Lucknow: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that no one will be able to harm India till the flag of Sanatan continues to fly high.“The country’s spiritual traditions preserved social unity and cultural consciousness even when foreign invaders attacked its sacred sites,” Yogi said during his visit to Unchahar to attend Shri Shiv Mahapuran Katha.“As long as the tradition of ‘katha’ continues, the flag of Sanatan will continue to fly, and if Sanatan’s flag remains high, no one will be able to harm India,” he said.“We did not limit ‘dharm’ to modes of worship. We embraced it as the vital life force of society, linking it to our duties and regarding it as the motivating power of the nation,” he said.Yogi said that though political weaknesses forced the country to confront foreign invaders during the medieval period, the wisdom from ‘Vyas Peeths’ (traditional seats of spiritual discourse) continued to foster social unity while advancing India’s cultural and spiritual uplift.“Goswami Tulsidas worked to unite society and awaken its consciousness through Ram Katha. He was offered a position as one of the ‘Navratnas’ in Akbar’s court, but he made it clear that his only king was Ram,” he said.Yogi added that during that period, the proclamation of ‘Raja Ramchandra Ki Jai’ through Ramlilas and Ram Katha was a clarion call that awakened society’s consciousness.“In Sanatan tradition, devotion to God is like a person’s desires getting fulfilled. In Ramayan, when Hanuman ji attained devotion to the Lord, he was revered by people. Even today, every follower of Sanatan Dharm feels blessed by worshipping Hanuman. Devotion to Shiv also takes a person forward on the path of public welfare and well-being,” he said.Devotion to Shiv was similar across the country, even though one’s attire, food habits and lifestyles might be different in different parts of India, Yogi remarked, adding that ‘Jyotirlingas’ of Shiv strengthen India’s cultural unity.Talking about UP’s spiritual heritage, Yogi said: “The word ‘maryada’ makes one turn towards Ayodhya. In a discussion on consciousness, one looks at Kashi. When it comes to devotion, one looks at Mathura-Vrindavan and in a discussion on harmony, one looks at Prayagraj.”“The lands of Naimisharanya and Shukteerth carried forward, thousands of years ago, the tradition of knowledge which the sages preserved through the Puranas for the generations to come,” he said.
