Inauguration of the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust

Address

I thank the organisers of this function and the Government of the State of Kerala for giving me this opportunity to participate in the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust today.

Sree Narayana Guru was a great social reformer whose spiritual teachings knew no boundaries and limitations and had total universal validity. Any philosophy, if it has to survive, has to base itself in the eternal values of global human happiness and understanding of the realisation that all men are created equal and that each individual is a human being who has rights to human rights and freedom. In fact, all religions, in the ultimate analysis, teach this very important eternal truth though unfortunately, opportunistic interpretations and motivated mutilations have disfigured many such truths much to the detriment of humanity. Against this background, I am happy to learn that the ethos of Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust was to create such genuine freedom and to reinstate certain old values that had been temporarily lost to the world. Guru's teachings, I gather, have the central value of human happiness and understanding, reaching beyond religion as it is normally understood and materialism. It aims at developing the outer and inner world without sacrificing the importance of religion and also materialism in their true form. It is gratifying to note that the Guru's vision was not limited to the geographical boundaries of this State or the country but they transcended them all and encompassed the entire world community.

Sree Narayana Guru was a Parivrajaka and he never stayed in one place for more than a fortnight. In those days when there were no roads, he went on foot to almost every village in Kerala and then beyond. This enabled thousands of people to relate to him personally. His ideals and mode of life influenced them. From all accounts, he travelled all over South India, healing people of their physical and mental maladies and inspiring everyone to live a clean life of love and cooperation. I gather that in 1901 the State Census Manual of Travancore recorded Sree Narayana as a Guru and an erudite Sanskrit Scholar. Even a sharp drop in the statistics of commission of crime was also alluded to as a result of the correcting and moralizing influence of Narayana Guru on the society.

Sree Narayana Guru's teachings and message have universal relevance at all times. In the present day world that is torn by strife, mistrust, rivalry, deceit and intolerance, his teachings and vision have an additionally special relevance. It needed guts at that time to initiate the doctrine "One Caste, One Religion and One God'. It needed vision to emphasise

"Whichever the religion,

It suffices If it makes a better man."

And,

"Ask not, Say not, Think not caste"

It needed nobility of mind to say:

"Love of others is my happiness,

Love that is mine is happiness for others.

And so, truly, deeds that benefit a man

Must be a cause for other's happiness too."

If this Platinum Jubilee Celebrations would serve the purpose of reinforcing the Guru's message to the world and if it helps us even if a little to practice it in our lives, I would consider that these celebrations have not been organised in vain. Can I hope that we will once again be genuinely in a position to recite what the Guru wrote after consecration of the Sivalinga in Aruvipuram which shows the quintessence of his vision:

"This is the model abode

Where all men live in brotherhood

Without any caste distinctions

Or religious animosities."

With this hope and unadulterated optimism, let me have the privilege of inaugurating the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Trust that was set up to spread the Guru's universal message.