Media Release

Mangalore, Nov 8: Deepavali feast was celebrated with pomp at AIMIT campus of St Aloysius College here on Sunday November 7.

Ramananda Swamiji of Kolya Mutt was the chief guest. Jayaram Shetty, former MLA, Ullal presided. Fr Stany D’Souza, vice principal, St Aloysius College and Abdul Khadar Kukkila, editor, Sanmarga were the guests of honour.

The programme began with the arrival of the Ramananda Swamiji of Kolya. He was warmly greeted by Fr Denzil Lobo, director, AIMIT, and escorted to the auditorium. Fr Denzil Lobo SJ welcomed the Chief Guest and guests of honour and the august gathering of prominent leaders and people of Beeri, Kotekar and Someshwar.

He led an interfaith prayer service starting with the bhajan, Sacchidananda te namo. The whole gathering joined the singing and in praising God, which was followed by readings from the sacred scriptures: Bhagavad-Gita, Koran and the New Testament.

Fr Denzil , in his introduction spoke on the significance of light and expressed the need of becoming messengers of truth and wisdom and thus dispelling the darkness of ignorance and untruth. From the Upanishad, he quoted and sang the sloka, “Asathoma sadgamaya, thamasoma jyothirgamaya, mrithyorma amruthamgamaya”-meaning, ‘from the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to
light and from death lead me to immortality”

After lighting the lamp, Swamiji called on the need for unity among religions. Quoting a lot of verses in Sanskrit, he brought about the need of understanding and love among people of various religions to build a vibrant Nation.

Khadar spoke on the celebration of Deepavali and explained how Islam reaches out to all the people irrespective of caste and creed. He was followed by Fr Stany D’Souza, who quoting Basavanna, expressed the need of humanness and the need of breaking all the artificial barriers built by people. He also explained the concept of Deepavali and how it has become a feast for all the people, irrespective of religions.

Jayaram Shetty, former MLA, Ullal constituency then spoke and explained at length how Deepalvi is celebrated and also the significance of the feast and the stories related to each of the five days of Deepavali.

To mark the festive mood, the administration building of AIMIT was lit with hundreds of deepas on
way to the entrance. A large gathering of people from around was present. The function was followed by the bursting of crackers by the students of AIMIT.

The programme was organized by Dharmika Souharda Samiti of Kotekar, Someshar under the leadership of Sukumar, president and his team of collaborators.