Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi visited the ashram of spiritual leader Jagadguru Rambhadracharya in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday. During the visit, General Dwivedi sought blessings and held discussions with the spiritual leader, saints, and students at the ashram.

Jagadguru Rambhadracharya told General Dwivedi that he was given the same diksha (initiation) with the Ram Mantra that Lord Hanuman received before he went to Lanka to rescue Sita from the demon king Ravan. The spiritual leader also made a special request to the army chief. He asked for a guru dakshina (offering or honorarium to a guru or teacher in Hinduism) in the form of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

This request came shortly after India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7. The operation was a response to a terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, where 26 civilians lost their lives. The Indian Army targeted nine terror bases in Pakistan and PoK during the operation. Cross-border firing between India and Pakistan continued for four days until a ceasefire was reached on May 10.

Though calm has returned along the India-Pakistan border, India has said that Operation Sindoor is still ongoing.

Diksha, or initiation, is a spiritual process that creates a strong guru-disciple relationship and helps a person prepare for a path in the world.

Jagadguru Rambhadracharya is a well-known Hindu spiritual leader, Sanskrit scholar, and philosopher who has written many books.

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