Dear Goverments, please keep off Hindu Temples

Tonight, went to Samaya TV to discuss on the news that the famous Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple was being considered to be taken over by the govt.

One senior Jyotishi told things about the Kshetra. Not much arguments.

The core arguments were between me and Talakadu Chikka Rangegowda. It was well anchored by Aravind. This is my second presence as a panelist in Aravind's show.

As usual, the pro government take over arguments were on "mismanagement", "Why should Jains run Hindu temple", "there have been complaints against the Dharmadhikari" etc..

My points were:

1) I am a Bhakta of Dharmasthala temple. I go there voluntarily. I give money on my own. I trust the good work is done by the Trust headed by a Jain. I have absolutely no issue that they are Jains. They are running awesome anna dana. Kitchen Annapurna featured in June 2015 Mega Kitchen National Geographic Channel. Their educational and other institutions are doing wonderful job. For 800 Years, Jain Bunt Heggade Pergade family has administered it splendidly. 21 Dharmadhikaris have come to this seat till date. Government's job is to provide basic facilities and govern. I drove 15 KM to the studio and 10KM were in "Kattale Bhagya" power cut. When the govt can't take care of basic things, why they heck are they wanting to take over well run temples?

2) pSeculars always want Hindu temple money by giving some or the other excuse. Let's stop this now. Why should govt control 35,000 Hindu temples in Karnataka? Why should other states like TN control similar count of Hindu temples? Are all these having mismanagement? There are 164 A category and 283 B category temples with KA govt. Were all these managed by "other religions", before take over? Govt just wants money. And some excuse. I gave examples of how very simple excuses were used by governments to take over cash cows.

3) Talking of mismanagement, there was a murder of a Church father (KJ Thomas) in Bengaluru. There were large scale Wakf land grab amounting to 2 lakh crore as reported by Anwar Manippady. Should the govt take over churches and mosques/dargahs citing mismanagement, murder or other issues?

4) When I heard that only Hindus should manage Hindu temples, I showed that Mohammed Ali, First Division Assistant appointed by the govt in Bengaluru Rural district to manage Mujrai or Endowments department. I don't want a Muslim to manage Hindu temples. Hindus have managed for 1000s of years, and will easily manage ourselves. This argument seriously hurt Mr. Gowda as he saw the hypocrisy of opposing Jains, but having been forced to support Muslims!

5) If there is a big issue with Dharmasthala, people can file an FIR file. If no action taken approach the Magistrate directly. Or file PIL file if land is an issue. Why is the police there? Use them. Instead, trying Govt executive order to grab temple is not something we will allow.

6) I gave examples of Sahasralingeshwara temple of Uppinangady fighting with Karnataka Govt's Mujrai department's 1997 act. The 2007 judgment clearly said that the Endowments act itself is unconstitutional. Google for "Karnataka High Court Sri Sahasra Lingeshwara Temple vs State Of Karnataka on 8 September, 2006".

The judgment concluded: 

"We have already ruled that the Act is hit by Articles 14 and 26 of the Constitution of India. We have further ruled that it is not possible to severe them. Hence, we deem it proper to strike down the entire act and consequently strike down the notification as un constitutional." 

Use this wherever you see temple issue with govt. Governments can't and should not take over temples.

7) I also gave the example of Chidambaram Natarajar temple in Tamil Nadu. The judgment of 2014 January 10th, gave Podu Dikshitars a big victory in a century old case. If Endowments department of a state govt takes over a temple there should be a reason. Merely issuing show cause and circular is not right. Once you take over you will have 2 years or so to rectify it; notification should mention what reason - only take over mismanagement of temple affairs. This was Dr. Swamy's famous case. The 1951 take over of TN govt was deemed unlawful. Dikshitars had printed temple constitution in 1849 itself. Was opened to all castes of Hindus. This point stumped the others and there is not much they could say on this.

Overall; My repeated stress was that Hindus have freedom of religion like everyone else. If there are issues, let other parts of constitution address them (like theft, mismanagement etc.). So called secular government taking over temples violates Articles 14, 25, 26 and 27 of Indian constitution. As a Hindu, I don't want any temple to be managed by the government. Government's job is to take care of power, water, security and other basic necessities. Hindus know how to manage temples and they have been doing it for 1000s of years. Leave our temples alone.

#KeepOffHinduTemples

I think it went on well. If a video is uploaded by Samaya News, I will share here.

The Amazing Tamil Nadu Temples

If you have a desire to see the glory of Hindu Dharma, via medieval or ancient temples, Tamil Nadu is the place to go. There's no second thought about it. Luckily, most massive temples have been retained in the original shape and splendor, when unfortunately many other states in India couldn't during foreign invasions.  I made five trips in the past five years and an opportunity came for a sixth trip - a trip with lots of temples to see in TN and PY. I immediately grabbed the invitation of friend Bharath and got into the vehicle.

Let me narrate some interesting things about each place we visited last weekend.

First of all, our interest is in covering all the five Pancha Bhoota Sthala Linga or Pancha Tatva Linga. There is one major and historic temple dedicated for each of the five basic elements of nature as shown in an image from Wiki here.  Three months ago, we had seen the Agni Linga temple in Thiruvannamalai. This time we aimed at three, but ended up doing two.

So we got started, in an anticlockwise road trip, heading straight to Tiruchirapalli or Trichy, the place of our first Shiva Linga temple - Jambukeshwarar.

Once we finished eating chapati at the local restaurant, we started asking common people in Trichy. Where is Jambukeshwara temple? Five queries and no one answered properly. Then I found that we were asking in the wrong way. Made some calls and found that we should be asking for Thiruvanaikaval Kovil (Kovil in Tamil = Temple). Got the answers immediately. I must say that common people in Tamil Nadu have always been very helpful and friendly. We just have to figure out some basic Tamil speaking skills.. that's it. Kovil = Temple, Perumal = Vishnu, Siva = Shiva, Periya = Big etc...

To our surprise, we booked a hotel within half a KM from the great Srirangam Vishnu temple, which is not far from the Jambukeshwara temple. We set out to see Shiva temples. But our first visit next morning had to start with Vishnu Bhagawan! That's called divine planning.

So we were there to see sleeping Lord Vishnu (Ranga natha) in our proper uniforms :)

You will be amazed at the vast nature of this Srirangam temple complex. This is one of the Tri-Ranga (3 Rangas) along the Kaveri river. The first one being Sriranga Patnam near Mysuru, the second one at Shivana Samudra near Gaganachukki falls and the third one being this Srirangam near Trichy. There were nine massive gopuras/traditional doors from the street. There is a 1000 mantapa (pillar) auditorium. There's the (jiva) samadhi of the famous Vaishnava Guru Ramanujacharya. There must be at least 50 smaller temples within the complex itself.

It will take a full day just to pay proper visit to each deity within this massive and ancient temple complex. Our friend Nagesh chanted Purusha Sukta in one of the Rama temple and we were elated along with the local Purohit. Great darshan, great food (paid, not free) and a wonderful place to visit.

Next stop, the mighty Jambukeshwara temple for water tatva of Shiva. And to our total surprise, we entered right when the abhisheka was happening in the main temple. It was fabulous to sit outside the small garbha gudi (sanctum sanctoram) of the temple, besides small holes in the wall, and watch the pouring of liquids over this very ancient Linga, and then decorating it with various pastes and cloths.

This temple has interesting history involving an elephant and a spider worshiping the Linga.

They do very nice Gow-puja (Cow Worship) in this temple after the main abhisheka.

And of course, the thing which caught my eye was this.. We can discuss that some time later.

So our first major Shiva temple was done. Vishnu had called us even without our planning at Srirangam. Time to head east to the glorious UNESCO heritage city of Tanjavur. No surprises here. The massive ~13 feet tall Shiva Linga (Brihadeswarar) in one of the greatest buildings ever built by ancient and medieval world - the BIG temple. You have to visit this place to understand the immense technology Indians had 1000 years ago. In this Kaveri river delta area devoid of any big granite mountainous, Chola empire got a massive 81,600+ KG stone, and hoisted it above 200 feet. The total height of the gopura or vimana on the temple is 216 ft (66 m) high. Just imagine the technology to do this 1005 years to be precise? No where in the world you can find such a massive feat, which is living even today surviving tsunamis, earthquakes and of course, human invaders!

And of course, Bharat makes it look small.. really small :)

I felt like... I am witnessing 1000 years of Bharatiya history in just a few minutes.. Awesome and proud experience. Felt so good about our ancient shilpis, rajas and everyone who left us such great legacy.

If you have time, please browse through lots of pictures in here to know how happy we were during this entire trip, particularly the Tanjavur Periya Kovil (Big Temple) visit.


Next stop.. Kumbakonam. A city of temples where there are 188 temples within the municipal limits of a small town of 1,40,000 people. And if you include smaller temples, they say over 1500 temples are there in and around this city of temples!! Of course we wanted to visit a lot, but had time for only one.  The big Adi Kumbeswarar temple. We had a wonderful time here watching many unique things. The pujari showed us the place within the temple where the great Raghavendra Swamy had sat and meditated. They also showed the Devi (Durga) with nandi in front of her, not lion/tiger. They showed us a slight tilt of the main Linga and told that it's because of this kona (angle) of the kumbha (one above linga), it is named Kumbha Konam. You also have 9 temples around Kumbakonam, for each Nava graha (nine planets in Hinduism). We surely needed a week, just for this temple town!

We had to then drive into Puducherry enclave within TN, near Karaikal beach in the night. Our next stop was Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple at Tirunallar in Puducherry Union Territory. The specialty here is that 1000s of people come to take a dip in the pond, and leave their wet cloths on the banks of the pond, to get away from Lord Shani's wrath.

Image: Wiki

We followed what 1000s do. A proper bath in that pond, giving arghya to Surya deva early morning from within water, leaving our cloths, and then heading to the ancient temple in the town.

Just like the 100s of other big temples in Tamil Nadu, we had walk past many arches (gopuras) and finally get a beautiful darshan of Shani Deva. And to get a bonus, we were allowed to do a full Rudra abhisheka at a Shiva temple behind the Shani temple. Our Nagesh, the knowledgeable purohit, made us do abhisheka on the spatika Linga that he had carried from Bengaluru. It was a divine experience chanting the Vedic Rudra and Chamakam at this ancient temple. We loved every moment of it. Best part, I could do this on Ekadashi day, which is now my fasting day :)

Now overwhelmed with temples after temples, we took some beach breaks. It was emotional visiting the Karaikal Tsunami memorial, remembering the 1000s who perished during the 2004 mega Indian ocean Tsunami. 

Now time to head north. Next stop Chidambaram mega dancing Shiva temple. But since it opens only in the evening, we had time for some fun trip through the mangrove filled backwaters of Pichavaram. Our "vocal" skills and funny hand movements came handy when going inside the shallow mangrove backwaters :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Lirk7o8m4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOR-afBLF3I
Even our boatman started off -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sKRynDomgE

Playing in the backwaters, climbing up some mangroves and paddling the boat was really fun. I am told that this is the world's second largest mangrove wetland!

And our boatman told us that this is the same mangrove area where the famous Kamal Hasan song from the movie Dasavataram was shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM-r6CP_uY4


Next stop, the great Chidambaram temple. This great Hindu temple of South India that has held its prominence for over 2000 years is a must visit place for any temple enthusiast. The Shiva in here is associated with the Akasha (or sky/ether) tatva (essence) among the pancha bhootas (five basic elements sustaining life). This holy temple has been built and repaired by Pallava, Chola, Pandya, Vijayanagara and Chera kingdoms over the past 2000 years.

And, I insist that you learn more about the significance of Chidambaram temple's design.  Focus on why the roof has been laid by 21,600 golden tiles with the word Shiva nama inscribed on them representing 21600 breaths!!

Around the 9th minute of this famous video of Carl Sagan - Cosmos of India, you can see the description of Nataraja (Dancing Shiva), for whom this Chidambaram temple is dedicated to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugyrzr5Ds8o

All I can say is... Srirangam, Jambukeshwara, Tanjavur, Kumbha Konam, Tirunallar Shani and now Chidambaram Nataraja. Overwhelming architecture, significance and puja tradition for millenium.
Incredible trip!! How can I forget the awesome tender coconut water in Kadalur, to break the Ekadashi fast? :)

Lastly, how can we end up such a fabulous trip without some fun in water? That too when we are close to the Goa of the east coast, Puducherry? We stayed at a nice resort right on the beach, danced in the beach at midnight, saw sun rise at the beach, offered arghya to Lord Surya after a swim, and then had super fun in the resort pool.

Lastly, visited the pious Aurobindo Ashram at Puducherry.. A small and silent zone in the French legacy town.

While returning via Tiruvannamalai, another great Shiva temple (Agni link) which we had seen 3 months back, we had some nice fun on the road trip too.. like watching this crazy scooter driver -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxubUk-Xrl4

Overall.. great fun. If you want historic temples, amazing Dharmic puja traditions in Sanskrit and Tamil, and fun beaches, head to these places I have listed. You will have a great time.. guaranteed!

Now that 3 of the 5 Shiva Tatva temples covered this year, hoping to do the other two - Kanchi (in TN) and Kalahasti (in AP) soon. Om Namah Shivaya!

Yazidi and Hindu Similarity

Yazidis are in news for a grave situation in northern Iraq. They are being literally exterminated by the Islamic State Jihadis. Only 7,00,000 or so Yazidis remain on the planet today and most of them are in the northern provinces of Iraq near Kurdistan. 1000s have died already this year and their mass killing via siege, starvation and other means is gut wrenching.

The world is watching without doing much to save this extremely rare race. #SaveYazidis cry on the social media is not having much effect as 10s of 1000s of them are on the verge of extinction or capture into slavery by the extreme radicals of ISIS. The situation of women and children starving to death has created an uproar across the world, but not much help is coming forward.

While researching into who these Yazidi people are, I stumbled upon some unmistakable similarity with Hindus of India. Two hours back, I didn't know much, but after putting these side by side, I am almost getting convinced that these Yazidis are a lost tribe linked to ancient Hindus of India. The overlapping features are clearly not some coincidences that you will find among pre-Abrahamic religions of the world.

Yazidis kiss a peacock shaped lamp.
Hindus light a peacock shaped lamp.

 Yazidis temples have pyramid shaped gopura just like Hindu temples.

Yazidis symbol is a wing spread peacock, just like Hindu god Shiva's son, Subrahmanya's mount. The most important point to note is that peacock, the national bird of India, is a native of south and south east Asia or Africa. Not found in the area of Iraq or Syria at all.

Yazidi mural on wall of their holy Lalish temple is unmistakably Hindu. You can see saree, which is an unofficial national dress of India.

Yazidi temple at Lalish has snake symbol at the entrance. You won't find this among other tribes of Arabia or Mesopotamia. For Hindus, Subrahmanya is the other avatara of snakes and worshiped very closely for all snake related pujas like Naga Panchami.

Yellow sun Yazidi symbol 21 rays.
Number 21 is sacred to Hindus (Ganesha). Offerings are in 21 count like Modaka (sweet).

Yazidi marry within their castes like Murids, Sheikhs and Pirs.
Hindus marry within castes.  Yazidis could have something like Gotra system (researching).


Any Hindu with even basic understanding of aarti plate, will see Yazidis as their own.

Yazidis believe in continuous rebirth and reincarnation.
Same as Hindu Punar Janma concept.

Yazidis do not circumcise, a very rare thing in the middle east.
Hindus do not circumcise.

Yazidis pray with folded hands. Hindus pray very similarly to their Gods and Goddesses.
Yazidis pray at sun rise and sun set, just like Hindus. Both face the rising or setting sun when praying to sun.

Yazidis have a symbol similar to Bindi or Tilak during temple prayer, very similar to Hindu forehead custom.

For big celebrations, lighting lamp by females common to both Yazidis and Hindus.

Yazidis men worship Melek Taus by lighting fire in temples.
Hindus' do similar fire based worship to their Gods, with high regard for agni the fire.

As I read and browse, there are more similarities popping up. The trident (Shiva's trishula), the vessels used during worship (kalasha), the sound (something like dhol and shankha), sun worship methods and much more..

I am convinced that they ARE deeply connected to ancient Hindu civilization. Whether through Zoroastrian connection in Persia (today's Iran) or directly via migration, has to be researched. If you find credible sources, please share them in the comments.

And most importantly, please put pressure on the Indian, Iraqi, US, EU and other governments to save them. They have just a few days between life and death, at the current barbarism level of ISIS. Let this very rare and ancient tribe of our earth survive.
 

Pictures used in this blog entry are from these websites. All credits to original copyright holders: 
thehindu.com, www.iisd.ca, china-iraq.org, Wikipedia.com, middle-east-online.com, himavanti.org, alokmu.blogspot.com, metrography, demotix.com, indiandacoit.com, flickr.com, ibtimes.co.uk, mangalorean.com, stuartfreedman, blessingsonthenet.com and vox.com. 

Lord Anantha Padmanabha and an interview with a Self Styled 'Secular'

The big news in India of course is the Anantha Padmanabha (Lord Vishnu) temple and it's stellar rise to the top of the richest temples in the world chart, in a matter of week to 10 days.

While walking in the park this morning, I did a fantasy interview with a self-styled 'secular' (watch the quotes).Have fun..


Me: Good morning.. Nice weather? Huh..
Self Styled 'Secular' (SSS): Brilliant weather. I love these cloudy mornings in Bengaluru. 

Me: Heard about that Kerala temple's secret chambers and immense wealth being counted right now?
SSS: Who doesn't? An incredible treasure find. Its already 1 lakh crore rupees and growing. I am excited about the prospects of helping so many poor people of the country. What an incredible waste it was lying in dark below the earth! 

Me:  Ho. ho... slow down buddy. Let me ask you if you have ever been to Thiruvananthapuram.
SSS:  Never



Me: OK.. I take that you have interest in Padmanabhaswamy's worship at least.. I mean Lord Vishnu, pilgrimages, sending or dropping in person the donations..
SSS:  Naa.. I don't have any such delusions. After all God is a manmade figment of imagination. I am a proud atheist. 

Me: Alright.. Everyone has their choice. Is it just you, or anyone in your family who still visits temples, donates money to the Lord or services?
SSS: My wife and her mother used to.. but after all the US trips, we have kind of decided to be modern. You know, away from all such medieval superstitions.


Me: Well... I respect your beliefs or the lack of it. But let's not get to who's superior and who's superstitious kind. So shall I take it that no one in your family ever donated anything to Anantha Padmanabhasway's temple?
SSS: You are damn right man.. Thank goodness! Their money always went to better social causes rather than those stupid hundi donations which someone will misuse anyway.


Me: So why this sudden interest in temple's wealth then?
SSS: Why? C'mon dude.. there's stinking amount of money which can be used for so many projects. Like building hospitals, national highways, sponsoring government projects etc. It would be silly to leave it lying there in the basement. 

Me: But...isn't there a government to take care of such projects?  Isn't that collecting income, excise, wealth and other taxes from people? Aren't there NGOs, for-profit businesses?
SSS: Yeah.. but we are poor country, so it doesn't hurt to have another 1 lakh crore to help with government projects. 

Me: Sir.. Do you even understand that there is a Travancore Royal family, which has preserved this secret wealth for 222 years? There is also a temple trust that is quite honest, which is very much capable of doing what they want with this money? After all it is Lord Vishnu's money.
SSS: C'mon... Cut that BS of Lord's money. It was people's wealth that got into temple. The kings collected taxes, exploited Dalits and minorities and hoarded their wealth in the temple. You know how it works..


Me: But Mr.. Before India became a republic, most wealth was in the hands of Hindu, Sikh & Muslim royal families or the Christian British. Don't you think, we need to look under present laws which gives 100% ownership of that wealth to the Padmanabhaswamy's temple?
SSS: *grudgingly*.. whatever.. But it's criminal to let it stay there.



Me: So what you want to do? Just burn the entire wealth in our generation itself?
SSS: Why not? If you don't mind me saying it.. we can even bail out the birth place of the Western civilization, Greece with over $22 billion wealth out there.. Ha ha... Just joking OK?


Me: But my question is.. why only Travancore temple's money?
SSS: Because that amount is huge.



Me: I can show you huge amounts in many other places too, which are not currently being used for your government hospital, national highway and other government projects, serving all citizen of the area.
SSS: Like what?



Me: Take for example Wakf properties of Muslims. Every major state/city has huge tracks of land passed on from medieval period. Why can't some of they be sold for building national highways?
SSS: Rubbish.. We are a secular country dude.


Me: OK.. how about Christian missionary money? Did you know that 10 out of the top 20 foreign money recipients in India are Christian organizations? That too after the government has data of only half or so or foreign remittances to religious organizations? My rough calculation shows that during each 8 to 10 year period, missionaries get the same money as the entire wealth of Lord Vishnu found in Kerala, accumulated over centuries. I haven't even accounted the 'black' portion or domestic collection.
SSS: But sir.. you are again talking like a communal. Laws of secular India let them use that money for services that they want to provide to the society. You are educated.. you must know how incredible Christians are in building schools and hospitals.


Me: Yeah.. but there is rampant conversion too using that money, in the guise of services.
SSS: Let's stop deviating. OK? It's none of our business what they do with their donations.


Me: Hmnn... So Wakf properties can't be sold to build national highways. Missionary money, which is huge, can't be accounted for government projects. But you want to calculate how many KM or national highways or how many hospitals can be built using Kerala temple's money? How 'secular'!
SSS: You are not understanding... Are you by chance an RSS member?


Me: No.. but why?
SSS: You seem to have this crazy notion of dipping into minorities' wealth. I just got that idea. It's a dangerous thing that usually Hindu fascists like VHP and RSS preach.


Me: Hindu fascists? Hmn.... By any chance you know how many tribal schools, medical services and natural calamity reconstruction projects those 'fascists' take? That too without ever converting anyone to their religion like the missionaries?
SSS: I have a serious doubt that you are a closet RSS guy.. We have been walking for 30 minutes now, and you are coming again and again to a turn where there' absolutely no interest in productively using Kerala's new found treasure.


Me: *laughing*.. don't worry about me being any 'closet' guy. I don't have to. In any case, do you know that the princess of Travencore royal family has made it very clear that what's being counted now is not any treasure, but the property of the temple in secret cellars? There's a huge difference.
SSS: Whatever... All I care is that it should be put to good use.


Me: Me too.. But there are a few things. One its is an inter-generational wealth. Our generation does not hold any kind of monopoly over that. Temples usually had such large amounts of wealth for tougher times like natural calamity. I guess you would agree that Ghazni, Ghori, Nader Shah etc. didn't come to India for summer vacations :)
SSS: Haha.. Good one. But I don't get this inter-generational thing. It's out there. Let's use it.


Me: What I meant is that we should leave it fully to the decision of the trust headed by the royal family of Travancore. They have preserved it very well for 222 years. They could use a part of it for trust's educational, medical, food and other projects. But it's their wealth. From when did we become moralisers in this country to tell others on what they should do with their wealth?
SSS: But its not anyone's personal wealth.


Me: Doesn't matter. It's Lord Vishnu's donations from public and royals. That's all matters. Just like how we don't tell missionaries, Wakf boards or even rich people like Ambani, what to do with their money, we shouldn't bother in Kerala temple's case. Even a 'secular' CM like Chandy isn't poking his nose, which is a great thing. Isn't it?
SSS: Huhhh... I have a feeling that you guys want to waste this once-in-a-century opportunity to uplift the downtrodden. Dude.. it's a golden opportunity!


Me: But just like how you wouldn't like anyone telling you to give, not donate voluntarily, to pave national highways, you shouldn't force someone too.
SSS: But it's a temple...


Me: Haha.. Someone wrote online yesterday. Temples and Lords are communal... but their wealth is secular! Man.. I am laughing hard that you are driving exactly at that logic!
SSS: Whatever...*rolling his eyes*. I guess we have walked enough. They will lock the park at the end of morning hours. Let me take a leave. Again.. think once more. So much can be done using that wealth lying idle at the basement!


Me: No thanks..It's not my money, nor my family's. Neither it's public money that citizen of the country have collective ownership of. So, I wouldn't lose sleep on what Padmanabhaswamy temple's trust does. They could just bury it back for 222 more years! It's their wish..
SSS: You guys... *grumbling*


Me: What? *smiling*
SSS: Nothing..Gotta go..


Me: Have a great day.
SSS: Yeah.. you too..


There we parted ways..And within hours, I am hearing that the wealth value has shot up much more than the Rs.1 lakh crore. I hope my self styled 'secular' or SSS friend is getting a good sleep at least tonight, not bothering about what Travancore temple trust will do with that 'idle' wealth :)