(TibetanReview.net, Dec19’23) – The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has decided to invite seers, priests and religious leaders from across the country, as well as top leaders of people from all walks of life, including industrialists, scientists, actors, army officers, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardees, and many others, reported the indianexpress.com Dec 19.
The guest list includes Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Baba Ramdev, industrialists Gautam Adani of the Adani Group, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Natarajan Chandrasekaran of the Tata Group, S N Subrahmanyan of the L&T Group, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Arun Govil, who played Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan TV series, film director Madhur Bhandarkar, lyricist Prasoon Joshi among others, the report said.
“Four thousand saints have been invited, representing different traditions across the country, from every state — right from Arunachal Pradesh to Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Andaman Nicobar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. Religious leaders of 125 different sects have been invited, mahants of 13 Akhadas, acharyas of six darshan, Shankaracharyas to Baba Ramdev and Amma of Kerala Maa Amrtanandamayi to Dalai Lama and Rahul Bodhi from Mumbai,” Champat Rai, Secretary of the Trust, has said.
Rai has said the puja for the Pran Pratishtha (idol consecration ceremony) would start from Jan 16 and the actual “muhrat” (auspicious beginning) would be around 12 noon on Jan 22, when the Pran Pratishtha ceremony would be performed. He has added that after the actual event, puja would continue for another 48 days.
The Dalai Lama is currently at Bodh Gaya, where he will inaugurate the International Sangha Forum 2023 on Bridging Traditions, Embracing Modernity: A Dialogue on the Buddha’s Teaching in Today’s World organized by his office and The International Buddhist Confederation over Dec 20-22. The participants will come from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia as well as from Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Russia, Mongolia and other parts of the world.
On Dec 23, he will participate in a World Peace Prayer Session with the participants in the conference at the Mahabodhi Stupa.
Over Dec 29-31, he will give teachings at the Kalachakra Teaching Ground. He will later receive a Long Life Prayer offering on Jan 1 at the same venue.