NEW DELHI: In a striking assertion, a sitting judge of the Madras High Court has said that those who do not accept the sanctity of their spiritual masters are “barbaric”.According to LiveLaw, Justice GR Swaminathan declared that those who are considered unworthy of ayogya, muttal and kaattumurandi are actually the real barbarians.“In Tamil Nadu, there are rationalists who call us unworthy (Ayogya), fools (muttal) and barbarians (kaattumurandi) because we regard the Guru as God. But I would say those who say this are the real unworthy (Ayogya), fools (muttal) and barbarians (kaattumurandi),” he said.The remarks, made in Tamil during the ‘Guru Vandanam Utsavam’ organized by the Hosur Satsangh, were based on anecdotes of the judge’s personal spiritual experiences, which, according to him, changed his understanding of faith.Recalling an incident during his daughter’s graduation trip to Punjab, he said he and his wife were warned not to travel at night, but they continued the journey anyway. “There was fog on the road, visibility was bad, and then – the car’s tire got punctured,” he said.His wife knew how to change a tire; so she worked with the driver in the freezing fog to fix it while the driver sang “Gurunatha” for about 30 minutes.“That song gave me strength,” he said, describing it as a helpless moment that brought him closer to his faith in the guiding power of his guru.Justice Swaminathan then made a larger spiritual point based on this experience. “God is abstract,” he said. “But the Guru is the living presence of God. You cannot touch the feet of God, but you can touch the feet of your Guru.”It was after this reflection that the judge took aim at what he described as self-styled rationalists in Tamil Nadu, claiming that they were barbaric, worthless and stupid people.The judge recently made headlines for another statement – that he would “keep Sanatana Dharma in his mind” for the rest of his tenure.
