By Sharon Thambala
Bengaluru, Jul 28 (IANS): The 'muhurat' or auspicious moment proposed by Hindu priest N.R. Vijayeendra Sharma, based in Karnataka's Belagavi town, has been chosen as the right time to lay the foundation for the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
"I have drafted four muhurats for the temple and the one falling on August 5 has been chosen," 75-year-old Sharma told IANS on Tuesday.
The ‘Kulapati' or head of Vidya Vihar Vidyalaya located near the railway overbridge in the northwestern town of Karnataka had proposed three more muhurats - July 29, 9 a.m., July 31, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and post 10 a.m. on August 3.
Incidentally, Sharma got the opportunity to identify the muhurat after another famous priest, Swami Govid Dev Giri Ji Maharaj, who is closely associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had asked him to work on it.
Maharaj is one of the 15 members of the Ram Temple Trust announced by Modi in February.
"Through Maharaj I got the message to work on the Muhurat dates and I have submitted to him my proposal. I have no contact with Modi but Maharaj has a very close contact with Modi," he said about the trust member whom he has known for three decades.
Maharaj is the seer of Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar and his head office is in Pune, including connections with Belapur.
Though Sharma said he is not an astrologer, he said the discipline is a part of the Vedic law and many muhurats he had suggested earlier had succeeded by 95 per cent.
"Any Muhurat I propose will only succeed by God's blessings who is the architect of this world. He was the one who created this wonderful world, sun, moon, stars, the ocean and everything," said Sharma.
According to the priest, when God made the world, he also authored the Vedic law to which astrology also belongs.
"I am not a professional astrologer but as a Kulapati I have proposed this muhurat. I very well know the astrological signs. A Kulapati should have all round knowledge of the scriptures," he observed.
Commenting on why August 5 was chosen, Sharma said the Prime Minister's Office would have chosen it and pointed out that Modi is well aware of the Hindu scriptures.
Immediately after the Supreme Court's Ayodhya Ram Mandir judgment, Maharaj contacted Sharma to work on the muhurat dates and time, although Sharma heard that many pundits had also submitted muhurats to the PMO for the Ram temple foundation stone laying ceremony.
He said it got delayed because of the Covid lockdown.
Earlier, Sharma worked as a personal secretary to saint and philosopher M.R. Gopalacharya in Mumbai from a very young age and spent time in the city.
Though he had an opportunity to go to Germany, Sharma had stayed back in India on his master's advice to serve Indian culture.
"He strictly instructed me not to go after wealth, property or land and told me to serve and sacrifice for the promotion of ancient Indian culture," said Sharma.
Being in Mumbai in the past, he used to accompany his master regularly to Belagavi where the devotees requested for a permanent spiritual centre.
"I founded this spiritual centre on a lake some 30 years ago. I started in 1985. This place had connections with the Ramayana and Sita Devi dwelled in this place. Hanuman was also connected to this place. It is called Janaki Bandacha," observed Sharma.
Though the priest is not very keen on miracles, he said such wonders are required as people believe more in the supreme law when their prayers are fulfilled, saying many people witnessed miracles.
He had a legacy of proposing Muhurats to many temples in the past such as Narayana Mandira in Gujarat, Devi Mandira in Uttar Pradesh and also in West Bengal and Karnataka among others.
The priest with expertise in Chaturashtra is also a gold medal winning post graduate from Kashi Vidyapith which is connected to the Banaras Hindu University in world and Indian philosophy.
As a priest, Sharma said he generously offers his services to poor people, including proposing muhurats for free to any poor person approaching him.
Belagavi is 506 kms northwest of Bengaluru.