Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated a 45-hour meditation session at the famous Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu.
Arriving by helicopter from nearby Thiruvananthapuram, Modi first paid homage at the Bhagavathi Amman temple before taking a ferry to the rock memorial. His meditation will continue until June 1.
Clad in a dhoti and white shawl, the Prime Minister took part in the temple rituals and circumambulated the ‘Garbhagriha’. The priests performed a special ‘aarti’ ceremony and Modi received the temple’s ‘prasad’, which included a shawl and a framed photograph of the presiding deity.
PM Modi reached the rock memorial on a state-run ferry and began meditating at the ‘Dhyan Mandapam’ adjacent to the memorial, which serves as a meditation hall for visitors.
What is Vivekananda Rock Memorial?
The Vivekananda Rock Memorial holds great spiritual significance as it is believed that Swami Vivekananda meditated on this rock for three days and three nights after swimming from the mainland in 1892, and eventually attained enlightenment.
The monument has: Sripada Mandapam and Vivekananda Mandapamas well as a life-sized bronze statue of the revered philosopher and saint.
In 1963, ahead of Swami Vivekananda’s birth centenary, the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee, spearheaded by RSS activist Eknath Ranade, began work to commemorate the site of his enlightenment. The memorial was formally inaugurated in 1970 by the then president VV Giri.
How to get there?
Located on a rocky islet about 500 metres off Vavathurai Beach in Kanniyakumari, the rock monument can be reached by regular ferries operated by the Tamil Nadu government.
Also read: Why PM Modi chose to meditate at Vivekananda Rock in Kanniyakumari after the 2024 election campaign is over
Reasons for PM Modi’s visit
Modi’s visit to the Rock will be his first sojourn to the place. He had earlier chosen to meditate at the Kedarnath caves after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This time, he has chosen the spiritually significant site at the southernmost tip of the mainland for his retreat.
Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai told media that PM Modi’s visit to the memorial was a private event.
“This is a personal visit of the prime minister,” Annamalai said, adding that that was the reason why no leaders or cadres from his party attended the event.
Meanwhile, heightened security measures were in place across Kanniyakumari district as security personnel congregated at the monument premises. Around 2,000 police personnel have been deployed and surveillance by the Tamil Nadu Police’s Coast Guard, Coast Guard and Navy has also been intensified.
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(With inputs from PTI)
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Location: Tamil Nadu, India
First revealed: 30 May 2024 21:03 IST
