Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu urges pontiffs to take ancient wisdom to masses

Hyderabad: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu urged the heads of different mutts to take the teachings of ancient wisdom to masses.

The Vice-President, along with Haryana State Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, Telangana Home Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini Choubey, RSS Saha Karya Vahak Suresh Soni, former MP and film actor Chiranjeevi took part in the ongoing Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi Utsav at Sri Ramanagari in Muchintal on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday. Addressing the gathering, the Vice-President said that the Statue of Equality has inspired him to be resolute in taking forward the eternal Bharatiya Darshan, tradition, culture and Dharam forward.

Recollecting the contributions of Sri Ramanuja, Venkaiah Naidu said that he had brought in a positive revolution paving the way to inspire ending discrimination and social inequalities by teaching all are equal in the eyes of the Almighty and worthy of God's love. Ramanuja was not only a spiritual guru but also a social reformer who tirelessly worked for bringing the practice of equality into society.

Since the divine personality of Ramanuja sanctified the earth 1000 years ago, his message for equality, peace and harmony has an eternal relevance to humanity. Instituting on quality (guna) in a person is more important than caste (kula), Ramanuja had fought for the entry of Dalits into the temples, he said. At a time, when people were trying to make use of caste, religion, language for their selfish political ends and self-interests, the teachings of Ramanuja are more relevant today.

Stating that the place of Guru remains immoral in the world, Venkaiah Naidu asked everyone not to forget mother, motherland, mother tongue, guru and serve society; as serving people is serving the Almighty. He asked those managing the Samata Murti Pranganam to give importance to establishing a centre for Telugu and Sanskrit and to pass on the traditions to future generations. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that developments like the Ramayana circuit, the Buddhist circuit, and the Statue of Equality in the South indicate rejuvenation of the Bharatiya Darshan and Hindu tradition.