Date:31/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/31/stories/2006123120320300.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

`Guru's vision transformed society'

Staff Reporter

REMEMBRANCE: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurating the 74th Sivagiri pilgrimage at Varkala on Saturday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vision of Sree Narayana Guru was one that transformed an age and its society, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.

He was inaugurating the 74th Sivagiri pilgrimage at Varkala on Saturday. "Sree Narayana Guru was keenly aware of the problems faced by man in daily life. He was also one who strongly protested whenever he saw a denial of humaneness in society," Mr. Achuthanandan said.

Till the very end he tried to unite human minds. When the Guru carried out the installation of the deity at Aruvippuram what changed was an entire social order, the Chief Minister noted.

Development should be such that it touches people of all sections of the society. If development does not benefit those in the lower strata of the society, then it is not beneficial to the society at all, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

The soul of Sivagiri is the ideals of the Guru. However there are some who have their eye on material wealth, he added. The president of the Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust, Swami Prakasananda, presided.