Date:02/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/02/stories/2004050201630300.htm

Karnataka - Bidar

`Sharana philosophy can solve all woes'

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, MAY 1. The philosophy of Basaveshwara and other sharanas provides solutions to all current problems of the world, Yogeshwari Rupaka Mahalingaiah, general secretary of the U.S.-based Universal Centre for Basaveshwara Philosophy, said on Saturday.

Inaugurating Kalyan Parva, a religious festival in Basavakalyan, she said terrorism, hunger, poverty and all forms of discrimination could be rooted out completely when each individual adopted Basaveshwara's philosophy. "When the problem between individuals is solved, the world becomes free of problems,'' she said. According to her, there is a renewed interest in Basaveshwara's philosophy across the world. The most important feature of this philosophy is that it equates one's work with God and our daily life with religion. You need not go to temple or perform religious rituals, but can still be a deeply religious person just by doing your duty. That is precisely what Basaveshwara taught us.

She said only by following his philosophy could India mature into a truly secular country.

Mathe Mahadevi, who spoke at the function, sought assistance from philanthropists for developing Basavakalyan into a tourist and pilgrimage centre. She unfolded her plans to build a 63-foot statue of Basaveshwara and to build structures in memory of other Sharanas. There was an electrifying effect in Basaveshwara's preachings that turned 770 ordinary men and women into visionary philosophers. "The 12th Century reform movement, which witnessed the expression of free thought of the last man, still continues to inspire us,'' she said.

Mathe Gangadevi said it was wrong to think that philosophy and religion were for the old and the helpless. If the young and the powerful were not guided by philosophy, they were sure to make mistakes. After all, Basaveshwara's philosophy had cleared the mystic element of all spirituality and created a path that was simple and adoptable by all, she said.