HINDU TEMPLES

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"Hindu temples for Hindus"

RED ASSAULT ON KERALA'S HINDU TEMPLES


WAKE UP, O HINDU, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE


HINDUS in Kerala and all over the world are today struggling as never before to keep their Dharma alive.

Which religion in the world except Hindu Dharma calls upon their followers to pray "Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu" ("May all creatures in the world be happy")?

Hindu faith is the sum total of rituals, traditions and good thoughts.

While all Semitic religions are failing, Hindu culture is growing well even in former communist countries. Churches in Europe, America and Russia are being turned into Hindu temples while the Hindu way of thinking has entered even the forts of Semitic religions.

But there have always been people who have tried to destroy the Hindu Dharma. How many pitiable stories are there of religious conversion of Hindus at the point of a sword, destruction of Hindu idols, looting and conversion of temples into mosques and churches! That Hindu culture has survived despite such assaults, and it is its greatness.

Hindu temples are focal points of this culture that gave birth to so many great sages. The Hindu's concept of God begins in temple rituals and traditions. The Hindu satisfies his/her soul by seeing his/her own divinity in the idols in the temples. Temples have also been symbols of Hindu culture for ages.

It was Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya who laid down the rules for temple rituals. Strict temple rituals in Kerala have created powerful deities. That is why Kerala is known as Gods Own Country. It is in Hindu temples of Kerala alone that the world's most powerful rituals for Pooja are still practiced.

Temples and rituals related to temples were the bedrocks of our culture until recently. Local people took care of the temples even before the start of rule by kings. Even the king considered himself a servant of the deity of the temple. To help the temples meet their costs, the kings gave away acres of land to the temples and declared their incomes from these lands tax-free.

During those days, the aristocrats strived for the welfare of the temples. Hindu culture woke up every day within the walls of the temples.

After the state of Kerala was created, Devasom Boards were created to help run the affairs of isolated temples smoothly. A governing body which included Mannathu Padmanabhan and R. Shankar took over the reins. Hindu society thought that this would help organize the temples of Kerala, particularly those of Travancore, along sound lines.

However, most of the tenants of temple lands were non-Hindus. The temples lost all these lands as a result of the so-called land reforms inflicted by EMS and the cunning moves of P.T.Chacko. The once wealthy temples were reduced to penury almost overnight.

This created the circumstances which helped the government to assert its authority over the temples since it had become almost impossible to meet the day-to-day needs of the temples without government help. What began to crumble were not just the temple but also the faith of the Hindus. What stood in the way of the spread of communism was Hindu spirituality. By impoverishing the temples, the evil intentions of EMS succeeded!

Every succeeding government in Kerala worked to weaken Hindu culture. Customs gradually died out and many temple arts became extinct. This strengthened communist thinking. Malabar, where many temples had been destroyed earlier by Islamic invader Tipu, became a fertile breeding ground for communism.

If the temples of Travancore and Kochi can also be destroyed, the Hindu's interest in temple rituals will decrease and this can speed up the growth of communism. This is the secret aim of the present anti-God political leadership of Kerala.

The temples once belonged either to families or local Hindu communities. They were never built or run with income from tax on the whole Kerala society which includes non-Hindus. "Temples belong to Hindus alone". The temples are the blood, sweat and traditions of the Hindus.

It is right of people who believe in Hinduism to keep temple customs and traditions alive. Atheistic Communists need not worry about keeping Hindu traditions alive. That has to be decided by believing Hindus alone.

The temple ordinance that the Kerala government has brought, should be thrown into the Arabian Sea. It is not for a government deeply hostile to Hinduism, that includes non-Hindus, to decide on Hindu customs. How many ministers are there in the present government who took their oath of office in the name of God? Is it not true that even the Devaswom minister is an atheist? What can such an atheist do to save the religion and temples of the Hindus?

Is it not true that the entry of politicians into temple managements created the circumstances for massive corruption? Is there any field where politicians have not been corrupt? Realizing God was the ultimate aim of temple managements before the entry of politicians.

Every Hindu must get ready to oppose this temple ordinance. It must be resisted. The Hindu should never allow this black law to be imposed on his society. This ordinance must be resisted even at the cost of one's life.

The management of Hindu temples should be the right and the duty of Hindus alone. "Hindu temples for Hindus" should be our slogan.

Let the responsibility of management of Kerala's temples go to the revered Sannyasis. Kerala must have a panel of Sannyasis on the model of Tirupati or Sivagiri. That panel should select five or seven members as leaders to manage the temples.

A true Hindu spiritual leadership can be created if a judge appointed by the Supreme Court selects the panel from all the Swamis of all the ashrams in Kerala. This panel should have all the authority and responsibility to protect and administer all the temples and to provide spiritual leadership to the Hindu society of Kerala.

The name "Devasom Board" itself must change since it has come to mean a business enterprise. It must be renamed as the Kerala Temple Management Committee (Kerala Kshetra Bharana Samithi).

This committee should control the financial matters of the temples. The money donated by Hindu devotees is their offering to God and cannot be deposited in the government's treasury to provide subsidy and tents for Haj travelers to Mecca. The money donated by Hindu pilgrims to Sabarimala cannot be allowed to be used to pay salaries of Kerala government servants. This is not tax that rightly belongs to government, rather it is the devotee's own offering to God (Kanikka). This money should be used only for the smooth running of temples. If needed, more money can be found in the general budget. The government's treasury must provide the temple with needed funds just as they provide subsidy for Haj travelers around 300 Crores every year.

Hindus rightly fear that the new ordinance brought by the Kerala government will deny them their right to manage their temples. If the ordinance becomes a law, government nominee will have the right to control any temple ritual or custom. Kerala's Hindu society justifiably fears that, as happened in Bengal, the government will try to destroy temple rituals through its representative on the temple management Committee (Kerala Kshetra Bharana Samithi).

Even the study of temple arts, study of the Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual activities may come to be controlled by the government. The spiritual committee consisting of Sannyasis must therefore have the full responsibility for administering Hindu temples.

It was the so-called minority communities who stole the ancestral land of Kerala's temples. As compensation, the government budget should make a provision for financial help to the temples.

The development of Sabarimala and facilities for devotees much be taken up urgently. Any development there must be with the knowledge and sanction of the committee consisting of Sannyasis. This committee must be completely free of politicians. The Devaswom minister himself has admitted that corruption is the objective of the politicians, whether belonging to the left, right or centre.

The temple committee must also be free of influence of community leaders as many of whom treat Hindu shrines like Sabarimala as a milky cow. Many of these leaders have looted crores of rupees from the devotees of Lord Ayyappan. Some of them are even willing to accept the temple ordinance. Not only they have no devotion to Sabarimala, even daily poojas are not conducted in the many temples controlled by these community leaders. These leaders, who have lost the faith of the community, are betraying an entire community for a little cash for themselves.

The CBI must inquire into corruption in Sabarimala during the past 30 years.

Wake up, O Hindu! The houses of our faith and spirituality are in danger. If the present trend continues, the next generation will see temples as museums. We will forever lose the temples that showered light and grace on us for ages.

The ordinance was implemented in a manner never ever heard before. No Hindu has protested the extreme haste with which this dangerous new ordinance was brought in. No decision in such a matter should have been taken without consulting our revered saints and Sannyasis. The present ordinance is a conspiracy to implement the agenda of the atheists. Since no minister in the present has taken his oath of office in the name of God, they have no moral right to take a decision in religious matters.

Are they planning to hold PSC exams for Devaswom jobs with the aim of providing jobs for their slogan-shouting atheistic followers who even insult the judiciary?

A temple employee must be knowledgeable about religious customs and rituals. Devotees should not allow temples to become business centers. The Kerala Temple Management Committee must be the only agency for administration, appointments and all matters related to temples. No appointment should be allowed on the basis of chits from the party office.

Kerala's Hindu culture has been greatly damaged by its spiritual leaders staying away from the cultural and social scene. Sannyasis must at least now descend from their ashrams to the midst of common people. Will spirituality survive after all the temples of Kerala have been destroyed? Leaders of other religions are active in the social, cultural, spiritual fields of their respective communities and often intervene to ensure gains for their community. Are Hindu Sannyasis alone forbidden from doing the same?

It is time for spiritual leaders, Acharayas, Swamijis and Madathipathis to come out in the open and inspire and guide Hindus to preserve, protect and promote Hindu Temples, rituals, traditions, and festivals. Spiritual practices and dissemination of valuable, informative and spiritually uplifting Vedic literature without preserving our Temples would be difficult. Hindu destiny is at stake. It is time for Saints and laymen to make a choice to fight against the Marxist take over of our Temples.

Organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti, SNDP Yogam, Samastha Kerala Nayar Samajam and All Hindu organizations from abroad should take up the matter urgently.

We must also urgently appeal to the President of India, the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the Kerala Governor to help defeat this black law.

We must act not only to inform the Hindu about this black law but to make him/her angry, indeed incensed, about it. We must get the message across to every Keralite Hindu by all means including phone, e-mail, fax, SMS. We must also inform all Hindu leaders and ashrams to urgently wake them up to the danger all of us are facing.




Posted on 3/2/2007 by HK



S Jain
3/2/2007 Re: "Hindu temples for Hindus"
It would have been useful if the article contained any specific action that people could take in their own individual capacity.

Otherwise, this will end up just like other millions of misdirected appeals that writers make to hindus.
Chandrakaran Nair
3/2/2007 Re: "Hindu temples for Hindus"
Vey Nice! We don't need any politicians or rotten community leaders like Narayana Panikkar, who is corrupt to the nose, in temples. As a first step devotees should stop putting money in Govt. temples. Then a mass movement on the lines of "Kshetra pravesana Sathyagraha" need to be launched in front of the rich temples. Boycot all political administrators, then we should forcibily take control of temples starting from the smallest. Please provide email of president, chief justice etc for the viewers to send their grievances.