CHENNAI: Sanatana Dharma does not discriminate among humans nor professes untouchability as some people contend, Governor RN Ravi said on Saturday. Discrimination and untouchability have no place in Sanatana Dharma, he asserted while taking part in the golden jubilee celebrations of Raghavendra Swami Mutt in Triplicane.
Ravi said, “Sanatana Dharma is so inclusive that it does not leave anyone. Distortions came up during foreign invasions and a large section of people tend to forget our origin. Many people believe that this country was born in 1947. This is a joke.
“This is a ‘Sanatan Rashtra.’ Great sages like Adi Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva conveyed that we are part of a family and we are all equal.” To drive home the point, Ravi explained: “We are all humans and have some ailments. These ailments have to be treated --- they have to be cleansed to make the body healthy. These ailments cannot define who we are.
This beautiful city of Chennai is home to great artists, intellectuals, spiritual leaders and men and women of literature. But in this city, there are some places where we have open gutters and sewers. Now Chennai cannot be defined by these gutters and sewers. These are aberrations and have to be cleansed and corrected. If anyone tries to say that Sanatana Dharma has discrimination and untouchability, it is far from the truth. These distortions cannot define the original.”
Stating that Tamil Nadu is a holy land that gave birth to a galaxy of innumerable saints, Ravi said even sages born in other places, like Swami Vivekananda and Shri Aurobindo, got realisation after visiting this land. Ravi also said Tamil Nadu sustained Sanatana Dharma. Great sages were born on this land and they spread the light to the whole country.