Sivaganga priest dies day before jeeva samadhi plan

MADURAI: A 77-year-old priest and spiritual counsellor Sri Lakshmi Surendirar Munivar, who was preparing to attain jeeva samadhi on Saturday in Sivaganga, died a day before allegedly due to some illness.

According to sources, Surendirar Munivar, a native of Madurai, was staying in an ashram in Melavaniyankudi of Sivaganga for seven years and preaching spirituality to devotees. Recently, a devotee informed Durai Anand, Sivaganga Municipal Chairman, claiming that the priest was being forced by a person to eventually attain jeeva samadhi (soulful meditation).

After the issue reached the Sivaganga Town police, the ailing priest was taken to the Sivaganga Government Medical College Hospital around 5 pm on Thursday. But despite treatment, he breathed his last at 7.15 am on Friday.

According to police, the priest was not forcibly held by anybody. In the recent past, pamphlets carrying the image of the priest with a message about his plan to attain jeeva samadhi between 10.42 am and 11.43 am in the name of ‘Aathmajothi Arakattalai’ were distributed inviting devotees to witness the event.

He used to undertake fasting during Tamil months of Karthigai and Margazhi. The ongoing month being Karthigai, he did not have food and his health detriorated. Based on a letter from Elango, secretary of the Arakattalai to the police, the funeral of the priest would be held at the Ashram, where he spent his days. Sivaganga Town police have filed a case under Section 174 of CrPC, sources said.