This is reminiscent of his two-day visit to Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand at the end of the 2019 election campaign, during which he undertook 15 hours of ekantva (solitary meditation).
The following reasons seem to be behind the Prime Minister’s decision to meditate in Kanyakumari:
The rock where Swami Vivekananda attained enlightenment
Vivekananda Rock is a small rocky islet located about 500 metres from Vavathurai Beach in Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of mainland India, at the confluence of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It is now accessible by a 15-minute ferry ride from Vavathurai.
But in 1892, the Hindu philosopher and saint Swami Vivekananda swam off the coast of Kanyakumari to a rocky islet to meditate. His disciples believe he meditated there for three days and three nights and attained enlightenment. Swami Vivekananda wandered around India for four years, eventually completing his philosophy in Kanyakumari.
In an 1894 letter he wrote to Swami Ramkrishnananda (not to be confused with his guru Sri Ramakrishna), “Sitting on the last rock in India at the Mother Kumari temple in Cape Comorin, I came up with a plan. We are sannyasins who go about and teach people metaphysics. It is all madness. Has not our Gurudeva used to say, ‘Hunger is not good for religion’? It is only ignorance that has caused those poor people to lead a beastly life. We have been sucking their blood and trampling on them.” (Quoted from S.P. Agarwal’s Mother Kumari) Social Role of the Gita1993).
On the eve of Swami Vivekananda’s birth centenary in 1963, the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee, led by RSS activist Eknath Ranade, undertook an endeavour to commemorate the place of his enlightenment. The rock memorial was formally inaugurated in 1970 by President VV Giri.
Behind the Prime Minister’s Decision
Modi has long looked up to Swami Vivekananda as a role model and, as a young man, was a member of the Ramakrishna Mission, the spiritual charity founded by Vivekananda.
Speaking at the mission’s 125th anniversary celebrations last year, he said: “Swami Vivekananda had a grand vision for India and I am sure he would be watching with pride as India works to realise this vision.”
The choice of Vivekananda Rock as the meditation site for Prime Minister Modi is significant given his strong push into the South during this year’s Lok Sabha election campaign. More than a third of the Prime Minister’s visits to the South have been to the country. Last 3 yearsIn 2024 alone, he plans to visit Tamil Nadu seven times.
Five southern states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka — account for 131 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. Tamil Nadu alone accounts for 39. Prime Minister Modi has predicted that the BJP will emerge as the largest party in the south. PTI On May 20, he said: “We have already seen an increase in support and we will see a significant increase in our seat share and vote share in the region.”
