Shivakumara Swamiji no more: Student schools devotee over unfinished food, returns plate

Tumakuru: Shivakumara Swamiji of the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru breathed his last on January 21. The last rites were performed at the mutt premises on Tuesday. Lakhs of people thronged the mutt to pay their last respects to the 111-year-old seer. As the mutt is well known for its anna dasoha (distributing free food to the needy) food was prepared for all the devotees who visited the mutt on Tuesday. The seer had built a hostel, gave free education and free food to lakhs of poor students there. Currently, about 8,500 students take benefit of these privileges. They live a simple life and know the value of food. In such a situation, a devotee who was served food was going to throw rice and sambar when a student who was serving the meals returned the disposable plate to him and asked him to finish the food. The student told the man about the hard work put in to prepare the food and said it should not be wasted. The man was reluctant to finish the food on his plate, but the student was seen saying, ‘No way, you have taken this amount of food by yourself, so kindly finish it and return the plate’.