divya dEsam kainkaryam update - long mail

[Guest guest]

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

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)

[Guest guest]

how i want to donate montly or yearly please give idea to me to help these dhivya dhesam

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

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)