Did Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda Really Visited The Dargah? Know The Truth.

A picture of Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati of Jyotish Peeth is going viral on social media. In the picture, he is seen offering flowers at a Samadhi. Users are claiming that Shankracharya, who once denied going to Ram Mandir, has now visited a dargah. 

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda denied going to any dargah. This is an image from Ramdev peer’s samadhi in Delhi. 

What’s the claim? 

Sharing the image, a social media user wrote, “Didn’t go to Ram Mandir because the rituals happening there were against the scriptures. But in Dargah everything was fine. So I chose to come here.”

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Fact Check- 

A Google Reverse Image Search led us to the same image uploaded by a Facebook user in 2023. As per the information, this image was taken when Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda visited a samadhi of a guru of a devotee in Delhi in 2006. At that time, he was leading a rally for the protection of Ram Setu under the banner of Ramsetu Rakshya Manch. 

Further, we found a tweet by Jyotirmath Shankrcharya on 16 January 2024. In an interview given to The Wire journalist Karan Thapar, Swami Avimukteshwarananda spoke about the viral picture. He had said that this picture was made viral to tarnish his image. He also said that he had never visited Ajmer Sharif Dargah and the viral claim is fake.

In the video, he can be heard saying that when he was in Delhi for a program organized for the protection of Ramsetu, he met a person named Arvind Swami, who invited him and others to his ashram in Delhi. Swami Avimukteshwarananda further had said that Arvind Swami made a replica of Ramdev Peer’s Samadhi and worships it. So, they visited his ashram. At that time, Shankaracharya Maharaj of Puri was also with them. Many eminent saints and mahatmas had also gone there. This picture was from that place and occasion.

Why did Avimukteshwarananda not go to the consecration of Ramlala?

Jyotirmath’s current Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has refused to participate in the Prana Pratishtha of Ram Mandir. He says that the construction of Ram Mandir is incomplete. In such a situation, participating in Prana Pratishtha is against religious beliefs. A lot of controversy has also erupted due to Shankaracharyas not participating in Prana Pratishtha.

Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. The viral image is from 2006 when he visited an ashram of a devotee in Delhi. This is not an image of Swami Avimukteshwarananda visiting a dargah.