Mangaluru:

Thousands of devotees will flock to Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya to celebrate Ram Navami on April 17, Arun Yogiraj, who carved the statue of Lord Ram Lala Shared his craft journey.

Arun Yogiraj said in an exclusive interview with news agency ANI that Ram Lala Due to the devotion of Ayodhya devotees towards Lord Ram, the idols created by him are very beautiful.

“I met many devotees in Ayodhya who shared their pain, sacrifice and sometimes love for Lord Ram Lala…I listened to everything…Idol is beautiful with love for Lord Ram Lala…,” Arun Yogiraj said.

Talking about the instant fame he gained after his art work was installed in the iconic Ayodhya temple, Yogiraj said: “The first change I made after sculpting Lord Ram LalaMy statue is that I get a lot of love all over the country. Apart from this, I also get part of the love people have for Lord Shri Ram. Everyone wants to see me. They wanted to talk about the statue of Lord Shri Ram that I had made and in fact, I also decided that I would spend time with people and I wanted to be with people. I keep their love in my heart and will do something for my country again whenever I get the chance. “

Regarding the divine eye of Lord Rama that he made, Mr. Yogiraj said that it was not made by himself but by Lord Rama. Lala he himself.

“Most of the questions people ask are about the eyes of Lord Shri Ram. After looking into the eyes of Lord Shri Ram, everyone feels that they are being spoken to at that moment. It looks like a living building Statue. So they ask me what? I created Lord Ram’s eyes and my answer is always, I did not make them, Lord Ram made them. LalaMr. Yogiraj said.

Mr. Yogiraj shared that earlier, when he was making idols, some boys used to say that Lord Ram seemed to speak to them and now every devotee says the same after Lord Ram’s darshan Lala In Ayodhya temple.

“When I was making the idol of Shri Ram, four or five boys around 18-19 years old used to say that Lord Ram seemed to just speak to them. Now that’s how people reacted. Those boys’ words have now come true. Now the entire country Everyone said that looking into the eyes of Lord Ram, it seemed as if God would speak to them at that moment and his statue was so vivid that it was a huge achievement for the artist,” Mr. Yogiraj said.

Mr. Yogiraj said that contrary to any work of art which is criticized by a considerable number of people, no one criticized him for making the statue of Lord Ram Lala He received nothing but love and appreciation from all his devotees.

“In every piece of art, 70% of people like it and 30% criticize it. But here, I get 100% love and appreciation from people, and not even one person criticized me for this work,” Mr. Yogiraj said.

Mr Yogiraj said that despite working hard for seven months, he felt lucky as he got the opportunity to become Lord Ram Lalaidol.

“I am working from a devotee’s perspective. I want to keep the idol of Lord Shri Ram alive. I have been working hard for 7 months on this and am very happy. It was not difficult for me… This is a huge opportunity for me and it is a blessing from God that he has chosen me to make his statue,” Mr. Yogiraj said.

Talking about food restrictions while making idols of Lord Rama LalaMr. Yogiraj said, “There are some restrictions on food. We have to work very hard as the stone on which the statue of Lord Shri Ram is carved is very hard. My father said that hard work requires more patience. For this, there are restrictions we have on food. Some restrictions, use less oil, and it’s not spicy. We eat beans early in the morning for protein.”

“I have forgotten what our food menu was. But all that didn’t bother me at all. We were just thinking about how to make the idol beautiful. The food was just to fill the belly. It didn’t matter,” said Yogiraj.

Talking about the support he received from his family, Mr Yogiraj said he missed seeing his younger son take his first steps.
“My family is very supportive, especially my wife Vijeta. This is because I have two very young children and I was not there when my son learned to take his first steps. I watched on a video call This process.

However, this is a small sacrifice. These are very small things,” he said.

Yogiraj went on to talk about his wife’s support, saying, “We don’t discuss a lot of things. It’s stressful. I don’t talk to her to make sure she doesn’t get upset. She doesn’t discuss a lot of issues either, so like, when the kids get sick “She would never tell me because if I found out, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on my work.”

Sharing that his mother was worried as he had lost a lot of weight during the process, Mr Yogiraj said, “My mother was very worried about my weight. This was because I had lost a lot of weight. She once told me that she To come to Ayodhya I used to say: Don’t worry, I am getting good food here and it is not just my efforts but also the support of Lord Ram’s devotees who are at work.”

About not being able to touch his craft now, Mr. Yogiraj said: “I know when Lord Ram Lala If we walked into the temple, we would not be able to touch Him. So every day I would ask for his picture and look at it. “

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)