Lucknow(Uttar Pradesh): Ahead of the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a senior member of the temple trust has urged people to select names for their children from Hindu texts and called for "imparting culture".
Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha, a trust member, also told PTI that preserving the temple is a bigger task than constructing it. "The dream that we envisioned for centuries has been fulfilled. But one should not assume that our responsibilities are over. Our thoughts should be that for how many years the temple remains in that form of a temple and that no one is able to harm it again," he said.
"Till the time our children remain Hindus and the Hindus exist as the majority, the temple will exist as a temple. See what happened in Afghanistan, where statues of the Buddha were destroyed," he added, referring to the destruction of Buddha sculptures in Bamiyan.
Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha also said constructing the temple is not a big task -- the bigger duty is to preserve it as a temple. "We are not going to live forever. We have to impart values of Hindu Dharma and Sanatan Dharma in our children. By imparting 'sanskriti (culture)' in our 'santati (children)', we will be able to preserve it," the Pejawar mutt seer said.
Asked about the consecration ceremony, the seer said, "The dream of centuries has been fulfilled now. It was a legal battle. The Supreme Court gave a judgment in our favour. Those who believe in the Constitution and have respect for the Supreme Court have accepted it." The seer also said that children's names "should be selected from the Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharat". This will help the children know which culture they belong to, he added.
"There should be a campaign to rename (people). This should be held in temples publically. 'Mataantaran (religious conversion)' should be stopped and imparting of culture should start," Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha said. He also said idols of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita will be installed in the temple, referring to a demand from Dipika Chikhlia -- who played Sita in Ramanand Sagar's "Ramayan" -- urging to install an idol of Goddess Sita.
The temple will have all of Lord Ram's family members -- Goddess Sita and his brothers Bharat, Laxman and Shatrughan, he added. The seer further said that there will be a 48-day "mandal puja" that will begin after the consecration that he will oversee. Drawing a comparison between Ayodhya now and its older incarnation, Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha, said, "It seems that Ayodhya has transformed itself from 'Kalyug (modern age)' to 'Treta Yug (era of Lord Ram)'.
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