Temple Car is not Thiruther ~ but the car used by HRCE officials !!!!!

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.  WE have nobody else to blame than ourselves having allowed the Govt to manage the Temples.

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 questioned  this ??

Sadly here is a Temple  in ruins and in a most dilapidated state. A name board proclaims that Department of Archaelogy which protects 85 monuments spread all over the state is taking care ! of this temple.   It is quite unfortunate that places which had pristine glory have lost their veritable importance, are in dilapidated condition needing conservation.  It really pains to see the temple lying shattered in ruins.

Sadly, the temple precincts are poorly maintained – hygiene is not at all cared ….   in some places, the annual festivities do not take place …

In the famous Triplicane Sri Parthaswami Thirukkovil, there was this building in South Tank Square street, built for the purpose of keeping the magnificent ‘Kannadi pallakku’ – ask anybody who is over 50 there – he would have witnessed that beautiful kannadi pallakku – present condition : the one went fading due to poor maintenance but the place was converted as car park for keeping the new car of the Executive Officer of the Temple ! ~ none resisted or fighted !!!!!!!!

HR & CE and its boss Tamil Nadu Government have regularly been looting Hindu Temples of their monies for non-temple, non-Hindu purposes. Three detailed Writ Petitions have been filed by  Mr TR Ramesh as President of Indic Collective Trust and in my individual capacity questioning the transfer of funds and for reparation funds already. Sai Deepak Iyer J is to be thanked in a big way for his phenomenal efforts in creating awareness of such looting and mismanagement of Hindu Temples & endowments across the nation and for his involved efforts in arguing the core matter for the benefit of Hindus before High Courts and Supreme Court. 

With this background, read the article below that has appeared in The Hindu – titled, “PIL filed in Madras High Court accusing HR&CE Minister, Commissioner of using cars purchased using temple funds”  -  Mohamed Imranullah S.

CHENNAI, AUGUST 02, 2020 00:24 IST

Litigant trust claims that even fuel expenses are met by the temples

A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court accusing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister as well as the Commissioner of using cars purchased from the funds of the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore and the Kamakshiamman temple at Mangadu respectively.

Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha have ordered notices to the State government as well as the HR&CE Commissioner on the PIL petition filed by the Indic Collective Trust, represented by its president T.R. Ramesh. The petitioner’s counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan said temple money was being used even for fuel expenses.  The judges directed the Registry to list the case along with another PIL petition filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam against a Government Order to collect Rs.10 crore of surplus funds from 20 rich temples and use it to renovate 10,000 village temples. In that case, the court had passed an interim order restraining any such expenditure.

In an affidavit filed in support of his case, Mr. Ramesh said a combined reading of Articles 25,26, 27 of the Constitution would make it clear that the State could not appropriate funds belonging to temples and other religious institutions. Hence, the trust had challenged the validity of many provisions of the HR&CE Act before the Supreme Court. Even as those cases were pending in the apex court, the HR&CE Department had been continuing to transfer temple funds without following the provisions of its own Act, the trust alleged. It claimed that funds were being diverted at the ipse dixit of the department though the law prescribes elaborate procedures such as calling for public objections.

Further stating that the HR&CE had failed to appoint trustees for around 19,000 temples in the State since 2011, the litigant trust said they were being managed by the department employees appointed as fit Persons. It insisted that the funds of such temples should be used for their essential maintenance purposes alone and not transferred at all. Mr. Rajagopalan also told the court that temple funds had been used for purchasing computers for HR&CE officials and painting their offices. He said now there was also a proposal by the State government to start a television channel using temple funds and that the trust would want to reserve its right to challenge the decision at an appropriate time.

Sad, sordid tale .. .. officials think they are bigger than God – the Executive Officer at the holy Srirangam Ranganatha Perumal koil audaciously has his official car driven on the sands of ulprakaram to reach Office – devotees rever these places with devotion as these were the places were Azhwars and Acaryas had treaded .. ..

When the thiruther of a temple has some defects, it takes years and lots of money from various Devotees to get renovated ~ HR&CE Dept never places the money collected from the same temple in repairing it – b u t, luxury cars are bought for use of Officers.

Temple Cars The Hindu article

Sad, Rawalpindi may fall to designs of Pak army

Hindu temples are under attack – in our own beautiful Country, some puranic temples are not so well cared for – centuries ago, they had pristine place.  Now some of them are lying uncared for – for there are many living in the precincts and taking care – in many cases, the Temples own many assets – but they have falled into the hands of sinners who do not pay revenue property.  The administration is lackadaisical and temple funds are exploited and used for various other purposes by Govts who have no right to administer in such a way.  Those donations are for that Temple only and how they can they be used for any other purpose

Sad is the state of affairs .......

Here is something from Daily Mail reported on 28^th Aug 2014  on yet another temple that could become a casualty ... it is not in India – but in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Pakistan's most tumultuous fortnight threw up another, albeit sly and covert, cause for concern and strident outrage. An old Hindu temple in the garrison town of Rawalpindi may be poised to become a quiet casualty to development designs initiated by the army in the name of an educational complex.  The 82-year-old Maharishi Valmik Swamiji Mandir in Chaklala Cantonment, better known as Balaknash Temple, has long served as a shelter for the homeless, a social welfare institution and a centre of unity.

The Pakistan Army wants to bulldoze the temple in favour of a new project.  The impact of such a heinous move will resonate well beyond this place of worship - an ancient settlement of a vast Hindu populace. Muslims and Christians too will be dislodged and scattered to subsist on makeshift options or even under the open sky. Although community representatives maintain they have not received any written orders, fear pervades the neighbourhood. Hence, the anxious inhabitants have filed a civil petition against the demolition strategy and managed a stay order that sadly, offers short-term comfort, whereby they can live here till mid-September.

This is a novel scenario where the plan is not being hatched by regular land mafia but by the army, which begs for a larger debate: Are such strategies not in direct conflict with the war being waged on terrorists in the same country?  Secondly, in times where a deeply strengthened civil society has held the same province hostage for two weeks, it is clear that the days when aspects of Pakistan's diverse citizenry stood undermined are bygone.

Where Pakistan adheres to Islam, its present-day social currents convey a categorical message – pluralism enshrined in the faith demands a celebration of humanity, the greatest manifestation of divinity.

Read the original article Rawalpindi Temple : 

Read more: 

Uttarakhand tragedy and Indian brand of Secularism

The scenes are moving – perhaps the reports are not accurate… the  tragedy at hills of Uttarakhand is assuming demonic proportions going by the reports.

There are many  heroes – some are unsung - topping that list for sure is our Army Jawans. Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which is deployed along the Indo-China border, was the first to reach and initiate rescue operations in Uttarkhand’s Kedarnath Valley, the worst affected by the floods unleashed by the onset of monsoon rains and the cloudburst on June 16. They have been doing a great job in reaching out to the worst affected regions and evacuate people when all connections – roads and bridges – had been washed away in the deluge.

Sadly another tragedy struck – this time at Gaurikhand on the rescuers themselves… very sad to read the news of an IAF Mi-17 helicopter carrying 20 people crashing during a rescue mission killing all those on board. The tragedy that Uttarakhand is faced with is neither new to the country nor something that was unexpected.  There have been gross violations, mindless chopping of trees, playing with nature all the time….and doing nothing to conserve it.

On another perspective, politicians, right from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh downwards, have been singing paeans to our armed forces heroes who have been putting their lives at risk all the time.   In a  CNN-IBN panel discussion. Col Anil Kaul pointed to this as exemplifying the “platitudes” that politicians offer the armed forces in times of crises – without doing anything substantive once the crisis fades away. He said that once the crisis is over, we are a forgotten tribe – until the next disaster strikes.” In particular, Col Kaul drew attention to the fact that while the cricketers who won the Champions Trophy on Monday had been given a reward of Rs 1 crore each, the relatives of the armed forces personnel who perished in the helicopter crash.  

Here is a right perspective provided by Mr Subramaniam Swamy. : Of hundreds of Army personnel working in rescue operations, the Times of India reporters found a muslim chopper pilot .

They ask him "How does it feel like, rescuing Hindus ?" Now here is a question to all such reports and newstime editors.

Kashmir has been under siege for past six decades. After the Muslims drove out all Hindus and Sikhs in 1990, Kashmir is entirely Muslim in population. Any soldier who dies protecting these Muslims is either a Hindu or a Sikh. Did they ever go and ask them in Kashmir.. .. "How does it feel like rescuing Muslims" ?

That is India’s brand of secularism…. Hindu bashing all the time