Atheist DMK Scion Udhayanidhi Stalin Goes To Meet Shaivite Guru, Party Activists Come Up With Funny Excuses

Recently, the son of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) supremo M K Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi, visited Dharmapuram Adhinam, a Shaivite monastic centre that has for centuries served Shaivism in Tamil Nadu.

The Dharmapuram Adhinam is a well-known and highly venerated traditional Shaivaite institution in state. They are known for their various seva activities as well as for outstanding scholarship. Their publications command respect and are considered authentic Shaiva Siddhanta material by the traditional Shaivaites.

In the 1980s, when Christian missionaries made a blatant, aggressive attempt to claim that the entire Shaiva Siddhanta had originated from Christianity, Dharmapuram Adhinam was at the forefront, among the traditional institutions, in exposing this vulgar appropriation attempt.

Later in 2008, Christian evangelists, again in the name of ‘Dravidian religion’, tried to claim that Hinduism was a distorted form of ancient Christianity. In response, the 26th Guru Maha Sannidhanam of the Adhinam, Sri la Sri Shanmuga Desika Gnanasambanda Paramacharya Swamigal, despite his old age, presided over a conference in Kumbhakonam to protest the evangelical effort. He was signatory to the resolutions passed at the gathering which demanded strict action by the government against such fradulent attempts.

The DMK, on the other hand, has always covertly and overtly supported Christian appropriation of South Indian Hindu spiritual traditions through Dravidian delusion. It was M Karunanidhi who wrote an applauding preface to the book depicting Thiruvalluvar as Christian. The present DMK leadership and first family have close contacts with Jegath Gaspar Raj, a Catholic clergy-strategist who also advocates similar appropriation.

This background should be taken into account when one analyses Udhayanidhi Stalin’s visit to the present 27th Guru Maha Sannidhanam.

This news comes just after reports that Udhayanidhi Stalin refused to accept a ceremonial welcome offered at a temple in Trichy. A little earlier, his father had also created a furore when he dusted away the vibhuti (the holy ash) given to him at the gurupuja of the well-known freedom fighter and cultural icon Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.

Clearly, the meeting with the adhinam is an attempt at damage control after perhaps the party high command got reports from the ground of swelling Hindu anger, and indications of political consolidation of the vexation among the people of Tamil Nadu. The large crowds participating in Tamil Nadu BJP's 'Vel Yatra' under its new chief L Murugan are proving that the winds are blowing in favour of the national party.

Yet, the Dravidian deceit is too well entrenched to be removed by such symbolic gestures. Soon after the photos of Udhayanidhi Stalin meeting the Guru Maha Sannidhanam went viral on social media, a pro-DMK handle spread the message that the Dharmapuram Adhinam was pro-Tamil and anti-Sanatana force in Tamil Nadu.

It even claimed that the Shaiva Siddhanta movement in Tamil Nadu was anti-Vedic whose logical evolution was the Dravidian movement.

One needs to understand the extremely venomous diabolical nature of this kind of hatred. Dividing Tamil and Vedic heritage and making them antagonistic to each other is nothing but the old missionary ploy.

Having failed utterly in uprooting Hinduism through the Dravidian movement, which the church had explicitly called the time-bomb it has placed to destroy Sanatana Dharma, it is now trying to use DMK as the trojan horse.

However, the response to such deceit has been quick.

A few years back, then minister Pon Radhakrishnan who has great respect for Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal of Kanchi sat on the floor in front of the acharya, the Dravidian propagandists made memes and abused the acharya of Brahminical superiority and the minister of non-Brahminical submissiveness.

When Udhayanidhi Stalin sat on the floor in front of the majestically seated Guru Maha Sannidhanam, Sundar Rajacholan, an emerging popular political analyst, on his Twitter handle pointed out how the Guru Maha Sannidhanam of the adhinam has emphasised the importance of Vedas and their centrality to Saiva Siddhanta at various functions.

In the video clip, the Maha Sanithanam says the following:

"Our nation is a Hindu nation. Bharati emphasised that this undivided Hindustan should be worshipped as divine. In this Hindustan many sages have been born and they are doing tapas. That is why this nation is sacred to us than any other. In which nation should one be born?"

"Saiva Siddhanta explains it through a verse: In places where the Vedas are not chanted, one should not be born (if one desires liberation — mukthi/veedu). To be born as a Saivaite and not in a nation where Vedas are not chanted is a rare opportunity that arises out of punya. So this is the nation of Vedas."

"The Vedas are the basis of all religions in India. Sri Kumaraguru Swamigal expressed it in exquisite way: Vedas form a beautiful tree in which there are many religions some of which are its branches, some are the buds, some are unripe fruits, some are flowers, some leaves."

"Every one chose one’s favourite part from this Vedic tree. At the zenith of this Vedic tree is the fruit of Vedanta and its essence is Shaiva Siddhanta."

Dharumapuram Adhinam has always fought the Dravidian distortions and propaganda lies. It has also fought distortions within our own society. When a traditional Shaivaite institution was threatened to be taken over by a scandal ridden new age guru, the adhinam protested.

When a DMK dynast is submitting himself at the feet of such an adhinam, after rejecting purna kumbha mariyada (a form of ceremonial welcome) from a Shiva temple, it seems more like election anxiety than genuine respect.

The real damage here is creating an impression that the DMK is only against the so-called Brahminical Hinduism, and claiming that Shaivism is antagonistic towards Vedas.

What is developing as election-anxiety strategy of the DMK can take the shape of trojan horse strategy of Christian evangelism which has strong political clout in Tamil Nadu.

This goes against everything that Dharmapuram Adhinam and its Guru Mahaparamparai — grand lineage of acharyas, stand for.

It will be in the interest of authentic Shaiva tradition if the Guru Maha Sannidhanam comes forward with a statement that there is and there can be no agreement on driving an artificial and hateful wedge between Vedic Dharma and Shaiva Siddhanta — for they are one and the same.