Udupi: Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Paryaya Pejawar Mutt said here on Tuesday that the Lingayat community should remain in the fold of Hindu religion.

Addressing presspersons, the seer said that in his opinion though there were two traditions (Lingayat and Veerashaiva) in the Lingayat community, they were not separate. Lingayat and Veerashaiva were branches of the same religion. The Dwaita and Advaita schools had fundamental philosophical differences but were branches of the same Vedic religion. The two traditions of Lingayat and Veerashaiva could never be separate.

However, as this was an internal matter relating to the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, he would not like to interfere in it. “But if these two traditions are accepted as branches of the same religion, the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community would get more strength. This is my opinion and suggestion. I leave it to that community to decide the rest,” he said. The seer said that when people of both these traditions were worshipping Shiva as their chief deity, doing Shiva Panchakshari Japa and offering prayers to the Shiva Linga, how could they be different or separate from the Hindu religion?

The followers of Lingayat tradition had stated that they did not accept the caste system in Hinduism, he said. But even the followers of Sri Ramakrishna Mission and Arya Samaj did not accept the caste system and so also various other traditions of Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Did that make them separate religion? he asked. He had posed this question some time ago but none had answered it. “Hence, all the Lingayats and Veerashaivas should not separate from Hinduism. They should stay with us. This is my fervent appeal,” he said.

Some had questioned his interference in this matter. “When a brother thinks of leaving a family, the other brothers persuade him not to do so. My fraternal intervention should be seen in this light. Let us all stay together and try to protect our religion and culture,” he said. In today’s society, it was not possible for one community to exploit another community. “In the present political scenario, the minority Brahmin community could not do injustice to the majority non-Brahmin community. Is it correct to blame the Brahmins for the tragedy which took place during the time of Sri Basaveshwara? Is it correct to blame today’s Muslims for the violence during the medieval period in the country?” he said.

“Just as Hindus and Muslims have to live in harmony now, so too communities among Hindus too should live together in harmony. Besides Vaishnavas or the exponent of the Dwaita philosophy Sri Madhwacharya never lived during the period of Sri Basaveshwara,” the seer said.