

MPs Ananth Kumar and Rama Jois were present.

Advani keeps visit to B’lore apolitical

Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday kept his first visit to Bangalore after debacle of the BJP in the Assembly polls strictly apolitical.

Advani, accompanied by party national general secretary Ananth Kumar, arrived in Bangalore in the afternoon and attended a religious function organised by Vedanta Bharathi at the Palace Grounds. According to BJP sources, leaders in the party had been informally communicated that Advani’s visit was purely personal and they refrain from meeting him. Anyways, most of the senior leaders in the party including State president Pralhad Joshi were not in station. Advani, during the recent past, has been critical of the party affairs in Karnataka. He had recently slammed the party’s handling of the State’s affairs as “absolutely opportunistic” stating that the (Assembly) election result had not come as a surprise. The BJP on Friday had suspended party treasurer and MLC Lehar Singh for criticising Advani. Singh, in an open letter, had alleged that Advani had compromised on corruption whenever it suited him. Advani, who refreshed at the Kumara Krupa guest house in the afternoon, returned to New Delhi in the evening.