Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi attended the Karumuthu Thiagarasa Chettiar Memorial Foundation Founder’s Day function and Karumuthu Kannan Memorial Thiruvasakam Essay Competition held at Thiagarasar College in Theppakulam area of Madurai and distributed prizes.
Speaking at the event, he said, “It is from this Dravidian soil that our devotional literature has started and has reached the entire country. Thirumpi Nalayira Divya Prabandham etc. showed the Bhakti movement even to the uneducated.
The archive has documents such as Thiruvasakam across the country before the British rule. But since then it has been destroyed during the British rule.
200 years ago our country was the world leader in higher education and economy, now our country is on the path of development.
Bhakti literature like Thiruvasakam can improve us. In Tamil Nadu, various universities were established by the good people without the involvement of the government and the poor got higher education. Those who follow Sanatana Dharma will think to improve the society and the country.
I read the slokas in the Bhagavad Gita without food. We do not have a fixed curriculum in primary education. So Thiruvasakam etc. should be included in the syllabus. Along with education there should be devotional literature. That is the root. But that root has been cut
The political environment has changed our basic curriculum by teaching the wrong interpretation while spirituality was with education. Thus we are like strangers in our own country. Our generation has not been taught the importance of Meenakshiyamman Temple, Srirangam Temple etc.
Young children should be taught our culture and education along with devotional literature. India is going to develop in the next 25 years. Science and technology are going to have a huge boost in the economy. “India will be the first country in the world without illiteracy,” he said.
