Dwarka Peeth Seer Shakaracharya Swami Swarupanand Saraswati has sent an invitation to the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi to participate in the 'Bruhad Dharma Sansad'.
A delegation on behalf of the seer that arrived in Shirdi on August 10 and handed over the invitation to the deputy executive officer of Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi Appasaheb Shinde. The invitation extended to the trust is to attend the two day meeting — Dharma Sansad, to be held at Kabirdham in Kavardha district of Chhatisgarh on August 24-25, and present their views.
Only some time back, Shankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati's remarks against Sai Baba and the trust had raked a controversy till the devotees of Sai Baba decided to ignore the remarks.
Speaking to the media, Vidyanand, a member of the seer's delegation, said that they had come to Shirdi on behalf of Swami Sswarupananda to end the controversy following the remarks by the Shankaracharya. "Swami Swarupananda himself has sent us to end this dispute and has urged the Sansthan Trust to attend the two-day Dharma Sansad and present their views. The meet will be attended by Swami Swarupananda himself, Shankaracharyas of Shringeri and Puri Peeth and other seers," Vidyanand said.
While the delegation met the officials of the trust and spoke to the media, they did not visit the temple. When asked about it, Vidyanand replied. "We are here to perform the duty assigned by my Guru (Shakaracharya Swami Swarupanand), which we have done. God is everywhere," he exhorted.
While the police beefed up security during the delegation's visit, it was informed that the delegation members did not visit the temple only to avoid a possible uproar by devotees and any chaos thereafter.
Public Relations Officer of Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi Mohan Yadav, said that the delegation from Swami Swarupanand including Vidyananda has given the invitation for two-day Dharma Snasad and it has been accepted by Sansthan's deputy executive officer Appasaheb Shinde. The invitation will be placed before three-member-committee of the Sansthan Trust to decide on it, Yadav said.
