Every Monday, the Sri Jagadguru Tontadarya Samsthana Mutt in Dambal-Gadag comes alive with various social and cultural programmes.
The session called Shivaanubhava (which literally means the feel of God) is not restricted just to a spiritual experience.
It extends to all facets of life.
The weekly platform will reach the 2,000th mark this Monday (January 31), leading it to possibly contend for a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
The event is recognised as a gift of the mutt, which itself has grown into a community centre of progressive thoughts in the last three-and-half decades.
One can ask what was not there instead of what was there on this platform.
The event
Folk programmes, family planning, movies, plays, symposiums, birth anniversaries of Buddha, Basava, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Kanakadas and Independence Day, Republic Day and Rajyotsava are all part of the event.
Free eye operation camps, Yakshagana, singing competitions for women and children, poetry reading sessions, agricultural seminars, awareness workshops, all and more find place in the weekly sessions.
Religious events like Moharram, Christmas and Ramzan also find a place at the platform. Then there are puppet shows, fine arts and performing arts events and programmes on pulse polio, naturopathy and AIDS.
People at the event
Shivaanubhava means welfare, truth and beauty. It includes music, drama, literature, folk traditions and health and other things.
According to it, all good thoughts are always structures of the God (Shivaswarupies).
Therefore, at the Shivanubhavas, there are both celebrities and common people.
Sri Dr Pundit Puttaraj Gawai, a blind swamiji of Veereshwar Punyashram in Gadag, delivered the pravachana for the first five weeks of Shivanubhava.
Then the platform was expanded and there were musicians like Dr Mallikarjun Mansoor, Pundit Basavaraj Rajguru, Pundit Narasimhalu Vadavati; doctors like M C Modi; writers like D R Bendre, Patil Puttappa, Pu Ti Na, Dr Channaveer Kanavi, Dr G S Shivarudrappa, Belagere Krishnashastry and Sa Shi Marulaya; film actors like Rajkumar, Ananth Nag, Lokesh and Ashok appeared on the dais.
Field Marshal K M Cariappa, former vicepresident B D Jatti, former chief minister Kengal Hanumantaiah, Dr A M Shaikh, politician M P Prakash, Darian Kabir of England and Dr Rajender Godh have also been part of Shivannubhava. The event also gives equal importance to local artists and the backward communities.
The platform also provided space for movements like Gokak movement, Kalasa- Banduri canal, Dalit movement and Bandaya movement of Kannada literature.
The beginning
The Veerashaiva Pragatisheela Yuvaka Sangh was constituted on October 5, 1970.
A proposal to make it a regular feature by one of the organisers of the event, Panchaksharayya Saunshimath, was accepted by all members.
Finally ‘Shivaanubhava’ took off on Oct 9, 1972, with a lecture on the ‘Importance of Lingadharana’.
The Shivaanubhava, which has been recognised as a social movement to create awareness against superstitions and about progressive thoughts, celebrated its 1000th step on December 7, 8 and 9 in 1991.
The present head of the mutt
When Siddharama Devaru became the head of the mutt and given the name Sri Jagadguru Sri Tontada Siddhalinga Mahaswamiji on July 24, 1974, it marked a new era for the mutt too.
He removed the board that said — ‘No entry to non-lingayats’. He stopped the procession in which the Swamiji sat in a palanquin and the devotees carried it on their shoulders.
He also announced that he will not participate and bless marriages where dowry system existed. He promoted mass marriages by arranging such events at the mutt and participated in mass marriages organised by other social organisations.
The mutt extended its helping hand to the Cancer Hospital in Hubli, construction of Chik Padasalgi Barrage and victims of natural calamities like earthquake and tsunami.
The Swamiji has also been regular at movements related to language, farmers and backward communities.
The seer has been involved in setting up orphanages for children of devadasis. He has created a new tradition by participating in spiritual programmes held at Muslim households.
He has been honoured with the National Communal Harmony Award that was presented by then President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. He has also been felicitated with many prestigious awards like the Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International and the State Rajyotsava Award.