[Reader-list] Fwd:Treasure of Faith

[A. Mani]

_____________Forwarded Message___________________


Treasure of Faith



Hoards of Wealth in Padmnabh Temple



Ram Puniyani





It seems that in this profane world, the ‘Holy’ seem to be most
monetarily wealthy. Recently the material goods of the men of God have
come to be known more openly than before. Bhagwan Satya Sai of
Putthaparthy, not only had over 40000+ crores of wealth; some of this
was kept in his personal quarter, in the form of cash and Gold. Not to
be left behind the most successful Yoga Guru and the champion of
unearthing illicit money stashed abroad, Baba Ramdev, also has hoards
of money. It is said he controls over 11000 crores. All this came to
prominence once Ramdev began his campaign by undertaking fast at
Ramlila maidan. These are just two samples from the Godmen, who are
currently ruling the spiritual realm. Other Godmen like Sri Sri
Ravishanker, Morari Bapu, Maa Amritanand Mai, Asaram Bapu and other of
their tribe are also wealthy to the hilt. Unlike the low caste saints
of the genre of Kabir, Tukaram, Narsi Mehta, Dadu or Raidas, most of
those in the God market today have made humongous riches.



The other centres’ of faith, the temples, also have infinite wealth.
It is known that Tirupati Balaji Temple, Sai Baba of Shirdi Shrine,
Siddhivinayaka in Mumbai and many such places are troves of treasure.
This wealth comes from devotees’ offerings. Lately some BJP ruled
States, e.g. Karnataka, Governments are also donating money to holy
places. Many claim that this wealth is devoted for public welfare. In
is reported that only 0.5% of Bhagwan Satya Sai’s wealth was used for
social welfare.  How much of these offering are tax paid or comprise
of illicit wealth is anybody’s guess. As Godmen are prominently
visible currently, more facts about the stinking wealth of these
centres of faith are coming to light. Some of these are plain
shockers.



One such shocker comes in the form of the news (July 2011) that Shree
Padmanabhswamy temple of Tiruvananthpuram’s lockers have incalculable
wealth. These lockers were opened on the orders of Supreme Court. It
seems that the deity of this Holy shrine is the richest ‘God on
Earth’. The mind boggling wealth of Lakhs of Crores has been locked up
there from last few centuries.  The source of this wealth is multiple,
part of this came from devotees offerings and the major chunk has came
from the wealth of King Marthanda Varma, The source of his wealth was
taxation of poor farmers, tax income from slave trade, and by
appropriating the wealth of other kings. The source of wealth is known
but its controls are in the hands of the temple trust. The surfacing
of such a vast treasure has raised the issue, to who does this wealth
belong?



Marthanda Varma the king who defeated small kings to garner this huge
wealth was under the influence of a Brahman priest. In due course King
dedicated all his wealth and his sword to Padmnanbha Temple and
declared himself as Padmanabhdasa, and acted as the custodian of this
wealth. The same regime and temple wealth was partly used for opening
up feeding houses for Brahmins, but overall the whole wealth has
remained intact in the coffers of the temple. The temple is being
managed by a Committee with the heir of Martanda Varma as the
controller of the treasure.



Does the God, deity, need so much wealth? And can this vast ocean of
riches be of any good to the society at large in the material sense.
One concedes that the wealth with the deity is `serving various
emotive-spiritual’ purposes, and many a Hindu groups  and even the
Congress politicians have claimed that the wealth should remain as it
is where it is and a small part of it can be diverted for social
welfare.



With Independence and later with abolition of privy purses to the
Kings, who were enjoying privileges by claiming to have divine right
to rule, the rule passed on to the state, the elected representative
of the people. So should mere legality decide the use of this wealth
or should the needs of society at large decide the utilization of such
wealth. What will make God most happy; the hoarding of this wealth
under the control of few or use of this wealth for the larger good of
society?



As such when we are hearing that a lot of wealth kept by Indians in
banks aboard should be declared national asset and used for the
welfare of the people, should we also pay our attention to this
‘Temple-Baba’ wealth as well? Those shouting hoarse, and correctly so,
about nationalizing illicit money are keeping quiet on the issue of
wealth with God, and wealth with Godmen, both. It is a bit of a riddle
that those who have been fasting and agitating on the issue of illicit
wealth seal their lips when this social wealth under the control of
Deity or a small group of trustees is concerned.



As such there are interesting historical incidents about Holy places
and wealth. Earlier also these places of worship were the places with
good amount of wealth and many a Kings, motivated by the lust
plundered it. Mahmud Gazni had the clear motive of grabbing Somnath
temple wealth, but he claimed that he does not believe in idol
worship, so he is destroying the temple. Such historiography became
the stuff on which communal divides were drawn and divisive politics
sustains itself. Here one forgets that even Hindu Kings have plundered
the wealth in temples. Kalhan’s Rajtangini mentions that 11thCentury
ruler of Kashmir, Raja Harshdev, had created a new designation of an
officer, Decottpatan Nayak, whose job was to uproot the precious idols
of Gods in the Holy places. The matters of faith are very delicate and
have become more so during last three decades as the temple issues
have bypassed the issues of poverty and dignity of weaker section of
society.



One should also make it clear that similar wealth is locked up in
other religious institutions, like in Churches and with Wakf board,
though the source of this may be different. All this needs to be
brought to the service of the community at large.



In current times while there is a need to respect the faith of people,
there is also a need to think of social welfare in all possible
manners. Such treasures have to be brought under social control and
every penny of this must go for programs aimed at alleviation of
poverty or empowerment of the weak and poor.



--

Issues in Secular Politics



II July 2011-07-20

www.pluralindia.com

Response only to ram.puniyani at gmail.com

___________________________________________

-- 
A. Mani
ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS
http://www.logicamani.co.cc