Udupi: Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejwar Mutt on Thursday said that as part of ‘bhakti deeksha’, Dalits would be given ‘naama deeksha’ and ‘mantra deeksha’ on the occasion of Paryaya Peetha.
The seer who will ascend the Peetha this month speaking to media persons on Thursday said that he was keen on administering ‘bhakti deeksha’ to Dalits during his two-year term. Such a practice was also followed by social reformer Basavanna and it would instil religious discipline, he said.

“‘Naama deeksha’ will be administered after a person takes a vow not to consume alcohol and eat non-vegetarian food. Those who have quit drinking alcohol and non-vegetarian food for months will be administered ‘mantra deeksha’,” the seer said.

“Under ‘naama deeksha’, Dalits would learn songs on Vishnu and Shiva. As part of ‘mantra deeksha’, they would learn some simple mantras. These are necessary to infuse religious values and religious discipline. This will prevent religious conversion” he added.

“I believe in tolerance. There is no scope for intolerance. I believe in taking both minority and majority communities together. There will be no cause for hurting sentiments of any community,” he said.

“I will introduce ‘ede snana’ at the Subramanya temple on the Udupi Krishna Mutt premises. We cannot take the argument [of a section of activists] that allowing it will be akin to disrespect to the prasadam” he opined.