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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00090 Jul 2002

 
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srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

dear bhAgavathAs,

The following is an update on the divya dEsam kainkaryams being 
undertaken by the vEdics/rAmAnuja-list community.

1. thirunAngUr area:

As a quick recap, the vEdics/rAmAnuja-list community has taken up 3 
temples - thiru-k-kAvalambAdi, thiru-arimEya-viNNagaram and thiru-
maNi-k-koodam. The kainkaryam is the monthly salary to the priest-cum-
parichAraka in these temples, and a contribution towards making and 
distributing prasadam to the local people a few times a month.

So far, we have made the disbursements for 3 months (april, may and 
june) for the above. We have been getting positive feedback that the 
temples are open when devotees visit them, and also from the archakAs 
themselves. Also, adiyEn has visited these temples atleast once a 
month at random times and these temples were open on those 
occasions. So, the first goal of the kainkaryam is being met. As far 
as local involvement in the temple goes, we need to go a long way.
The local villagers are more worried about food and survival, and it 
is unreasonable for us to expect them to come to the temple often
when they are looking for work elsewhere. The local participation can 
only be built through years of consistency (in the temples being 
open, and people coming into the temple often and the whole thing 
being a positive feedback loop).

Right now, we need to consider expanding the number of temples in 
thirunAngUr that we help with. Out of the 7 temples that are part of 
the same controlling authority, for the remaining 4, there are only 1 
and a half archakas. We need to really add atleast one more archaka 
to relieve on elderly archaka who takes care of 2 temples. That is 
our priority for the next month(determine if this is feasible, 
determine if we can find someone, talk with the temple trustees and
obtain their consent and approval, let them choose the 
archaka/paricharaka and then bring the person on board).

thiru-k-kUdalUr (Aduthurai perumAL temple):

For this temple, for the past 2 and a half months, we have made 
disbursements for prasadam distribution on every saturday to the 
local people, and from june, are providing the monthly salary to the 
priest. The temple is now open regularly in the morning and
the evening (previously in may and part of june, it was not and we 
had to address some issues). The feedback we get from local villagers 
is also that the temple is being kept open in the morning and in the 
evening.

Many improvement activities have taken place in the temple - As 
previously reported, utensils for daily use have been donated by 
devotees. 2 nice lamps, a bench (forlack of a better word!) for 
thirumanjanam has been provided as well by devotees. This past
weekend when I had the opportunity to go to this temple along with a 
group of srIvaishNavAs, some additional purchases were funded by them 
(the purchase of equipment to remove the grass and plants in the
*inside* prAkAram, a donation of a nice vEshti and saree for 
perumAL/thAyAr and the provision of 1000 rupees for doing prasadam 
distribution every friday in the month of Adi. Additionally, srI
KEB dEvarAjan who occupies a high position in the income tax 
department graciously asked for photos of the temple in its current 
dilapidated state so that he can arrange for a 80G income tax 
exemption for renovation of the temple. Over the next week or so, we 
also will be funding the cleaning up of the well).

Through all these, it is really heartening to see perumAL here. His 
smiling face, and his beautiful thirumEni (his smile kind of indicates
His thoughts i think - "here I am, with the name jagad rakshaka 
perumAL, and you folks are thinking that you all are helping me? huh?
what was that again?") refuses to leave my mind and eyes. 

We will continue the funding the activities in this temple (monthly 
salary and prasadam distribution, immediate repairs etc.) for the
next month and will provide an update of the situation at that time.


Funds received/spent summary:(detailed accounts will be posted and
be maintained on radioramanuja.com homepage later).

Funds received:

>From the US = 15,000
India contributions = 10,000 (approx).

Funds spent:

thirunAngUr
disbursed = 1500*3*3 = 13,500
held for future use at thirunangur= 500*3*3 = 4,500

thiru-k-kUdalUr
disbursed (archaka salary june) = 2,000
disbursed (watchman salary june) = 500
disbursed (prasadam every week, 200 per week) = 3000

printing expenses = 700

balance in hand: approx. 800


3. svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL sannadhi samprOkshaNam at sikkil kidAram.

We raised Rs. 37,500 in India for this purpose, and we provided the 
amount to the organizers of the samprOkshaNam. Since we could not 
collect a lot of money, we did not use the "donate-to-vedics and
write-a-vedics-cheque to the organizers route". We just provided the 
money to the organizers. 

The samprOkshaNam went very well. It was a wonderful experience - 500 
people in the middle-of-nowhere, celebrating our AchAryA's home where 
He grew up. In this place, there are the remnants of the house where 
srI. thiruvAymozhi-p-piLLai taught svAmi maNavALa mAmuni,
and there is the thiru-arasu of srI. kUra kulOththuma dAsar who was 
instrumental in passing svAmi nampiLLai's teachings to srI. 
thiruvAymozhi-p-piLLai. Photos can be seen on the rAmAnuja 
yahoogroups page - under photos, sikkil kidaram samprOkshaNam folder.


plans in the immediate horizon: 

We have been in touch with local people in 3 more divyadEsams, and
are working on establishing a kainkaryam in these places. The
potential temples we have identified are in the kumbakONam/nAgai
rural area - so that we can combine the local co-ordination
effectively along with thiru-k-kUdalUr. If and when things
solidify, we will report back with the information.

One of the side-goals of the project is to have local people who
can guide/help interested devotees with visiting divyadEsams in
these areas. If you and people you know are visiting the thiru-nAngUr 
area and/or the kumbakONam area, and need help/local guidance, please 
let us know. We can try and arrange for local people to come with 
you and accompany you around these divyadEsams.

In the thirunAngUr area, that will be the 11 thirunAngUr divyadEsams,
thirunagari and thAdALan sannadhi in sIrkAzhi. in the kumbakONam
(rural) area, you can visit thiru-k-kUdalUr, thiru-kapisthalam,
thiru-AdanUr, thiru-p-puLLam-bUthangudi, thiru-maNdangudi (birthplace
of thoNdar-adi-p-podi AzhvAr) and thiru-sEnganUr (birthplace of
svAmi periyavA-ch-chAn piLLai. If necessary, we can have people
help with visiting thiru-k-kudanthai, chakkarapANi temple,
rAmar temple, oppiliappan temple, thiru-ch-chErai, nAchchiyAr kOvil
as well. Just in the same area, with one more day, we can arrange
for visiting thiru-nAgai, thiru-k-kaNNapuram, thiru-k-kaNNamangai,
thiru-k-kaNNangudi as well.

The following is some data regarding certain ground realities while 
doing these kainkaryams. It may sound like the volunteers are whining 
when you read the following. So, please read ahead at your own
discretion :)

All the volunteers, and many members of the rAmAnuja community have 
been frustrated over the slow progress of these kainkaryams. I 
personally have received some emails as well regarding the slowness 
of the kainkaryam and/or the "lack of honesty" in monetary dealings. 
The following is an attempt to present our side of the story to the 
rAmAnuja/vEdics community.

Establishing any kainkaryam (especially one like this), with proper 
third party accountability is proving to be quite difficult in any 
divya dEsam. There are many interested parties with their own agenda. 
The trustees normally want all the money to be funneled through 
them, and generally there is a lack of accountability with that kind
of a setup. In effect, it becomes an argument for monetary control, 
and some kainkaryams being offered by devotees are even refused 
because the devotees do not agree to just give the money to the 
controlling authority and trust them to do the kainkaryam.

If it is a government controlled temple, then funneling kainkaryams 
through the EO results in 20% being taken off for the Endowment Board 
common fund, and there is a widespread perception (i personally
have not seen it, but everyone says this) that many EOs are corrupt.

So, to establish something like what we are doing takes time and many 
meetings and conversations. Given the relative remoteness of
these places, that can be a drawn out process. That is the easy 
part! - Once the broad outlines are established, then we run into the 
problem of finding people that are willing to stay in the divyadEsam 
and performing the kainkaryam. Fortunately, in thirunAngUr, we were 
able to skirt around this problem as we have local people who *want* 
to stay there to perform kainkaryam at the divyadEsams there. It took
us sometime to find and arrage a third-party person locally (in 
chidambaram) to do the accountability piece in this kainkaryam.

Then starts the trial period where we provide the funding and 
support, and see if things work out right, and work out minor issues 
(like which day of the month do you pay, how do you pay, where and 
who handles the local co-ordination in the area). We kind of set
the guideline that a trial period of 2/3 months is necessary in every 
divyadEsam to determine the success of the trial.

And then we have the most difficult problem - the rumour-spreading 
and loose-talk that seems to be the norm in *every* divyadEsam (where 
we do kainkaryam, or where we intend to do kainkaryam and are 
collecting data and cultivating contacts). The unfortunate part of 
this kainkaryam that the volunteers (especially the local ones take a 
credibility hit due to the rumours/loose talk that goes hand in hand 
with these kinds of activities. Just the other day, during the 
samprOkshaNam of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's shrine at sikkil kidAram, I 
personally happened to be accosted by a prominent thirunagari AchArya 
purusha and being subject to the harangue, and I quote "it looks like 
some people are raising funds by quoting the name of the thirunangur 
temples over the internet..little do we know how much money comes to 
the temples.. we dont know how much money these people are eating by
mentioning perumAL's name and collecting money in His name". The 
unfortunate part of it is that this person is very well known to me 
and he does not know that i am one of the volunteers in this effort, 
which worked out well because finally i was able to obtain the kind 
of rumour/allegation firsthand! We can only imagine what kinds of 
allegations or rumours are being spread without our knowledge. {In 
case anyone has a doubt regarding where and who the money is going 
to, please ask us. In all the cases in thirunangUr, we have
vouchers signed for by the end recepients for the money, and receipts 
for the printing costs. In the case of thiru-k-kUdalUr, we will start 
the voucher system from next month, but we will provide the names
of the archaka and his contact number for anyone to ask. If any of 
you come into contact with such rumours, please help by taking to 
effort to ask us for the details. We will be glad to provide you all
the account transactions upto the last rupee, and you will have the 
data to go back to the people causing such rumours and provide them 
the data. Or, direct them to us, and we will be happy to give them the
same data as well}

Now, the above is not meant to be a whiny email. The fact is that 
these things do happen and exist - we just need to figure out a way 
to get over it and/or around it if needed. After all, these 
divyadEsams are the wealth of *all* the people - not just the 
caretakers of the temple be they trustees or the government. However,
in the absence of a full-time volunteer who spends much of his/her 
time in these areas and due to the lack of experience that most of us 
have, things take longer to happen if we want them to happen in an 
accountable manner. {The volunteers in India - all of us spend 
almost all of our weekends with these issues - visiting divyadEsams 
where kainkaryams go on and visiting other places where we want to 
help and gathering data from the people there}. Giving money and 
forgetting it might happen in a nanosecond, but that is not the goal 
of these projects. We want to set a sustainable, expandable
base that can be easily replicated across divyadEsams.

We ask for your understanding and some patience when it comes to 
these. There may be people better able to do these kinds of projects 
than we are, and if you know someone, please let us know so that we 
can utilize their expertise/guidance for this.

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
Varadhan
(on behalf of the rAmAnuja-list/vEdics volunteers)





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