Noted spiritual guru Swanand Pund feted

Nagpur: Chhatrapati Seva Pratishthan organized a Jijamata Vidwat Gaurav Puraskar Sohala at Scientific Hall, Laxmi Nagar, on Monday to honour the religious leader Swanand Pund. Vandana Khushalani, former principal of Arya Dayanand Kanya Mahavidyalaya, ascetic Sadgurudas Maharaj, and Shrinivasa Varakhedi, vice-chancellor of Kavikulguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Ramtek, were present on the dais.

Sadgurudas presented Pund with the prestigious Gaurav Puraskar, and a memento for his exemplary work.

“After we take birth, only one thing is certain and that is death,” said Pund, expressing his views about how pregnable life is. Speaking about afterlife, he said, “If Yamraj asks me what did I do in my human life, I would say I was blessed to receive the love of people.”

He went on to talk about his childhood and the stories his grandmother told him. “There was this one story in particular, about a sparrow and a crow which stuck with me. The story taught me about how we should not let go of each other and always support our family,” he said.

Vandana Khushalani spoke about how important Shivaji Maharaj was to ancient India and how his teachings affected the common people. She also praised Jijamata for raising Shivaji to become such a path-breaking leader.

The crew of the event, then sang a song which was written and composed by Sadgurudas in the memory of Jijamata, mother of Shivaji.

Elaborating on the award, programme director Prasana Barlinge said, “This is the 36th Chhatrapati Seva Pratishthan award function that we have organized. This award is given to people for their contribution in the field of religion and culture.”

The event was coordinated by Sanjay Deshkar, Sanjay Barhate, Sunil Ubale and Hanuman Deshpande.

(Reporting by Shristi Sankrit and Shwetal Kothari)