Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Apr 11: "India is the only country where god took birth through incarnations and moved around it. Our country is the noblest of countries and most sacred. Now it is facing peril. The Hindu population of India is dwindling fast, and Hindu society is moving towards extinction. Therefore, there is an imperative need to get involved with the duty of protecting our country and religion," said Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, a senior functionary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

He was delivering the main address at a religious meeting organized as part of mass Satyanarayana puja and oblation of 13 lac written chants of Lord Rama organized under the aegis of Hindu Jagran Vedike Gangolli in the premises of Lord Veereshwara temple at Gangolli on Sunday April 10.

"Every Shloka of Holy Bhagawad Gita opens up vistas to our great history. Epics like Mahabharat, Ramayan and Bhagawad Gita provide insight into how we should live. We suffer from lack of strong foundation for our religion and culture. Our emotions and spiritual power are drying up. We have inherited lofty culture and refinement of a great country. Our culture, refinement, and life values are being conserved and carried forward by our mothers. If we want our holy culture, refinement, and life values to be saved for the future, each house and every mind should turn into centres of religious thoughts and action. We should create high culture and refinements in our families," he stated.

Bhat said that righteousness happens to be the lifeline of India and without righteousness, this country will cease to be India. "Our religion happens to be one which has faced highest insults and injustice among all religions of the world. Efforts to denigrate Hinduism as communal, narrow-minded, and anti-progressive have been going on since olden days. The government which successively ruled our country have got themselves busy with appeasement of minorities by trying to develop them by extending various schemes and facilities to them. Tll these are happening for votes, seats of power, and for becoming rich. Hindus are consistently facing oppression," he added.

He lamented that raising slogans hailing Bharat Mata is resented in India these days. "People who raise slogans like 'Pakistan Zindabad' are not being asked to get out of the country. In no other country can you come across such complexities. The young generation which believes that national flag should not be allowed to flutter atop university buildings, is acting like agents of some other country. It is tragic that such a generation is created in out country. Therefore, it is our duty to take upon ourselves the task of protecting the country and religion, and be prepared for any sacrifice to achieve this end," he felt.

In his benedictory address, Sri Mohandas Paramahamsa Swamiji of Manila Sridhama near Bantwal expressed concern about the fast-spreading tentacles of terrorism all over the world. "Other religions are trying to break our country into pieces. Therefore, apart from protecting the sanctity of our culture, we should give more attention to the security and safety of our country. We should sweep aside casteism and unite for protecting righteousness and for creating awareness about relevance of our religion," he stated.

Vedamurty Lokesh Adiga, Nagayakshi Patri from Badakere-Navunda, who inaugurated the programme, said that successive onslaughts on Indian culture and religion have failed to achieve the aim of destroying them. He said that Hinduism and culture have the inherent power to withstand such attacks. He advised people to practice compassion, love and affection, imbibe rich culture and refinement that Indians have inherited, and to come together to build a strong nation.

M Rajashekhar Hebbar, chairman of Indian Cultural Foundation Udupi, presided. M Raghuveera Pai, partner of Canara Goods Transports, spoke on the occasion, conveying his best wishes. Advocate from the town, Ravichandra Shetty, Raghavendra Charan Navada, Dr Shivanand Rao Gangolli, Hoova Kharvi, Laxmikant Madiwala, Bairu Narayan Kharvi, Anand Nayak Trasi, Laxmi Ganiga, Chandravati Kharvi Lighthouse, Sheena Patel Dakuhitlu, Gangadhar Ganiga, Y Suresh Kharvi, Chandra Mesta Bandya, and Kumar (Putta) Gangolli were felicitated and honored. Fish trader from Gangolli, Madikal Suresh Kharvi, entrepreneur, Upendra Poojary, honorary president of Sri Ramanama Taraka Japayajnaa Samiti, Vedamurty G Narayana Vishwanath Acharya, and others were present.

Former MLA, K Lakshminarayan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad Udupi district president, Baikady Suprasad Shetty, Kollur Goddess Mookambika temple former managing trustee, B M Sukumar Shetty, Subrahmanya Holla of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Shankara Ankadakatte, zilla panchayat member, Shobha G Putran, taluk panchayat member, Surendra Kharvi, Narayan K Gujjady, Raju Devadiga Trasi, municipal vice president here, Rajesh Kaveri, and several others took part in the programme.

President of Sri Ramanama Taraka Japayajna Samiti, G Purushotam Arkati, welcomed. Gangolli Hindu Jagran Vedike president, Govindraya Sherugar, delivered keynote address. Udupi district joint convener of Hindu Jagran Vedike, T Vasudeva Devadiga, delivered introductory address. Sundar G compered the programme. Satish G proposed vote of thanks.

Earlier in the day, the Swamiji was offered Poorna Kumbha welcome near Sri Rama Mandir Gangolli on his arrival.