Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SP)
Beltangady, Dec 14: State housing minister V Somanna, urged the people to properly understand the real meaning of religion and lead a life of fulfilment. He was speaking after inaugurating the 88th edition of All Religion Meet being annually organised during the Laksha Deepotsava at Dharmasthala, on Sunday December 13.
Somanna hailed Dharmasthala as a place where truth, righteousness, justice and high morale have firmly got entrenched. He also appreciated the temple administration here for helping the needy through free food, education, medicines and blessings. He congratulated Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade, for spreading the concept of universal human being through Dharmasthala which is confluence for all the religions.
Bhuvanakeerti Bhattaraka Swamiji of Kanakagiri Jain Math, said that righteousness happens to be in the nature of everything in the world. He noted that among the human beings, this attitude is waning because of various influences. "Animals, birds, nature, environment etc have retained their natural behaviour but because of excessive greed on the part of man, earth, water, air, energy etc have become polluted. We should not let our observations deviate and conservation of clean environment should be everyone's motto," he advised.
On this occasion, Keshava Malagi from Bengaluru spoke on 'relevance of Kabir's ideologies and devotional movements. Priest from Udupi, Fr Chetan Lobo, delivered a lecture on 'humanity, the mother of all religions'.
Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade, said that achieving the wellbeing of people and welfare of the world are the basic tenets of every religion. In his welcome address, he said that religion unites people and the religion of humanity is above all other religions. He advised people to practice personal religion and religion for worldly things. When loving one's religion, it should be ensured when transacting outside that one's religion does not create problems for others, he opined. He showed coronavirus pandemic as an example that has upheld the fact that all religions are equal and harmonious coexistence is the answer to all ills. He said that Dharmasthala establishment spent over Rs 61 crore for medical and educational purposes during the current year. Besides, help was given for renovation of 1,135 temples and 260 ancient temples were renovated by the Dharmothana Trust, he mentioned. He also provided details of progress achieved by Dharmasthala rural development project. He said that Dharmasthala has extended support for self-reliant life without differentiating people on the basis of religious affiliations.
Dr Sudhir Prabhu proposed a vote of thanks. Ujire SDM College lecturer Dr Sridhar Bhat presented the programme. Kanchimarukatte festival was held thereafter.