The Pran Prathishtha or consecration ceremony of Ayodhya Ram Mandir, set for January 22, 2024, is the ultimate victory for the families of lakhs of individuals who gave their lives for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. As all Hindus excitedly await Shri Ram’s historic return to his birthplace, the holy city of Ayodhya, we must remember the sacrifices all the Karsevaks made over the course of 500 years for the Ram Mandir movement.
Nevertheless, we should also acknowledge several such individuals who, in their own unique way, made enormous sacrifices and endured arduous penances in the hope of witnessing the construction of the Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya one day.
Saraswati Devi would break her 30-year-long maun vrat by chanting ‘Ram Siyaram’ during the consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir
Saraswati Devi Agarwal, an 85-year-old resident of Karamtand in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, is one such person. She has kept a vow of silence (Maun Vart) for 30 years and pledged to break it only after the Ram Mandir is erected in Ayodhya. Her joy now has no bounds because what she wished for has finally come true. She is now scheduled to break her three-decade penance on January 22 during the consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. She will be breaking her maun vrat by seeking the blessing of Ram Lalla. “Ram…Siyaram’ are the first words that Saraswati Devi would utter as she would break her silence.
The Shri Ram Temple trust has invited Saraswati Devi to participate in the Pran Pratishtha event. Her family is thrilled with the invitation. On January 8, her brothers would take her to Ayodhya. Manish Das and Shashi Das, students of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the head of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra, will welcome her at the Ayodhya Dham railway station. Aggarwal will stay in Swamiji’s ashram, Patthar Mandir Chhoti Chhawni for the next four months.
Saraswati Devi’s spiritual journey
According to her son Hariram Agarwal, Saraswati Devi commenced her spiritual journey in May 1992 when she visited Ayodhya and met Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the head of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust. He told her to circumambulate (parikrama) the Kamtanath Mountain. She proceeded to Chitrakoot on his orders and stayed in Kalpavas for seven and a half months, subsisting on a glass of milk per day and circumambulating the 14-kilometer path around Kamtanath mountain every day. After finishing the parikrama, she returned to Ayodhya. On December 6, 1992, she met Swami Nritya Gopal Das, who motivated her to observe Maun Vrat (vow of silence). She pledged that she would break her silence only on the day the Ram temple was consecrated.
Saraswati Devi married Devkinandan Agarwal 65 years ago. Devkinandan Agarwal, who hailed from the Bhonra village in Uttar Pradesh, passed away 35 years ago. The couple had eight children, four sons and four daughters, three of whom have since passed away. Saraswati Devi was born in Rajasthan and never attended school, but her husband provided her with the basics of education. She eventually learned to read and write by looking at books and has been since, regularly reading religious books like the Ram Charit Manas. She lives a very simple life and eats only once a day that too only Satvik food.
When she informed her family of her desire to observe the vow of silence, they welcomed and supported her spiritual journey.
Modi is Raja Dashrath of Ayodhya while Yogi is sage Vashishtha: Saraswati Devi says her sacrifices have paid off
Saraswati Devi has now reacted to the consecration ceremony invitation that was issued to her. Because she does not speak, she expressed her gratitude by writing on a piece of paper, “My life is complete.” Ram Lalla called me for the pran pratishtha ceremony. My prayers and meditation have proved fruitful. After thirty years, I shall break my maun vrat with Ram Naam,” she wrote, as she compared PM Narendra Modi to Raja Dashrath, the king of the Kosala kingdom and a scion of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism and Yogi Adityanath with sage Vashishtha, one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis.
