Laying a wreath on the statue of Sant Ravidas on the occasion of the great saint's birth anniversary, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that his government had started working on the beautification of the holy birthplace of Guru Ravidas in Varanasi.
He also requested the Sant Ravidas Seva Samiti members to create an action plan for the same so that the memories of Guru Ravidas could be cherished.
Paying tributes to the great saint Guru Ravidas, who gave the immortal message of 'mann changa to kathoti mein Ganga', the chief minister said that his birth in Kashi, 645 years ago, gave a new dimension to the tradition of Sanatan Dharma in India.
Addressing the event organised at Sant Ravidas temple in Lucknow, the chief minister said "spiritual practice results from a pure mind, and Guru Ravidasji is the biggest example of this".
Quoting the lines of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Yogi Adityanath said, "Aadmi na chhota hota hai, na bada hota hai, aadmi to aadmi hota hai. Guru Ravidasji perfectly demonstrated how a person achieves greatness through his deeds and how one should be revered."
He added, "Whenever I go to Kashi, I get the privilege of visiting the temple of Sant Ravidasji."
Stating that religion is considered a duty in Indian mythology and Guru Ravidasji is the living icon for this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath narrated a short incident. He said that Guruji regularly used to take a holy dip in the river Ganga. But due to some work, unfortunately, one day, he could not manage to take a dip and asked his friend to offer Re 1 to river Ganga. As soon as Ravidasji's friend offered the donation in the river, Ganga Maiya herself came out of the river and accepted the donation. His friend later shared the complete incident with Ravidasji to which the Guru replied, 'Mann changa to kathoti mein Ganga' which means our body needs to be holy by soul not by just taking bath in the pious river.
Spiritual practice is a sense of conscience. If we are pure from conscience, then the reward of spiritual practice will also be received in the same room. If we are corrupted by conscience, then we will never get the fruits of spiritual practice.  While facing all the fundamentalist hypocrisies of society throughout his life, Sant Ravidasji always worked to strengthen Sanatan Hinduism.
Thanking the members of the committee, the chief minister said that it had been working to propagate the teachings of Guru Ravidasji for the last 83 years with their limited means. "Sanatan Dharm is strengthening Hinduism to fulfill the vision of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, the chief minister added.