New age India should dwell deep into its vast spiritual and traditional values for its development and illumination of the people’s minds, Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP-led NDA’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion of the 60th birthday celebrations of spiritual mother Mata Amritanandamayi at her Amritapuri Ashram at Vallikkavu in Kerala’s Kollam district, he said the spiritual strength of the country could be of real use only if its people practiced the principles propounded by India’s ancient texts and scriptures.
Enthralling the listeners by starting his speech and completing the first part of it in Malayalam, Modi said, “Many people may be feeling disappointed about India’s current situation. I am not. If the 125 crore Indians live by keeping inside their minds our ancient spiritual culture, we can still be the Vishwa Guru,” Modi said.
There was no direct or indirect reference to political developments in his speech at the programme which was being held amidst raging discussions in the Kerala media over his “real” mission in the State and speculations in a section of the media that he might contest the lok Sabha election from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
This was Modi’s second visit to Kerala this year and the first since his nomination as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate. Modi had arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday evening, and addressed a meeting of State BJP leaders. He offered prayers at the famous Sree Padmanabha Swami temple on Thursday morning.
Stating that he was not standing on the Amritapuri dais as a political leader or as Gujarat Chief Minister but as a humble disciple of Mata Amritanandamayi, he said that this Shashtipoorti (60th birthday) was not being celebrated for her but for the entire society and “this is not just a celebration but an act of laying the foundation stone for a new Bharat.”
“This week we saw people including innocent kids being shot dead in Nairobi and an attack at a Christian church in Pakistan. Terrorists keep on killing soldiers in Jammu & Kashmir in our own land. We saw such an attack even on Thursday morning. But when a river of blood is flowing in one place, the Ganga of love is flowing in another,” he said.
“What facilitated India’s struggle for independence was the background prepared by Swami Shraddhananda, Swami Dayananda and Swami Vivekananda. We can understand this if we examine the history from 1857 to 1947. That history will go on,” Modi said, adding that Indians would one day learn that the foundations of this nation were built by such great souls.
On the occasion, Modi also unveiled the prototypes and devices developed by various educational and research institutions run by the Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt. Among the speakers on the occasion were Senior Metropolitan Bishop of the Mar Thoma Church Philippose Mar Chrysostom, Sivagiri Mutt president Swami Prakasananda and others.
On Thursday morning, the Gujarat Chief Minister visited Uthradam Thirunnal Marthanda Varma, the current titular Maharaja of Travancore, at the Kavadiyar Palace in the Kerala capital after offering prayers at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, which had of late been in news for the massive collection of gold and other precious items stored there.
On his arrival at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Wednesday evening, he was accorded a grand welcome by State BJP leaders including president V Muraleedharan and former Union Minister O Rajagopal. Modi addressed a meeting of the State BJP leaders after that at which he reminded them of the need of more Kerala leaders coming onto the national scene.