Superstar Rajinikanth has a deep bond with Uttarakhand which brings him to the hill state almost every year. He says he finds peace in its atmosphere.
The southern star, who is regarded nothing less than a demigod by his millions of followers, this time arrived in Rishikesh on Sunday night with his daughter Aishwarya.
He stayed at the Dayanand Ashram and attended the ‘Ganga aarti’ in the evening. He also prayed at the ‘samadhi’ of his guru.
Later, he did meditation for some time.
The Dayanand Ashram is situated on the banks of Ganga River and is a unique centre for the study of Vedas and Sanskrit. It is unique in the sense that the lessons are conducted in English. There is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The ashram was established during the sixties by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, a well known scholar of Sanskrit and Vedas.
An office bearer at the ashram, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Rajinikanth is a very pious man and whenever he comes here, he stays in one of the rooms and eats the food offered in the ashram. He is always keen to know about the activities and programmes in the ashram.”
Rajinikanth went out for a stroll on Monday morning and then left with his daughter for Kedarnath and Badrinath in a helicopter.
He offered prayers at both the temples where he was welcomed by the temple officials.
The superstar told reporters that he had come to seek the blessings of the Lord and his Guru for his upcoming film “Darbar”.
“We have completed the shooting of ‘Darbar’ and I am here to pray for the success of the film,” he said.
Last year, he had visited the temples to pray for the success of his film “2.0” before its release. He has also visited the place before the release of “Robot”.
Rajinikanth seems to be fascinated by the serenity of Uttarakhand. Last year, in July, he had stayed in Mussorie for the shooting of a film. He had visited the Swamiram Himalayan University in Jollygrant and had offered tributes at the ‘samadhi’ of Swamiram.
According to sources, Rajnikanth has been visiting Uttarakhand since the past one decade and the actor says that he finds peace in the atmosphere here.