atma Posted October 11, 2001 Report Share Posted October 11, 2001 Got this from a friend in India.... Actually it was a very far out tour. I went to Tirupati in the south and took darshan of Balaji. Quick story. " in Tirumala (the temple of Balaji) they have large cloth sacks hanging down which serve as donation boxes. The top of the "box" is about 7 feet up and people put their donations of money, gold, jewelry etc into the sack. This simple couple lifted up their small boy to have him get the benefit of making the offering and the boy wriggled around and they accidentally dropped him in the sack. They told the pujari who responded that generally anything that goes in the hundi is Balaji's property. The couple was not thrilled with this idea so it was taken to "higher ups" who also confirmed that they were sorry but 'anything that goes in the box becomes the property of the Lord and the temple will take responsibility to raise the boy under the Lord's protection. Well, the couple finally surrendered and while they were returning to their town they had a fatal car accident. Balaji is famous as a deity who fulfills all desires and I would definitely go south again just to get his darshan and mercy. From there it was eventually on to Bombay in the wonderful asssociation of the chowpatty devotees for Janmast. Then on to Vraj which is always indescribably wonderful and Krsna filled. Then up to Badrinath. It is a hard 12 hour bus ride from Rishikesh but it is a nice holy place. The highlite was visiting Vyasa's cave. Very peaceful and beautiful atmosphere. That is where the Sarasvati begins. Very sublime atmosphere. Then on to Nepal where we hooked up with Aishvarya. The Katmandu temple is very beautifully situated at the bottom of very green large hills with waterfalls cascading. Very nice location. The trek to Muktinath was really far out. Many breathtaking scenes and i even swam in the rivers a few times. I'd definitely do it again. Muktinath is holy to both buddhists and hindus and the area and gardens around the temple had a VERY sanctified feel to them. Very much untouched by commercialism. Just really quiet and it felt like the hermitage or even burial ground of holy sages. All along the way to Muktinath we were chomping on fresh crunchy apples which grow in abundance. Amazing how the scenery changed from subtropical to Arizona deserty in the course of travelling from on valley to another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animesh Posted October 12, 2001 Report Share Posted October 12, 2001 Can anybody imagine how hurt the couple must have been in their last moment? Some may say that whatever happened was for the good of the child because if he had been with his parents, he also would have died in the car accident. Or, even if he had survived, he would have become an orphan, but now he has people in the temple to look after him. First of all, it is not necessary that his parents would have died if they had got their child back. May be that his father was in extreme tension when he was driving because of losing the child and that is why there was accident. May be that if the child had been returned to him, then he would have been relaxed and the accident would not have happened. Or, may be that if the child had been returned to them, they would not have started driving just then and would have gone nearby to get ice-cream for the child. We just don't know what they would have done. If it is believed that the couple would have died even after getting the child back, still I do not like what the temple authorities did. Because they did not know what was going to happen. What do they mean by saying the anything that goes into the sack becomes Balaji's propery? People put money in the sack. Isn't that money taken out and spent? Some may argue that the money is spent on social works. But, what social work were the authorities going to do by keeping the child. We can not say that they were going to take care of the child and this was a kind of social work. If I forcibly take away my neighbour's child, then even if I have decided to take care of the child, whatever I have done is despisable. And who gave the authority to the temple authorities to make such a rule? If some child comes to my house, then do I have the authority to keep him with me and say that whatever/whoever enters my house becomes my property? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahnava Nitai Das Posted October 12, 2001 Report Share Posted October 12, 2001 Well, the couple finally surrendered and while they were returning to their town they had a fatal car accident. What I have heard is that they were going to get the police to file a complaint against the temple, and died in an accident at that time. Perhaps someone can do a search for newspaper clippings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shvu Posted October 12, 2001 Report Share Posted October 12, 2001 This certainly is an unpleasant story, if it really happened this way. I cannot imagine any parents giving up their child for such a silly sounding reason. If the many, many starving people in India come to know about this policy of tirupathi, they can go jump into the donations bag and then the Tirupathi folks have to feed them ! Considering that their collections are the second highest in the world, this should be no problem to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.