Chennai, Jan 21: There is nothing wrong in joining
hands with a spiritual leader like Sathya Sai Baba for the
benefit of the poor, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,
known for his atheist ideology, said on Sunday.
Sharing a platform with Baba, at a function attended by a
galaxy of Union ministers and chief ministers to felicitate
Sai Baba for repairing the canal bringing Krishna water from
Andhra Pradesh to Chennai for drinking purpose at a cost of
about Rs 200 crore, Karunanidhi said he was attending the
function because he accepted Sai Baba's words "service to
mankind is service to god".
"Whether I accept god or not is not important. What is
important is whether my deeds are acceptable to god, if at all
god existed," he said.
While refraining from addressing Sai Baba as 'Bhagwan'
(lord), the DMK supremo said spiritual leaders like Sai Baba
were working for people's welfare. He said he had "always
differentiated between good spiritual leaders like Sai Baba
and fake godmen".
Spiritual leaders like Sai Baba were only serving the
people, he said, adding though Cauvery and Kollidam were
different rivers, the water flowing in them was the same and
their purpose was the same.
Just like the water flowing in those two rivers helps
cultivate crops and produce food for mankind, he and Sai Baba
had "come together for the welfare of the poor", Karunanidhi
said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, January 21, 2007, 00:00