We, being Hindu, always have been in a dilemma about our religious practices. One such practice is temple offerings or donations. It is being followed since ancient ages which makes temples so rich that invaders used to come again and again for looting. Despite all these plunders, this practice followed through ages and continued. But now, this practice is frequently been questioned.
Generally, we all find ourselves in this crisis, that, whether to offer fruits to the deity in the temple or feed the hungry outside the temple, to offer milk on the Shivlinga or water to thirsty, to donate in Dan Peti, or help needy and so on. And it is obvious to think upon these issues in the nation with the largest number of poor and hungry people in the world. And it doesn't end here, why spend crores on the temple where a large section of society is deprived of education and health, why not construct a hospital and school or college. These issues are the subject of great debate and discussion, which is not to be done here, otherwise, it will mislead the core topic.
Let's have a quick tour of the temple evolution in Bharat.
In Ancient Bharat, temples were not merely a place of worship but, used to be the center of society. All the social, economic, educational, cultural, artistic, and spiritual activities were used to be organized in or around the temple premises. Different sections of society like priests, artisans, potters, garlanders, shopkeepers, traders, dancers, teachers, preachers, etc were directly dependent upon the temples. Its premises were comprised of the Pathshala, Yogashala, Yajnashala, Chikitashala, Natyashala, Goshala, Shiloshala, and so on, which were operating on donations and offerings made by Kings, rich merchants, and other wealthy. All these continued with some or more variations, with times, and places, until the foreign invasion.
Temples, because of abundant wealth, had always been in the evil eyes of foreigners. They plunder it, again and again, still, some temples survived somehow. But, later when they invaded Bharat, found it as a great obstacle in their rule and particularly the spread of their religion. And, they destroyed the temple in number several thousand if not lakhs. Those temples, who remain were forced to abandon their practices. All the practices of education, medicine, yoga, dance, spirituality, etc either ends or are re-shaped according to the practices of invaders there only. Now, they left with no wealth for charity, Jaziya was imposed as pilgrimage security tax. Few of the temples that remained untouched were in the South part of Bharat.
Temples in Southern Bharat were somehow flourishing remaining out of direct control of Islamic rule. Many temples with huge structures were holding great wealth including lands. These temples were targeted by colonial powers, particularly Britishers. In the influence of the Evangelicals, who were the spreaders of Christianity, they abandoned those practices which seems challenging to them or those which didn't fit in their ideological view. All, that remained with the temples is daily Worship only, as its management was supervised by the Britishers or one in the influence of Britishers.
The sadder part is that nothing has changed after independence. Even today, not hundreds, not thousands but lakhs of temples are still in state control. In the name of mismanagement, the state government took control of the temple management and never get back. All the decisions of these temples are taken by the officer appointed by the state itself. In some instances, the government has appointed non-Hindu to look after the temple management. All the donations are taken away by the state and left the temple with little money for daily worship.
All the renowned Hindu temples including Tirupati, Guruvayoor, Puri, Srisailam, Kashi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Vaishno Devi, Siddhi Vinayak, Shirdi, Amarnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Rameshwaram, and the ancient Shiva temple at Chidambaram and many more are under the control of the respective state governments.
In Andhra Pradesh, 34,000 temples have been controlled by the state government. Only 22% of the revenue of these temples is said to be given back for the temple’s maintenance and management purposes, while the remaining 78% fund is used for other works, and no credits are given to the temple.
In Tamil Nadu, Currently, 44,000 temples with over half a million acres of land are under the management of the government of Tamil Nadu.
In Kerala, the land belonging to the Ayyappa temple (in Sabarimala) has been grabbed by anti-social elements of the state.
In Karnataka, over 34,000 temples are under state control. 25% of the two lakh temples are on the verge of closing due to the lack of resources.
Similarly, the government of Maharashtra took over almost 30,000 temples, including the management of important Hindu shrines like Shirdi and temples like Siddhi Vinayak.
This is the same in every state. And their mismanagement can be seen everywhere.
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Last year, the government of Tamil Nadu submitted a report to the Madras High Court stating that in 11,999 temples in the state, there is no pooja or ritual taking place as there is no revenue. In 34,000 temples, there is only one person to manage all the affairs of the space. While 37,000 temples record a revenue less than Rs 10,000 per annum. They estimated that around 12,000 temples will die in the next few years. An official statement by the government attests that 1,200 deities have gone missing, stolen. Several police officers have written books claiming that thousands of deities are fake, as the original idols have been stolen and replaced with counterfeits in the last 25 years.
While other communities are using their wealth to preach their religion, establishing educational institutions like madarsa and missionary schools, converting Hindus, we the Hindus can't use our wealth for proper worshiping. And, we always keep complaining that our temples do no charity.
Our temples had been confined for such a long period, that we have forgotten what they used to be. Temple revenue is being misused for ages, and we blame the source of revenue.
We as Hindus should be ashamed that even after 75 years of Independence if not colonial time, we are failed to make our temple free from state control. In the suppression of thousand-year, our temples have almost left their originality, what they used to be before the invasions. We too have forgotten everything about it, questioning the remaining practices of the temple.
Here it is important to look upon that temple, which is either free or receiving some minor share in donations from the state.
Every Iskcon temple has a Bhojanalaya where anyone can come and eat food. Iskcon temples are in over 60 countries, and people from all religions eat in these temples.
Tirumala, Tirupati, and Tiruchanoor temples, Andhra Pradesh, serve food to over 1.5 lakh devotees on weekdays and over two lakh devotees on weekends. During festivals, the number of devotees in these temples is much higher.
Jalaram Mandir, Virpur, Gujarat, a temple dedicated to Jalaram Bapa, has been serving food to people for centuries. In February 2000, the temple stopped accepting donations as they have accumulated funds that will last for the next hundred years.
Jagannath Temple, Puri feeds 50,000 devotees every day. Mahaprasadam is cooked at the temple premises and served in dedicated Bhojan halls.
And the list is endless.
Getting back to our dilemma, There is nothing wrong with our Hindu practice of offering or donating. The problem is in management or says mismanagement by the state. What if the state let free the temple, which they must have to do because it is unconstitutional.
With the free control of our temples, we can allocate their wealth for the betterment of the general public and make a great change. We can feed the hungry, dress the poor, help the needy, and so on. This amount is as much huge that, the school, college, hospitals can be established in hundreds. With this wealth, we can work for those weaker sections of our community, who are being converted to other religions for a few thousand rupees only. We can enrich our culture and traditions which are being challenged by westerns.
Generally, misled by half-truth, we stand against the very truth. Like many other practices, the practice of temple offering and donations are being criticized. And because of lack of proper understanding, we the Hindus who should protect these, are destroying it. At present, the majority of Hindus are Hindu by identity only, not by conscience.
This should be changed, we can't be so ruthless to our ancestors who practiced these for centuries. All that needs is to stand together for #FREEHINDUTEMPLE and establish the ancient glory of our temples.
Nice Thought
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