Mumbai Set to Welcome Acharya Mahashraman

Mumbai: The Jain community in the city has organised a grand welcome event for Jain monk Acharya Mahashraman of the Terapanth sect on Saturday. The event is being held at NESCO grounds, Goregaon, and will be attended by the Chief Minister, Deputy CM, senior bureaucrats, prominent leaders from the community, dignitaries, and over 15,000 people. The event will be open to the public wherein Jain monks will encourage people towards de-addiction. 

About Acharya Mahashraman

Acharya Mahashraman has been a monk for 50 years and is the senior most leader of the sect with nearly 800 sadhus and sadhvis. He comes from a religious family in Rajasthan and took diksha (ascetic life) at the age of 11. 

“The Terapanth sect was started nearly 250 years ago by Acharya Bhikshu, who sought strict adherence to its tenets,” said Manohar Gokharu, the event’s chief manager. The larger following of this sect is from Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. Acharya Mahashraman, however, has lakhs of followers across all religions, said his followers and devotees. 

Mahashraman is also the second monk to visit the city for Chaturmas after Acharya Tulsi, who visited the city 70 years ago. Acharya Mahapragya, his predecessor, visited the city 20 years ago but did not stay for Chaturmas – the monsoon period when Jain monks are stationed at one place for nearly five months but are otherwise not expected to be stationed at one place. 

Anuvrat Andolan

“He is carrying forward Anuvrat Andolan that Acharya Tulsi started 75 years ago. Anuvrat Andolan is about making society better. The main work of Acharya Mahashraman has been promoting sadbhavana (harmony), naitikta (ethics / integrity) and vyasan (de-addiction). From the time of Acharya Tulsi and Mahapragya, even Dr Rajendra Prasad and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru have supported and been part of this,” said Gokharu. 

After his stay in Goregaon, Mahashraman will walk to other areas in the city before settling at Nandanvan at Ghodbunder Road. As such a big area is not possible in Mumbai, they will be staying in Thane where the space of their stay has been upgraded into a mini-city that can accommodate 5,000 people. A helipad has been added to facilitate easy access to ministers and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat.

Despite the ruling party leaders and right wing members featuring in the invite list, the organisers insist that the event is apolitical and people from all parties and MLAs from the city are invited. “Acharya-ji is not involved in politics. It is just that on the first day it will be the CM and Deputy CM. We cannot have just politicians. There has to be some dignity kept of the event,” said Gokharu.