Edited message from Swaminathan

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" Swaminathan Venkataraman " <nachiketas

 

 

Dear Saathia

 

Very good questions. I will respond to my best. However, my responses are

limited to Tamil Nadu, where I live. Tamilnadu has perhaps the largest

temples in India (both in number and in size) and with the greatest

maintenance need in terms of time, money and effort.

 

>What I do not understand is what is stopping the Hindus from caring

>about their legacies?

 

My only explanationis that the vast majority are too busy with their daily

lives to have timeto devote to such pursuits.There is very poor social and

community consciousness in India comparedto the West (I havelived in

bothplaces).

 

>Are they still disunited in terms of caste? Are they confused about

> >religion?

 

Politicians in India,particularly Tamilnadu have divided Hindus in terms of

caste. Many lower castes still harbor strong upper caste feelings and

prevents a strong sense of pan-hindu unity, particularely in Tamil Nadu. I

would dearly love to see such a sense develop.

 

>Do they lack leadership? Do they not have management skills?

 

Yes. there is a certain lack of leadership for Hindus as a whole. Christians

and Muslims let their society be led by their religious leaders. I vey

strongly feel the need, in TN, for someone who represents Hindus as a whole

and free temples from the control of the Govt.

 

All temple funds are currently with the government who are actually inimical

to the maintenence of temples,. My heart bleeds all the time to see this.

 

One recent development that made me happy is the formation of the " Acharya

Sabha " and the AIM for Seva (All-India-Movement for Seva) formed recently.

The " Acharya Sabha " has the head of all important traditional religious

organizations of India as members (not the newer traditions such as the

Ramakrishna Mission, Aurobindo ashram etc.). Importantly, all Sankaracharyas

are members of the sabha too. For the first time in the history of India

perhaps, all of the ancient religious traditions are represented under one

umbrella. The coordinator is Swami Dayananda Saraswathi of the Arsha Vidya

Gurukulam.

 

Hopefully, this body will gain the acceptance of all Hindus and eventually

be able to ask for the temples to be transferred to its control. Only people

who care for temples will be able to maintain them. Not the stupid

government. We say the government should not beinvolved in business also and

concentrate onfree markets. There is far less justification for the govt to

be in religion.

 

>Do they not have monetary support?

 

Yes. Money is a factor. These temples cost a lot to maintain and the govt

simply diverts all money. Its pathetic.

 

>I have seen many Tamil movies using dilapilated Hindu temples in the

> >back-drop and each time I see such things a silent anger, frustration

> >and disappointment builds up.

 

Very true. I think holding movie songs in these temples violates their

sanctity too.

 

>Even if a portion of the film revenue is donated to the cause, many of

> >these temples could be put back to order.

 

The govt collectes money toallow the shooting and then diverts the money

(for eg: they charge Rs. 1 lakh and then show only Rs. 1000 and the rest

goes into their pockets)

 

regards

 

Swami