Varkala and Sree Narayana Guru
A new phase began in the Guru’s life in 1904. He decided to give up his wandering life and settle down in a place to continue his Sadhana (spiritual practice) he choose Sivagiri, twenty miles to the north of Thiruvananthapuram. Varkala Sivagiri a place of natural beauty with cliffs facing the Arabian Sea at the foots of ‘Eastern Ghats’. Goddess ‘Amba’ became his deity of worship. He built a beautiful shrine for Goddess AMBA and an ashram for him and his followers. Now Varkala has become a religious center and a pilgrimage center and tourist spot. Every year during December-January is the pilgrimage time when lakhs of people mainly his followers from Ezhava community visit the place.
Next, he started a Sanskrit school in Varkala. Poor boys and orphans were taken under his care. They were given education regardless of caste distinctions. At Varkala a temple for Anjengo (Anjaneya) was built. Temples were built at different places – Trichur, Kannur, Tellicherry , Calicut, Mangalore. A temple was built for Sharada Devi in 1912, at Sivagiri. Worship at such temples helped to reduce to a large extent superstitious beliefs and practices. In 1913, he founded an Ashram at Alwaye. It was called Advaita Ashram. This was an important event in his spiritual quest. That Ashram was dedicated to a great principle – Om Sahodaryam Sarvatra (all men are equal in the eyes of God). This became the motto of the new Ashram.
When Narayana Guru attained the age of sixty, his birth day was observed throughout the west-coast from Mangalore to Sri Lanka. Between the years 1918 and 1923 he visited and taught in Sri Lanka. In 1921, a Conference of Universal Brotherhood was held at Alwaye. Again in 1924, a conference of all religions was held at Alwaye. The Guru stressed the need for a Brahma Vidyalaya for a comparative study of different religious faiths. An institution called NarayanaGurukula was established at the Nilgiris. Sree Narayana Guru Devan has many followers and disciples. Nataraja Guru a notable disciple of Sree Narayana Guru introduced Guru’s visions and ideals to the western world. He worked towards buidling ‘Gurukulams’ across the world. He was a great scholar and had a never ending thirst for knowledge. He had pure devotion for Sree Narayana Guru.
Tags: sree narayana guru, varakala, yugapurushan
