Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: Dear Suresh and saha bhAgavathAs, Humble pranams to all. I had a similar bad experience at Sholingur(and Srirangam)when I visited india last time. I got so upset that I scolded the archakas in Yoga Narasimhar sannidhi. They openly ask for money. They give nice welcome to those who give money. We put roughly Rs 200 in the thattu itself(we put less in hundi) thinking that archakas hardly get any money to even support their families. When he asked for more,I couldn't keep my mouth shut and gave him nicely infront of the public. It's a real disgrace to our community and normally people will judge by mere one incidence. It was so crowded and the temple gets lot of money through prasadams (Rs 10 per head)alone. Since my cousin was goody goody type I had to scold on his behalf also. Finally I even lost interest in sevichifying the Lord. I totally had different plans and didn't even dream that I would visit Sholingur very next day of my visit and the following day Tirumala and Tiruchanur. If this is the case at Sholingur,I was dreading my visit to Tirumala. So I thought of returning back to Madras. But I guess He wanted me to see Him and fortunately I had a peaceful sevai of Him. But then in Srirangam temple,in NammAzhvAr sannidhi the bhattar is asking for more money. First I was hesitating as it was NammAzhvAr's sannidhi but the bhattar was nagging,then I gave him one lecture. I was half-heartedly nearing the garbhagrham. But the sight of Him made me forget all these nonsense for some time. My own younger sister is giving me an advice in the temple "nobody dares to question,why are you bothered about all these wrong doings? leave them to destiny. your theoretical knowledge will not work in this practical world and you better listen to me". Unfortunately I never had any connection with any of these e-groups. Somewhere there is a loophole and we need to sort it out. These are all actually big divyadesams and I guess the archakas are quite well paid. I visited kancheepuram on garuda sevai and I was barking like an alsation in front of Ramanuja sannidhi which was closed. Whoever visits these divya desams should report what's happening there and how the conditions are regarding the temple maintainance and management and also take pictures of the temple. For every two/three divya desams,there should be some person(volunteers needed here only)who would visit once/twice a month to keep check on the temples. But the problem is nobody wants to get involved in all these fights. We need some people who can raise their voices. We need young minds and young blooded youth to tackle such issues with knowledgeable people(in our sampradAyam)to maintain the temple cultures. I can only ask my first sister(who is like me in audacity) to go and visit one divya desam and give updates. Hope some measures can be taken to avoid such problems in future. Does anyone have the database on temples' authorities? Best Regards AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam NC Nappinnai
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