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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00036 Jul 2005

 
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Respected Swamins,
The article contains a number of infirmities while describing  Lord 
Thiruvenkatamudayan.Let us not  repeat what others say about the Lord and how 
they describe the Lord.An Advaite saint  calls the Lord as Balaji and gives a  
reason why the Lord is called Balaji.Personally I felt ashamed to accept such a 
description and unable to do anything.The best way is to avoid  such ignorant  
and mischievous interpretations and stick to what  our Alwars and Acharyans 
have  described the Lord.
As regards the Pushkarani and the cleanliness,I am a frequent pilgrim to His 
abode and as I am aware of the logistics taking into account the  lakhs and 
lakhs of people visiting daily,T.T.D.  is doing a creditable job.There is  
visible improvement  in cleanliness.Yes,there is scope  from very good mode to 
getting  onto the excellent mode.
In a lighter vein can I say we should not compare the Vatican where people 
depend on paper and we in India ,the open sky,a tumbler,a jug,a bucket of water 
as the case may be . We Indians have picked up English from the Englishmen so 
fast and not the paper habit.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: tatachar@xxxxxxx 
  To: mksudarshan2002@xxxxxxxxxxx ; srirangasri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ; 
tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 7:51 PM
  Subject: Re: [SriRangaSri] Digest Number 1212 : About Tirumala-Tirupati


  I think the problems with Thirumala are:
  Poorly run Govt. Lodges (especially Karnataka),
  which should be turned over to private owners.
  The precious land is wasted by these filthy and ill-run houses.

  The second problem is that the PushkaraNi needs to be cleaned.
  It is so dirty and the Swami Pushkarani taTe (perimeter) is infested 
  with human droppings.
  For all the money TTD collects from devotees, there is no excuse.
  Is it difficult to keep the pushkarani and its premises clean?
  TTD authorities should visit Vatican to see what cleanliness means.
  Considering the funds available, there is no excuse for not
  keeping Thirumala free of filth. 

  It is the devotees/people who make Thirumala what it is.
  If it does not serve them, who else it will serve?
  There is no shortage of  sacred and abandoned DDs.
  Let us make the best use of patronage to keep
  the Hills cleanest and most convenient. 

  dAsan,

  K. S. Tatachar

  -----Original Message-----
  From: sudarshan madabushi <mksudarshan2002@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  To: srirangasri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Sent: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 14:23:58 +0100 (BST)
  Subject: Fwd: [SriRangaSri] Digest Number 1212 : About Tirumala-Tirupati



  In what is otherwise a very good write-up about
  Tirumala, the following paragraphs however cannot go
  uncontested. 

  As a native of Tirupati, who has witnessed the
  temple-town both as it used to be about 40 years ago
  in my childhood and as it now stands (only too
  well-described in the article), I can lay claim to
  some insight into the affairs of my hometown. I say
  that the TTD  cannot be blamed for the "crass
  commercialism and exploitation dogging" Tirumala. The
  TTD has become the institution it is today because of
  the general public at large. It is the general public
  -- you and me --- that over the decades has demanded
  and got amenity after amenity, facility after
  facility, convenience after convenience atop the holy
  Hill, turning the temple into a veritable bazaar...

  My earliest childhood memories of the Tiruvenkatam
  Hill is one of sylvan surroundings, clear fresh air, 
  sparkling ponds, relatively tranquil environs and an
  atmosphere surcharged with spiritual devotion. But
  those were the days too when pilgrimage to the Hill
  was not without its attendent difficulties. The buses
  were not too many. The foot-path was unpaved. There
  were not too many lodgings or eating-houses for
  pilgrims... A hot shower in the cold wintry mornings
  at Tirumala in those days was simply unthinkable.

  Go and take a look at Tirumala today! It has every bit
  of razzle-dazzle razzmatazz that urban life anywhere
  in the world can boast of. The hill-slopes which once
  were wooded with lush thickets and trees, have now
  only rows and rows of tourist-bungalows or villas of
  every possible size and range. Some recently built
  quarters at Tirumala are so chic and modern they seem
  to me like they were a residential slice right out of
  Sunset Boulevard or Beverly Hills. When I enquired
  about it, I was told that these guest-houses were
  meant for NRI and PIO devotees from abroad who need
  "suitable accommodation" during their stay at
  Tirupati.

  Along with the scores of "guest-houses", "villas" and
  "bungalows" came too hundreds of petty-shops,
  tea-stalls, kiosks, bill-boards, buntings, neon-signs,
  traffic-roundabouts, constables, roadside lavatories,
  restaurants, parking-lots and every other imaginable
  ugly trapping and accoutrement of modern urbania...

  With increasing urbanization over the decades,
  Tirumala has today come to provide gainful employment
  to thousands of people. On any given day, I am sure,
  if you took a census on the sacred Hill, you will find
  there are far more shop-keepers, touts, taxi-drivers,
  scavengers, barbers, cooks, menials, plumbers,
  electricians, clerks, bankers, travel-agents, police
  constables and plain hangers-on than regular pilgrims.
  These are the beneficiaries of thriving trade and
  business in and around the temple-town.

  The question to ask is how did this all happen? How
  did this "de-spiritualization" of an ancient
  temple-town come about? What triggered it?

  The answer is good old "consumerism". In Tirupati
  today you cannot anymore hope to see genuine pilgrims
  arriving to worship or commune with the Lord. Now
  there are only what you may call "religious tourists"
  or "spiritual consumers" whose primary purpose is to
  "consume" or "experience" the fabulous spectacle
  called "Lord Venkateshwara". The town of Tirumala
  serves the Lord no more. It serves the "consumer". 

  In the old days, pilgrims braved the travails of
  trekking through the 7 hills, taking up lodgings in
  stuffy, grubby little "mutts" and "mantapams", living
  off bare "prasAdam" dished out by religious services
  at Tiruvenkatam, all for a minute or so in the
  sanctum-sanctorum of the Deity. Today, "religious
  tourists" come to Tiruvenkatam on "conducted package
  tours".

  Every nook and corner on the sacred Hill has now been
  overtaken by the profane.

  The TTD is a consumer-driven organization. It serves
  its real masters -- namely you and me -- very
  faithfully. How can you blame it for what has happened
  to Tirumala?

  Regards,

  dAsan,
  Sudarshan

        

  The culture of crass commercialism and exploitation
  > that dogs you in Tirumala has been institutionalised
  > by TTD itself.
  --- SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
  > Subject: Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala: The God Of
  > Big Things
  >THE GOD OF BIG THINGS  BACK TO HOME 
  >> The God Of Big Things
  > By M. Raghu Ram
  > The culture of crass commercialism and exploitation
  > that dogs you in Tirumala has been institutionalised
  > by TTD itself. It has made minor services needlessly
  > free even as it milks people who prefer to pay to
  > jump the queue for darsan or sevas. With its eye on
  > revenue and populist policies, TTD has been
  > tinkering with the deity's sleeping time, religious
  > duties and timings, rather than work around the Lord
  > as every temple should.
  > An exceptional stampede in the temple many years
  > back was attributed by the then Paramacharya of
  > Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham to the improper or
  > non-observance of the rituals prescribed by the
  > Agama Sastras. The violation of the proscription on
  > men entering the temple wearing upper garments is
  > prompted by the TTD. This is in sharp contrast to
  > the custom at major temples in Kerala, India.
  >  
  > M.V. Soundar Rajan, secretary, Dharma Rakshana
  > Samiti, Hyderabad, is highly critical of the
  > violation of the Agama Sastras by the TTD and its
  > treating the deity as a mere stone. The famed,
  > delicious laddu prasad, he says, is not even offered
  > to the deity but has been turned into an industry
  > despite strictures by the Justice Kondiah Committee
  > report 12 years ago.
  > He further points out that the deity has to suffer
  > the unnecessary and heavy diamond crown besides the
  > heat of focused electric lights. All sevas are
  > compacted to be completed by dawn to facilitate
  > darsan by pilgrims while ignoring the importance of
  > Ushas Kalam (the period starting at 4.30 a.m).
  >  
  > TTD is trying to please all, especially the state
  > government of Andhra Pradesh, except the presiding
  > deity it thrives on and claims to serve.
  > "The devotion and pilgrimage by millions increase
  > the power of the deity while violation of the Agama
  > Sastras will deplete its power and wealth," Soundar
  > Rajan points out. One result of rabid commercialism
  > and brazen doubling of displayed rates of eatables
  > and beverages is frequent scuffles between indignant
  > devotees and vendors in the massive Vaikuntam Queue
  > Complex.



      

      
          
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