Muslim family offers pada puja to seer in Gadag

GADAG: A Muslim family from Gadag town invited Swaroopananda Bharati seer of Omkar ashram, Kyarekoppa, for pada puja. The seer also had lunch with the family and blessed them. The photos and videos of pada puja went viral on social media as the state has been witnessing disturbing events in the recent past.

The seer visited the Sikhandar Badekhan’s family on Saturday and the Badekhan couple performed the puja according to the seer’s tradition and distributed prasad to the people present on the occasion.

People from both the communities participated in the puja and praised the family for such a step. It was not a surprising incident to the neighbours as the seer has been visiting the Badekhan family during Shravana for the past 10 years. However, this time a few pictures and videos went viral on social media and many people got to know about it. Badekhan is a retired professor and he has been a devotee of Saroopananda seer for many years.

Badekhan’s family also worshipped Lord Shiva. They perform namaz as well as puja and invite people from both the communities. Vijayakumar Katti, a resident, said, “We are happy to see such a rare kind of incident. When we heard about the seer visiting the Badekhan family in our area, we came to see. This family is giving a good message to society.”

Sikhandar said, “We needed a guru to bless us and we found a guru in Swaroopananda seer. He visits our house every year during Shravana and performs puja and blesses us. Our relatives also come every time when the seer visits.”

The seer said, “Sikhandar is a Muslim but he always believes that all traditions are equal. If everybody believes in a guru and knows what this world is, there will be no fights among anybody. Humanity is the same everywhere.”