Mysuru: After Pejawar Seer Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji’s statement that Lingayat community should remain in the fold of Hindu religion as they are not different from each other, Nidumamidi Mutt Seer Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji has said that all Shiva bhakts are not Hindus. He begged to differ from what Pejawar Seer and some other pontiffs had stated recently. Speaking at “Bali Chakravarthi Smaranotsava” programme organised by ‘Bharatha Moola Nivasigala Samskruthi, Sahitya, Adhyayana Mathu Samshodhana Samsthe’ at Town Hall on Friday, he said that a few pontiffs, including Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji, have been claiming that those who worship Shiva are Hindus. It may be recalled here that the Pejawar Seer had said in Udupi that the Dvaita 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. 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 they could be different or separate from the Hindu religion.
