Varanasi: An atheist-turned-ascetic launched a 100-day peace march in Varanasi to promote unity in diversity and India’s composite culture on Saturday when the country celebrated its 69th Independence Day.
Heads of all religions in Hinduism’s holiest city attended a four-hour fasting and prayer meet called “Tyagarchana Mahayagya’(an oblation of sacrifice) to launch the march at Bharat Mata Mandir (Mother India Temple).
The march titled, “Tyagarchana Shanti Yatra” (an oblation for peace march), aims to disseminate the message of love, peace, harmony, unity in diversity, forgiveness and reconciliation to the people of Uttar Pradesh, a northern Indian state that witnessed the largest number of sectarian violence in recent years.
The march will cover the entire state under the leadership of Swami Sachidananda Bharathi, the initiator of Tyagarchana Shanti Mission.
The swami was an atheist and an Indian Air Force Squadron Leader who became a promoter of peace and spirituality after an encounter with death in an air accident in 1982 when he was 35.
The ascetic, who is popularly known as ‘Air Force Baba, said he chose Uttar Pradesh for the “pilgrimage” as the state has witnessed the maximum incidents of communal violence in India.
He was involved in a peace and reconciliation project in Muzaffarnagar, a major town in Uttar Pradesh that witnessed sectarian violence in 2013. The state witnessed 250 incidents of sectarian violence, most between Hindus and Muslims, that year.
“Recurring communal and caste violence and religious conflicts in India are destroying decades of (India’s) hard-earned development. Violence and conflicts are also making India slide backward in her growth ladder,” the Swamiji told Matters India after the peace march launch.
In a statement released to the press, he asserted that communal and caste violence and religious conflicts can be countered effectively only by developing consciousness for unity through spiritual regeneration of India.
Religious leaders at the prayer meet commended the swami for the initiative.
Head of Hinduism in Varanasi Pujyapad Dandi Swami Avimukteshwaranand Mahara asserted that religious leader should aim to highlight the essence of religion and not malign it. “All that we speak and do must reflect in the minds of people so that the inhumane activities that are going on in the name of religion in different parts of the world must be curbed,” he added.
Muslim leader Mufti Abdul Batin Nomani, head of Mufti-e-Banares and Imam Shahi Jama Masjid Gyanvapi, reminded the participants that “freedom our forefathers dreamt is in fact not fulfilled today. We have forgotten what they really fought for. In the name of region and religion what we see is only bloodshed.”
Bishop-elect Eugene Joseph of Varanasi said religious leaders must move from preventive to progressive measure favoring a personal and social transformation.
Dignitaries at the program included S. K. Singh, deputy director of the state government’s agricultural department, Upendr Nath Mishra, former joint commissioner of trade and tax, Baba Hardev, retired Municipal Commissioner of Varanasi.
During the 100-day pilgrimage Swami Sachidananda Bharathi and his colleagues from Dharma Bharathi Navsrishti (righteous India new creation) International and the artistes of Prerana Kala Manch (PKM, inspirational arts forum) will cover 125 towns and cities of Uttar Pradesh.
PMK is the theatrical wing of Vishwa Jyoti Communications, a center for media art and culture committed to promotion of human rights, primary education, communal harmony and community building through low-cost media. It is a communication wing of the Indian Missionary Society.
The five-phase march will end at Lucknow, the state capital, on January 30, 2016, the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi, who led India’s independence struggle.
The march will hold rallies, seminars, cultural programs and candle light services to spread the message of peace, harmony, love, peace, forgiveness and friendship at educational institutions and public places in villages and towns.
The journey aims to educate students, youth, and others on the need of attitudinal change in their lives for peaceful and happy co-existence. The marchers will try to instill values of forgiveness and reconciliation thus making them agents of love and friendship in villages and towns.
The marchers will exhort the religious communities, educational institutions, NGOs and other agencies to become effective agents of communal harmony and national integration so that they can enjoy greater peace and happiness in their personal and family lives.
He renounced private property and family life in 1996 with the permission of his wife, an officer in the Indian Revenue Service. In 2003 he founded the ‘Bharathi’ Chaturashrama Sanyasa Parampara and took the name ‘Swami Sachidananda Bharathi.’
Swamiji has travelled widely and has authored a number of books. He was one of the delegates who represented India in the ‘Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders’ organized by the United Nations in August 2000.
Swamiji undertook a year-long peace pilgrimage across India during the year 2007 and initiated the ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ for a ‘Hunger-free, Caste-free and Corruption-free India’ that is now being transformed into an ‘Integral Revolution.’