Unique Sankranti Celeberations by RSS in Chennai

For the Beach walkers it was a pleasant and rare sight to witness a refreshing programme at the early hours of the day.  Yes.  They were witnessing the Chennai RSS Sankranti function.

RSS Chennai has built a tradition, which is more than 5 decades, of celebrating Sankranti function on the shores of Chennai beach precisely at the time of sun rise. The Swayamsevaks exactly at the stroke of 6.39 a.m., the time of sunrise, performed 13 suryanamaskars with mantra.

Samudra Pooja was also performed and Arti was given to Samudra Mata. Bhagwa Dwaja was hoisted at the Kali temple. Sri D Shankar Pranth Shareerik Pramuk (Uttar Tamilnadu) spoke on the occasion.  Pointing to the meaning of Sankranti i.e. change for a better life, he referred to the present dissolutionment on account of the happenings in our country like the degradation of moral values among men and women on account of the western culture, large scale religious Conversions, Islamic terrorism and caste clash and amidst this gloomy picture, the presence of Sangh spread all over the nation and also on account of individuals and groups initiative bring lot of hope and faith.  

He further informed that during this just held 150th year of Swami Vivekananda celebrations, in Uttar Tamilnadu alone Sangh Swayamsevaks could mobilise 4.5 lakh people who offered pushpanjali in as many as 19000 places. The important personalities like Shri N Rangaswamy Chief Minister of Pondicherry and a few Tamilnadu state ministers and host of elected representatives at various levels enthusiastically participated in our programmes. He added that there is a welcome change even among youngsters to return to our roots and lead a simple and value based life.  To cite an example an IT professional who was offered a hefty monthly increase in salary decided to quit the job and start his agricultural activities. The function was concluded with Sangh Prarthana. Sweet Pongal was distributed to all the Swayamsevaks.

The highlight of Chennai RSS Sankranti (Pongal) function today was the participation of 5 different community leaders namely C N Ramamurthy (State President of Vanniar community), Sri Arunachala Chettiar (State President of All India Chettiar community), Sri Muthukumar (State Secretary of Dhobi Community), Sri Kothandaraman  (Tamilnadu Yadava Community Secretary), Sri Lal Singh (State President of Jain Community). Sri Mahalingam Gurukkal, Sri Ramagopalan, Senior Sangh Pracharak and all the Pranth Adhikaris present in Chennai participated in the function. Around 870 Swayamsevaks including 25 women participated in the function.