Team India cricketer Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma along with daughter Vamika recently visited Rishikesh at the ashram of Swami Dayanand Giri, the spiritual guru of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Virat Kohli is currently taking break from cricket and is not part of Team India's squad for the New Zealand series. However, Virat will make his comeback in the upcoming Australia Tour of India series which is named as Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ahead of the Australia series, Virat Kohli along with his wife Anushka visited Rishikesh to seek blessings from spiritual guru Swami Dayanand Giri and their photos have been going viral on social media. Notably, earlier this month, cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma had paid a visit to Baba Neem Karoli Ashram, the guru who had inspired Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Julia Roberts. Virat Kohli's visit to Swami Dayanand Giri's ashram has raised many eyebrows and people are the world are now curious to know about the spiritual guru. Below is everything you need to know about who is Swami Dayanand Giri or about Swami Dayanand Giri-
Who is Swami Dayanand Giri?
For the unversed, Swami Dayanand Giri was a teacher at Rishikesh's Dayanand Saraswati Ashram and Coimbatore's Arsh Vidya Gurukulam. He taught Vedanta and Sanskrit in India as well as abroad. The guru who was awarded by the United Nations in 2005 established All India Movement for Seva (public welfare) in 2000. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reportedly been in touch with Dayanand Giri since his RSS days. After Modi proposed International Yoga Day in United Nations, Dayanand Giri had personally congratulated him.
Swami Dayanand Giri's website says, "Swamiji was unattached with the material world and at the tender age of 19, he left his home at Vill. Shahpur near Sargodha (now in Pakistan) with absolute renunciation, in search of God and Real Truth of life. After about one year of visiting various places and seers, he arrived at Kailash Ashram Rishikesh (Haridwar) and met Maha Mandaleshwar Swami Vishnudevanand ‘Giri’ Ji Maharaj which marked the beginning of learning Sanskrit language and study of scriptures and spiritual books under the guidance of his mentor Swami Vishnudevanand ‘Giri’ Ji Maharaj."
Swami Dayanand Giri passed away in 2015 at the age of 87 after a prolonged illness.
Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma Rishikesh Visit
As per reports, Virat Kohli and Anushka have reached here in connection with religious rituals. The religious rituals are likely to take place on Tuesday (January 31). Virat and Anushka visited Swami Dayanand Giri Ashram in Rishikesh with their daughter Vamika. Ashram’s Public Relations Officer Gunanand Rayal told that he reached here and visited the Samadhi of Brahmalin Dayanand Saraswati. He also performed Ganga Aarti along with saints and pundits at Ganga Ghat. Reports further suggest that along with him his yoga trainer has also stayed in the ashram.
Virat Kohli & his wife Anushka Sharma Visits the ashram of Rishikesh Swami Dayanand Giri ji in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand & also visited the Samadhi of Brahmalin Dayanand Saraswati, as well as performed Ganga Aarti with saints and pundits at Ganga Ghat 🚩#ViratKohli𓃵 #anushkasharma pic.twitter.com/PkCUadefv8
— Sunil Veer (@sunilveer08) January 30, 2023
Coming to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the four-match Test series against Australia will be starting on February 9. The series is quite important for the country as it will decide whether Team India qualifies for ICC World Test Championships final, which is set to take place later this year.