Kerala CM Vijayan‘s recent vituperation on Sanatan Dharma is also an insult to the great Santh and “Advaiti” Sree Narayana Guru. The Communist Party’s top leader’s onerous attempt to insult the guru is not the first. Former CM and CPI(M) general secretary EMS Namboothiripad did the same through his writing during the 1990s. He always treated the guru as a “bourgeoisie” sanyasi, the same thought he shared with Swami Vivekananda.
CPM leaders and Left historians have always tried to give a picture implying that Guru was just a social reformer, not a spiritual leader and promulgator of Sanatan Dharma. Being a multilingual scholar, Guru has composed more than 64 scholarly works in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Malayalam as an interpretation of Sanatan Dharma and prayers of Hindu Devas and Devis.
The Sankaracharya in Ananda Lahari was awakening Kundalanies and the same was done by the Guru in his work Navarathna Manjari. He interpreted one of the fundamental texts of Hinduism Ishavasya Upanishad into Malayalam to spread Sanatan Dharma among the common people. The full essence of Upanishads was condensed into ten verses of the universal prayer called Daiva Dashakam. Another famous Dharmic book, Thirukkural written by Thiruvelluvar in Tamil was converted into Malayalam by Guru.
“One caste, One religion, One God for mankind” the widely known maxim of Narayana guru is the essence of Advaita, the basic pillar of Sanatan. In his last written message to the SNDP Yogam Annual General meeting in 1926, he proclaimed that ‘One caste, One religion, One god for Mankind’ is the Sanatan Dharma, and commanded all Sanatanis to unite. Certainly, Guru was a social reformer, but it is also a fact that he created a new order in society through Sanatan Dharma-based social engineering.
Guru wrote more than 14 Krithis in Sanskrit and more than 50 works in Malayalam and Tamil. Guru’s prose prayer is very popular in which, praying to the Paramathma, the basic principle of Sanatan and Advaitha was made understandable to the common people
He was always against untouchability and other deeply rooted superstitious beliefs in the Hindu society of that time. In those days, the tendency for lower caste Hindus was to not go near a temple, but the moment they converted to Christianity, their “untouchability disappeared”. This contradiction surprised Swami Vivekananda to the extent that he called Kerala a “Lunatic asylum”. Guru’s words on religious conversion are very significant and remarkable. He proclaimed that “Man has to change, Not the Religion”. He is considered the prophet of the new Renaissance who prevented the mass conversion of lower caste communities to Christianity which had become prevalent in Kerala at that time. The only reason Hindus of today are a majority in Kerala is because the Guru’s influence worked as a shield to protect them from religious conversions. The paramount fact is that Guru retained these communities in their original dharma without any conflict with other religions.
Guru wrote more than 14 Krithis in Sanskrit and more than 50 works in Malayalam and Tamil. Guru’s prose prayer is very popular in which, praying to the Paramathma, the basic principle of Sanatan and Advaitha was made understandable to the common people. Guru consecrated 38 temples across South India, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. These temples housed deities like Bhagwan Shiva, Devi Sharada (Saraswathi), Subramanya idols, and even “OM” and holy light. These temples didn’t discriminate among people and were open to all castes.
The Communist party in Kerala always tried to frivolously project the Guru as a social reformer or a revolutionary leader. They selfishly misused Guru for their own growth in Kerala. The Politburo member of CPI(M), MV Govindan commented that Sanatan Dharma is lewd and vulgar. The incident of the Communist party symbolically hanging Guru in one of their processions in Kannur district, is still not forgotten by the over 5 crore followers that Guru has in South India. Kerala CM and CPI(M) will have to pay a hefty price for appeasing a few vote banks while disrespecting Sanatan Dharma and insulting Sree Narayana Guru’s identity.
