Bhubaneswar (Odisha): Jyotirmath Peetham Shankaracharya, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati arrived in Bhubaneswar on 6th October. He urged the government to remove cows from the list of animals and said that it is considered as deity. He offered prayers at Lingaraj Temple on Monday. He said, "I have come here as a part of Gau Pratishtha Dhwaj Sthapana Bharat Yatra...Forming laws is the work of the Government, 'gau bhakts' should serve Gaumata...The government has placed cows on the list of animals. But in our culture, the cow is not an animal.
We consider cows as deities, they are called 'Mata'. So we want our tradition to be carried forward, remove cows from the list of animals...Once the law comes and people understand that it is not an animal but 'Mata', people's point of view would change." Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati is the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand. He was made the Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth after the death of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.
Earlier Swami Shri Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Maharaj organised a Gau Pratishthan Andolan and Gau Dhwaj Sthapana Bharat Yatra in Lakshmanpur on September 23. During his conference, he spoke extensively on the issue of 'Cow slaughter'. "It is the diversity and identity of Indian culture that we Sanatanis respect our elders, we offer rotis to 'Gaumata', but it is miserable to see that they are killed. What could be bigger than this for our enemies?" the Shankaracharya said.
"We broke the chains of slavery and drove the British out of our country, who lectured us on cows and killed them for their benefit. We thought that our 'Gautmata' was free and gave support to the Congress party, which made a pair of bulls its election symbol. But unfortunately, no work is done for the protection and welfare of cows," he added. The Shankaracharya further said that instead of declaring cow slaughter a crime the abbatoirs were even given subsidies."
We want to tell the government on behalf of 100 crore Hindus that cow slaughter should be stopped and a law should be made on it," he stated. The Shankaracharya said that many states have made anti-cow slaughter laws while some states continue to permit it. The Shankaracharya has pledged to go to 35 states to conduct special Pratishtha for cow protection. Earlier, on August 6, the 55th Prakatotsav of Jyotirmath's 55th Shankaracharya, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati was celebrated with great fervour this year as the Gopratishtha Festival.
A grand event was held at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium where several prominent politicians were also present. 21 scholars from Kashi also came to honour the Shankaracharya. The unique tradition of Tuladan, where Shankaracharya was weighed with rabri, was one of the main attractions of this event.
