The Adi Shankara Sandesha Vahini, a mobile exhibition on the life of Adi Shankaracharya, was flagged off on Friday from Melpazhoor Mana at the Adi Sankara Nilayam, Veliyanad, the birth place of the saint.
Titled Ekatma Yatra, the event is a precursor to the installation of a 108-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Omkareshwar , on the banks of the river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking at the public function before flagging off the bus, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Shankaracharya’s Advaitha philosophy has the solution to all the problems in society.
If his thoughts were taken to heart, terrorism would not find a place in the world, he said. Shankaracharya’s philosophy sees the same consciousness in all living beings on earth, be it plants, animals or man. The philosophy holds good to fight global warming too as it worships all natural resources. “If we preserve the hills, the trees, the rivers of the earth, we are following the saint’s philosophy,” Mr. Chouhan said.
The Ekatma Yatra will collect sand in a copper vessel from 82 locations across the country that have been identified as important to the great saint’s works and legends associated with his travels.
A copper vessel each from Kalady, the site of Sringeri Mutt, and Veliyanad will be carried in the Vahini. The sand will go into the foundation of the statue in a symbolic gesture and the copper vessel will be melted to be used for the statue.
Shankaracharya weaved together the cultural and spiritual thoughts spread across various dialects into a common thread of Indian philosophy, said Swami Paramatmananda, the convenor of Hindu Mahasabha, who had been leading the yatras from four locations. The yatras are being led by saints from various ashrams with the Chinmaya Mission taking a lead role.
The Ekatma Yatra will culminate at Omkareshwar, which is considered the place where Shankaracharya met his guru Acharya Govinda Bhagavatpada. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the function to be held there on January 22.
