Pramukh Swami treated me like a son, says PM Modi at centenary inauguration

The PM said, “Raajsi bhi nahi ban na hai, taamsik bhi nahi ban na hai, saatvik bante hue chalte rahna hai, chalte rahna hai, chalte rahna hai (I don’t want to become royal, don’t want to become vindictive, have to keep going being moralistic, keep going, keep going…)”, adding that he felt as if he was sitting beneath a huge tree, under a storehouse of knowledge, while addressing thousands at the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Nagar.

Marking the culmination of the fiver-year centenary celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mahant Swami Maharaj of BAPS inaugurated the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Nagar, spread over 600 acres, on Sardar Patel Ring Road. It will be thrown open to public from December 15. Pramukh Swami Maharaj passed away at Sarangpur in Botad district on August 13, 2016, at 95.

Calling Pramukh Swami Maharaj as a father figure, PM Modi said that there is not a single election that he signed candidature without using a pen sent by Pramukh Swami Maharaj and after him, Mahant Swami Maharaj.

“I contested elections for the first time from Rajkot in 2002… when two seers gave me a box with a pen that the Swamiji had sent… Pramukh Swami gave me a pen to sign my candidature even when I went to contest in Kashi… the pen was of the colour of BJP flag,” recalled the PM.

Sharing another bond he shared with the Swami, Modi said, “In the past 40 years, not a single year passed when he had not sent cloth for kurta pyjama for me… No matter how old the son grows, he remains a child for his parents. The country made me the PM but the tradition that Pramukh Swamiji started is still continued by Pujya Mahant Swamiji… He is certainly watching me every moment and seeing my work if I am walking on the way he showed me.”

Adding that since childhood he was attracted towards spiritualism and never imagined that he would reach near Pramukh Swami when he would watch him from a distance. When he got the first chance to meet him personally in 1981, Modi said, “I was surprised that he had gathered information about me. The entire time he did not discuss God, religion or spiritualism but service of mankind. These were the topics he talked about. He had only one message that the highest objective of life should be service, till last breath we should be doing service.”

Sharing that during his toughest moments in life, Pramukh Swami always talked to him, the PM said, “In 1991-’92 during the Ekta Yatra to hoist the national at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk under Murali Manohar Joshi, Swamiji was aware as I had sought his blessing before leaving. Our group was attacked in Punjab and many were killed. After hoisting the flag when I landed Jammu, the first call I received was of Pramukh Swamiji asking if I was fine.”

During the terrorist attack on Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar on September 24, 2002, the PM said that Pramukh Swami was concerned about him as CM’s residence was barely 20 metres from the temple.

“I feel he was like my father… When Delhi Akshardham Temple was built, I was told that it was Yogiji Maharaj’s wish to have Akshardham on the Yamuna banks. But look at the disciple who lived the words of his guru. We might see strength of a guru in him but I see strength of a disciple who lived the words of his guru,” the PM added.

Crediting Pramukh Swami for transforming the temple tradition into a modern one by merging spirituality and modernism, the PM said, “If Pramukh Swami Maharaj wanted he could have stayed in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad or in a big city but he preferred to stay in Sarangpur… Whenever I meet any akhara I tell them to visit Sarangpur for two days to see how sants should be and how they are trained.”

This centenary celebration will motivate the new generation, the PM said adding  to count on him also as a volunteer along with the 80,000 volunteers who built the Pramukh Swami Maharaj Nagar as he is also a swayamsevak.