a'Walking God' says adieu to his journey

a'Walking God' says adieu to his journey

Kyatasandra is a suburb on the outskirts of Tumakuru renowned for its 'Thatte Idlis'(Plate Idlis).Generally people traveling on this national highway make it a point to have a brief stopover in this place to please their taste buds.

This has been the situation since decades and off late a visit to the nearby 'Sri Siddaganga Mutt' has almost become mandatory.It goes without saying that Dr Shivakumar Swamiji popularly reverred as 'Walking God' is the main attraction for such a practice.

Dr Shivakumar Swamiji of the Siddaganga Mutt also popularly reverred as the 'Walking God' concluded his worldly journey at the overripe age of 111 years and 295 days!He met the lotus feet on Monday, 21st January.

He was ailing for some time due to advanced age related ailments and failing health conditions and had been frequently in and out of various hospitals at Tumakuru,Bengaluru and Chennai.In the last phase he refused to be confined to the hospital and insisted to be back in the Mutt,with which he was deeply associated since nore than 80 years.In fact his own living room was transformed into a hospital room to cater to his medical requirements.

Born as Shivanna on 1st April in 1907 to Gangamma and Honnegowda in Veerapura village near Magadi town then belonging to the erstwhile Mysuru royal kingdom.As of now this place comes under the jurisdiction of the newly carved Ramanagar district.

Incidently Shivanna happened to be the youngest of 13 children.He lost his mother when he was barely eight years old.The family members were devoted followers of deities of Gangadreshwara and Honnadevi who frequented the shrines of Shivagange and other such places of pilgrimage nearby their native Veerapura village.

He had his elementary education at a rural Anglo-Vernacular school in Nagavalli,now part of Tumakuru district and passed matriculation in 1926.Incidentally he also happened to be a resident student of the Siddaganga Mutt for a short juncture during this period.

Later he joined his degree course in Arts from the legendary Central College at Bengaluru with Physics and Mathematics as optional subjects.However he was unable to earn his degree as in the meantime he was named successor of Uddana Shivayogi Swami to lead the Siddaganga Mutt.

Despite his formal education being curtailed he became proficient in Kannada,Sanskrit and English languages.He assumed charge of the Mutt on 11 January 1941.

There is no dearth of Mutts and pontiffs and more so relating to Veerashiva-Lingayat community in the state of Karnataka.And even the practice of imparting free residential education to all deserving children irrespective of their caste background is nothing new.That has been the norm with many a Veerashiva-Lingayat Mutt across the state and neighbouring states,since many decades much before education became a money minting business.

But the very big difference with them and the Sri Siddaganga Mutt headed by Dr Shivakumar Swamiji is that one's caste,religion and regional considerations are of least priority for admission to the residential educational institutions at Siddaganga.

Probably the hallmark of Siddaganga Mutt under the able leadership of Dr Shivakumar Swamiji is providing free residential education to all those who make a beeline seeking for it.According to the Mutt sources,lakhs of students belonging to five generations have been benefitted by such a magnanimous measure and most of the beneficiaries have settled very well in different spheres of life.

Thanks to the philanthrophic policy and philosophy of late Dr Shivakumar Swamiji,lakhs of poor,needy and deserving children who otherwise couldn't have dreamt of reaching out to their aspirations could make it possible.

Again it goes to the credit of visionary approach of Dr Shivakumar Swamiji,130 educational institutions have come into being catering to a variety of fields including primary,secondary and degree education.These institutions are also spread in Sanskrit,Technical,Engineering fields apart from a separate institution for the blind.

The number of children who are being imparted free residential education as of now goes upto around 15,000 which by any yardstick is nothing else but a Herculean task.Many state and national awards have been presented while there was an attempt by some media organisations demanding conferring of Bharat Ratna award.It appeared the move of such lobbying was too late and untimely considering the deteriorating health conditions.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -Manohar Yadavatti

 blog handled by Infinity Techsyst Dharwad,Karnataka,India

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