Greatest sin happened to Uddhav Thackeray, says Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati
Mumbai: In a major development, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, who turned down the invitation to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, has voiced his support to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray calling the latter as a victim of betrayal. The pain over the betrayal would persist until Thackeray was reinstated as the chief minister of Maharashtra, he said on Monday.
Shankaracharya met with Thackeray at his residence ‘Matoshree' in Mumbai. He expressed solidarity with Thackeray, who was forced to resign as Maharashtra chief minister after senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde engineered a vertical split in the party.
Stating that betrayal is the gravest sin in Hinduism, Shankaracharya said, “We follow the Hindu religion, which values Punya (virtue) and Paap (sin). Vishwasghat (betrayal) is considered one of the greatest sins and this is what happened to Uddhav Thackeray.”
The one who betrays can’t be a Hindu. The one who tolerates betrayal is a Hindu. The entire populace of Maharashtra is anguished by the betrayal and this was reflected in the recent (Lok Sabha) elections, he said.
“I told him (Uddhav Thackeray) that all of us were pained by the betrayal he had to face. Our pain will not go till he again becomes the chief minister of Maharashtra,” the Shankaracharya added.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand had opposed the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya citing the incomplete work of the temple. He also criticised the making of the Kedarnath Temple replica in New Delhi, whose foundation stone was laid by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on July 10.
“There are 12 Jyotiralingas in the country. Its location is fixed. It is wrong to construct Kedarnath temple in Delhi and other places. There are political reasons behind this. Political people are interfering in our religious places,” he said.
