We Indians have a knack for honoring our ancestors and great teachers. We don’t look at people like Adi Shankarachrya, Swami Vivekanda, Ramanujacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the west looks at Socrates, Aristotle or Plato. For us, our teachers and philosophers are near-Gods and we worship them as such. Our great teachers have taught us all about how to live a meaningful and fulfilling life; they have shown us how to achieve our goals and become the masters of our own destiny. They may have passed on centuries ago but their teachings still have relevance in our modern world.
One such great Guru is Sree Narayana Guru who is regarded as one of the greatest religious teachers and social reformers of the modern era. However his name still lingers in the depths of obscurity and it is still not known to the common people of India, except for his native land in Kerala, where he is a household name. On 10th September of this year will be the 168th Birth Anniversary of Sree Narayana Guru. It is usually celebrated on the Chadhayam Day, Chingam Malayalam month every year.
Witnessing the horrible caste-based discrimination and untouchability that was being practiced when Swami Vivekananda visited Kerala, he had famously called it a “Lunatic Asylum”. At the time, Kerala was anything but “God’s Own Country”. It was Sree Narayana Guru who took birth in Kerala when the atrocities were at its peak, and like a Lotus blossoming out of muddy waters, he too blossomed growing out of the murky waters of Kerala’s caste-ridden culture. He was the person who restored Kerala its title of God’s Own Country.
Guru was also a great scholar and well versed in the various texts of our culture like the Vedas and the Upanishads. He brought Sanatana Dharma back to Kerala.
In Guru’s teachings, he advocated “One Caste, One Religion, One God for Mankind” and emphasised on the fact that it wasn’t the religion that needed to be changed, it was the people’s nature that needed changing. Guru’s poetry and devotional songs hold great depth and meaning and yet it purifies the souls of those who recite it. Despite such great teachings and contributions to society, he is still unknown to a huge population of India.
This needs to change. We need the people of India, especially the younger generation to learn about Sree Narayana Guru in their curriculums at schools and higher education. Let us remember him on his 168th Birth Anniversary and make sure his teachings spread to all the Indians out there.
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