Only the Devout who regularly visits the temple know the anguish…. It is not unique to any village temple… the malady affects
almost all temples – more so, when thousands of devotees come to the temple …. More
so when they contribute lakhs and crores of rupees in the Temple hundis.
For a Hindu, devotion and worship is
way of life… their life revolves round the Temples ~ more around those great
temples of which Alwars and Nayanmars have sung hymns… doing service at the
temple, and donating their property were all for propitiation ~ and many rich
people donated part of their wealth, their lands and more for Temples –
constructing them and maintaining them…. People who died without progeny used
to donate their property to temple – as when the temple flourished – all the
neighbourhood prospered…. ‘people lived happily in places where culture and
religion co-existed’…..
All tales of the past…. Now there
are some temples where even daily rituals are not properly conducted… not all
of them are in villages, neither – all of them not having property …. They have
huge estates – only the administrators are not properly managing to derive
revenue out of them. We have HR&CE
which will take over temples when revenue exceeds a set limit [the same rule
does not apply to religious institutions of others !!!!] – and with the temple
money – they will conduct political functions – in memory of leaders who
preached atheism … why at a temple premises …. If feeding the poor is the aim –
do it in the name of God – why in the name of political persons ? have we asked this ??
Sadly, the temple precincts are
poorly maintained – hygiene is not at all cared …. Temple festivities are
planned, mentioned in agamas and puranas – Brahmothsavam in Vaishnavaite
temples were ordained by Brahma himself; later by many Acharyas including
Ramanuja Charya… in some places, the annual festivities do not take place … the
Car festival is the most majestic and most attended by one and all…
in some
temples, where the ‘Temple rath (car)’ is damaged mainly due to improper (read
NO) maintenance – repairs / reconstruction will take decades – that too, only
when some private donors willingly take the initiative………….
But the officials
come in Airconditioned cars – Innovas, Scorpios
- why SUVs and luxury sedans from temple funds – when nothing is done
for the Lord = for whom those funds were intended. Why no action against
officials who fail time and again to realize the revenue from assets and
sometimes even do not maintain proper record of the assets/////////
Sad, sad, tragic … anguish and pain…
today, there is a good article of Mr TR Ramesh in Dinamalar which is reproduced
below.
Thanks to Dinamalar for publishing
this and many thanks to the ilks of TR Ramesh who take up the cudgels, when
ordinary mortals feel that there is nothing one can do….
Here is what appeared in Dinamalar supplement - chennai edition dt 8.3.14
