Almost a fortnight after Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati’s remark against Sai Baba, the authorities of an ancient Shiv Temple in South Gujarat has decided to remove idol of Sai Baba installed in the temple complex.
“We accept the point raised by Swami Swaroopanandji on Sai Baba. According to Vaidic Sanatan religion, Sai Baba is not a God and there has been no document and writings establishing him as a God. Our temple follows orders of Shankaracharya, who is the chief of Sanatan religion,” said Shivji Maharaj, Mahant (administrator) and the trustee of the temple situated in Dharampur town in Valsad district.
Maharaj, however, said that instead of immersing the idol, the temple authority had taken a decision to handover it to Sai Baba’s followers, so that they could install the idol in any other Sai Baba temple. Interestingly, the idol of Sai Baba was installed after consecrate (Pran Pratishtha) ceremony in ‘Bhidbhanjan Mahadev’ temple just three months back.
The Shankaracharya triggered a controversy by saying that worshipping Sai Baba was a conspiracy to divide Hindus and Sai Baba should not be worshiped as he was a human being and not a God, and his temples should not be built. He also commented that Sai Baba should not be considered as a guru and an ideal because he was a non-vegetarian and advocated the practice of circumcision. He also claimed that a number of temples devoted to Sai Baba are built across the country to deviate attention from Ram Temple movement in Ayodhya.
Following his utterances, followers of Sai Baba not only condemned his statements but also burned Swaroopanand’s effigy at various places. Even the Sai Temple authority in lucknow has filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court demanding an FIR against Swami Swaroopanand.
However, Swami Swaroopanand got support from the Naga Sadhus, who have warned that if the Dwarkapeeth seer would insulted, they also will protest on streets.