Swami Swarupananda inaugurates Siddhesvara Dham amid rituals and ceremonies

PURAN TAMANG
NAMCHI, 08 Nov: The much awaited Siddhesvara Dham at Solophok, Namchi, South Sikkim was finally inaugurated today by the hands of Sri Jagadguru Sankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati. Swami Swarupananda arrived at Solophok Char Dham Guest House on the evening of 07 November.
The ‘bhumi puja’ for the construction of the Char Dham, which is a replica of four pilgrimage centers of India, had been conducted in the year 2007 by the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling in the presence of his then cabinet colleagues.
The inaugural programme kicked off at around 9 am today followed with purification prayers, chanting of ‘slokas’ and other rituals. This was then followed by ‘pran pratistha’ of the replicas of all pilgrim centers and the statues/ idols of God and Goddesses; this was done by Swami Sankaracharya.
After the rituals were over everyone gathered in a hall located within the premises of the Char Dham where Swami Swarupananda was offered a shawl by the Chief Minister as a token of respect and welcome. The Swami too offered ‘khadas’ to the CM and  his wife Tika Maya Chamling as a token of blessing and love.
The CM in his brief address expressed his gratitude and happiness and thanked Swamiji for having come to Sikkim and for having bestowed his blessings. He also thanked the Swami for having performed the auspicious ritual of ‘pran pratishta’.
During his address he also sought the Guruji’s blessings for the preservation and nurturing of the culture and tradition of Sikkim along with its spiritual ambience. 
Sri Jagadguru Sankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati also shared his words of blessings which had in them subtle spiritual messages. He suggested the gathering to follow one’s religion with commitment and advised them to remember their religion and their duty towards it.
Guruji also cited examples and gave moral lessons and mentioned that as humans we should have spiritual emotion and should internalize the problems of others as well. He urged that the people should always work towards the betterment of living beings and the universe as a whole.
He added that Sikkim is a beautiful and a blessed place so its tranquility and the positive aspects should be safeguarded. The disciples accompanying Guruji too shared their moral views in brief.
Siddhesvara Dham at Solophok Namchi which is a Pilgrim cum Cultural Heritage Complex is a project worth around Rs. 100 crores and is an asset which will boost the tourism industry specially the pilgrim tourism in Sikkim.
The place which is a pilgrim cum cultural heritage complex is built by Rural Development and Management Department with state of art technology and has all the capacity to turn out to be the most sort after tourist as well as pilgrimage destination of Sikkim in the near future.