[Reader-list] mission to revive Shardapeeth

[Pawan Durani]

*A mission to revive Shardapeeth* Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sharda
Sarvagyapeeth, Swami Amritananda Dev Teerth, plans to revive the
Shankaracharya parampara in Shardapeeth, which is located in PoK. To attain
this goal, he plans to restart the fair (mela) of Sharda Ashtami in
Shardapeeth, which begins on the Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi and goes on for
five days till Sharda Ashtami with the consent of the authorities concerned.
The old record says that it was celebrated there in Kashmir—now PoK—till
1949. Organiser correspondent Deepak Kumar Rath spoke to the Shankaracharya
to know about the aims and objectives of his math and how he plans the
revival of the Peeth. Excerpts:

*What is the relevance to revive Shardapeeth at the moment, when India and
Pakistan are not having that good diplomatic relations?*
Shardapeeth is the one where Shankaracharya parampara originated. In the
Mathamnayopanishad written by Adi Shankara, it is clearly stated that there
are seven Aamnay in Shankara parampara namely 1. Nishkalamnay, 2.
Poorvamnay, 3. Paschimamnay, 4. Uttaramnay, 5. Dakshinamnay, 6. Atmamnay and
7. Urdhvamnay. Nishkalamnay, Sharda Sarvagya-peeth is the first among them
and is in Kashmir (Village—Shardi, Tehsil—Attmuqam, District—Muzzaffarabad,
PoK). It is purely and clearly an Indian heritage. So the revival of it
becomes significant and relevant specially when India and Pakistan are not
having good diplomatic relations on Kashmir issue.

*What is the possibility of reviving the Peeth and how do you plan to do
this? *
The pictures of the ruins of Nishkalamnay, Sharda Sarvagyapeeth (provided by
our trust) have been published in various magazines, newspapers and even on
the website: www.sarvagyapeeth.com. We also plan to restart the fair (mela)
of Sharda Ashtami in Shardapeeth (PoK) which begins on the Bhadrapada Shukla
Chaturthi and goes on for five days till Sharda Ashtami with the consent of
the authorities concerned. The old record says that it was celebrated there
in Kashmir—now PoK—till 1949. The situation can only be improved by reviving
the Sharda temple of the Nishkalamnay, but the government support and help
is a must.

The action plans that have been taken so far are—A) A deep study of Kashmir
was undertaken and Kashmir-related documents were collected from different
manuscripts. B). It was conveyed to public through magazines, discourses,
and newspapers. C) People with similar aims and thoughts are being
approached and joined for the achievement of the common goal to revive the
Peeth. We had also met the then President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to discuss the
issue.

*What are the major objectives of your Math?*
The major objectives of our Math are: To bring about a social system in
which there are no caste differences in India. Like in Kashmir there is no
other caste besides Kashmiri Pandits. This can happen by following the
pratyabhigyan darshan system, which was practised to abolish the caste
system from Kashmir. To keep the rest of India from becoming another Kashmir
in terms of terrorism. This can happen only when Kashmir is brought back
completely to the rest of India from the jaws of terrorism. To revive the
Sharda Sarvagyapeeth, which is not only the pride and honour of millions of
Bharatiyas but also a symbol of human cultural heritage. To make all the
Bharatiyas aware of the devastating consequences of spreading of jehad in
Bharat and thus securing the borders of our nation from such future
invasions like jehad through public programmes, discourses etc. To restart
the Kumbh Mela in Shadipur, Kashmir, that was being organised there till
1972. A mission to declare 10 lakh families as the state subjects of Kashmir
has been undertaken and worked upon. These families earlier belonged to PoK,
which were banished from there for a single reason that they are Hindus.
This is their third generation and the government so far has made no
arrangement for their basic requirements. This is because they are not the
part of vote bank like other Indians, as they have no right to vote. So no
political party in the country is interested in their settlement.

*It seems that after attack on Swami Jayendra Saraswati, people have somehow
lost hope from this great institution. Comment.*
This is a conspiracy of the government (state/central) and media together.
The news of the arrest and imprisonment of Swamiji was constantly telecasted
on all the news channels but when his innocence was proved there was only
small news somewhere in a corner of the newspapers. The government did it by
joining hands with foreign countries that aim at the destruction of Sanatan
sanskriti. When the government itself acts against the public faith how can
common man protest and fight for the safety of his religious rights? Is
there really a freedom of religion in this country as stated in the preamble
and under the rule of this government, which claims to be secular? It is not
the people who have lost their hope from this great institution but it was
clearly the plan of the anti-Indian groups which might include some of the
traitors to make or force Hindus lose their hope and faith in Sanatan
culture and the Hindu saints because these groups have a great fear from the
popularity of these saints. Their growing popularity among Indians will make
Hindus stronger from within and this will be the biggest obstacle in the way
of all anti-Indian movements. It was very prominent during Swamiji's arrest
that the people expressed their faith in Shankaracharya tradition rather
than in the government. People have witnessed the double-standard of
government under the garb of secularism. When the priests and mullahs of
other religions were caught red-handed in some malicious activities and when
it was brought to the notice of the public there were communal riots and so
the further proceedings of these cases were suppressed and even closed. What
can one call it? What does this all prove? Under the name of secularism all
the fundamentalist mullahs, maulavis and priests are supported and
protected. It is the conspiracy practised against Hinduism and Hindus in
order to uproot them and their rich culture from the world. So now it's time
for all the Shankaracharyas to unite and stand by each other, be it the
arrest of Swami Jayendra Saraswati or the revival of Sharda Sarvagyapeeth.

*As you spend your most of the time in Kashmir, have you got any plan for
the rehabilitation of the displaced Kashmir Hindus?*
Kashmir has been a clear example of pseudo-secularism. For the last 20 years
whatever has taken place in Kashmir with Kashmiri Hindus is so horrifying
that all the Kashmiri Hindus are frightened to stay there and have settled
down with their families in other parts of India. They now cannot trust
anyone, not even the secular government who just kept promising to eradicate
terrorism from Kashmir before every election and neglected it completely
after assuming the power. After declaring India a secular country, the
Hindus were sent away from Kashmir only because they were kafirs
(non-Muslims). Is it what should happen in a secular nation? And even now
after 20 years of terrorism in Kashmir, it's a shame that the government
hasn't taken any step to rehabilitate Kashmiri Hindus and establish peace in
Kashmir, which is an inseparable part of India. Though I have plans for
their rehabilition, they are not ready to accept anything because they have
the fear for their lives. Even when I heard as to what they went through I
was horrified. I can understand their fear. Now unless they witness the
complete eradication of terrorism they cannot even think of coming back. It
is almost impossible to save Kashmir as a part of India unless Hindus are
sent back and rehabilitated there. It's high time we found a strong solution
on the Kashmiri issue and brought the Kashmir Hindus back to their native
place. Even today the Hindu natives from Doda, Bhadrawah and Kishtwar are
running away.

*Now Hindus are targeted and attacked by the pseudo-secularists, politicians
and the media. What is your view?*
What is the definition of secularism? Is targeting Hindus a part of
secularism? The politicians pretend to be secularists so that they could win
votes of people of all the religions in India. The politician does not
belong to any religion. Their only religion is fulfilling their selfish
ends. The only dharma that preaches and practises tolerance is the Sanatan
(Hindu) dharma. Hence the Hindus are targeted and attacked. Targeting and
attacking any other religion is not affordable to the politicians both
financially and in terms of reactions. The media follows and obeys these
politicians for its own selfish purposes. Media's mission is no more for the
awareness of the society; it is now a business, which is run for the profit
and like politicians it too has no religion. It follows the one who gains it
profit. Since anti-Hindu elements are ready to spend unlimited wealth for
rooting out Hinduism, they have a strong support of greedy politicians and
media.

*How do you react to the UPA government's appeasement policy?*
What can be more satirical than the fact that in a democratic country like
India the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, etc. are nominated and not
elected. The Congress, which was in the power for 40 years, on losing the
public support, started using the Muslims as its vote bank. Now joining
hands with the communists, Congress is giving shelter to almost two crore
Bangladeshi Muslims by providing them with ration cards and other
facilities, which in a way will be an addition to their vote bank. If this
continues, Hindus will soon be the minorities. Obviously, the UPA
government's appeasement policy is not acceptable.
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