Temples and the mantra of their success 


Temples
are there mainly to deliver spiritual, religious and cultural message to the community.
Golden rule of a successful “temple / religious establishment” is, it must be financially self sustaining.  Any long lasting temple / religious establishment has independent sources of income and does not rely on donations of the laity.  This is a golden rule and can not be contravened if a temple hopes to last for centuries.

In the golden age of temple building – 8th to the 12th century, it was an established norm that temples had scores of staff to help with its smooth running.  Temples were endowed with gardens, fields, grazing land for cows, homes for the priests and temple attendants etc to help run the temple without ever needing to request funds from any other donor or pilgrim.  The food cooked in the temple was first offered to the Gods, but its primary function was to make sure all the temple attendants were properly fed and no one in the employ of the temple went hungry.  Many temples also made sure pilgrims, ascetics and wondering monks who came to it were also fed.  Its own fields produced enough food for this and more.

Ancient temples also had a host of craftsmen to help look after it and keep it in constant state of good repair.  Stone masons, wood carvers, metal workers, jewellers, painters, weavers, gardeners, florists, herdsmen, horsemen, mahoots, guards and skilled men of all trades were employed to make for smooth running of the temple. Musicians, dancers and singers assisted the high priests with the daily worship in the inner sanctum. 

All this was done by relying on the produce of lands granted to the temples and by using the money earned from rent gathered from temple properties. 

Over the centuries, as foreigners invaded more and more of our lands, many temple lands were taken over by non-Hindus, temples were destroyed, its property dispersed or destroyed, its employees forced to convert or killed. 

Very few temples have managed to keep any modicum of former glories they once had.  North India is mostly bereft of all its ancient temples.  Most were reduced to penury and had to rely on the generosity of the laity to survive.  Sadly, after centuries of living hand to mouth, most temple authorities in North India do not know how else to survive.  South and East which escaped the worst of the islamic excesses, managed to keep a handful of temples with traditional modes of self support. 

However, after inpendence, atheists and socialists have done their best to destroy even those temples that survived muslim and christian rulers.  Governments - state and cental - have placed their own controls on the temple boards.  Forceful sell off of temple properties, reduction of staff, siphoning off of temple funds has all led to gradual decline in the proper functioning and running of temples.  Though the number of people visiting temples has risen exponentially, running conditions for most temples have not improved markedly.

A rare few like Tirupati Temple Trust are able to survive and keep their philanthropic activities growing.  Most others have given up under the pressure of aggressive anti-Hindu government policies.  Eg – government of Tamil Nadu persecuted the Shankacharya of Kanchi when he wanted to expand his philanthropic activity by establishing a medical teaching college.  It foisted a murder case on the pontiff to divert the temple trust’s money and manpower away from good causes to fighting a court case.

Whilst government aid given to muslims and christians to visit their holy places is increasing in value, Hindus are denied the same level of support.  Indeed, funds used to aid these openly anti-Hindu religions, comes from money the government has siphoned off temples put under its control.  By starving Hindu temples at the expense of others, the government is actively killing off the goose that lays the golden egg !

Hindus need to be aware of these mechanism of the government and actively lobby lawmakers to make sure this is reversed.  Hindu religious institutions should be free from government interference and control just as muslim and christian ones are.  This is a fundamental right of all Hindus and I can’t understand why Hindus are not standing up for themselves in this matter.  Centuries of being cowed by foreigners has probably left an indelible mark on out psyche, but its about time we woke up to this horrendous extortion racket and demanded our right to self-determination from it.

 

Temples outside India

 

New temples are built by Hindu diasporas where every they have settled in the world – from Malaysia to Manhattan.

To give it a broad appeal, it often contains idols of numerous Gods and goddesses.  This way everyone in the community comes to the temple and feels it has something for them. 

Often the community borrows a lot of money to purchase land and make the requisite temple in the style of its choice.  Often, marble, sandstone or granite is imported from India at great expense and a variety of styles are combined to create a community temple that would appeal to most of them. 

To repay this large bank loan, they -
*
often hold fund raising events
* request donations on regular basis
* hold special pujas / events where headline sponsors shell out a lot of money
* hire out a “community hall” on the premise

Sudama.htm

To be financially independent, they have to have alternate investments – such as rental income.  Money that comes in to the donation box is rarely enough to survive on day to day basis.

Whatever “gold” or “jewels” the temple has, yields no interest or income and as such is dead investment.  Though it may improve the profile of the temple, it will only add to its running costs in terms of insurance and security apparatus. 

Temple employees and priests must add to its popularity by being able to communicate with the public in their own language.  Often priests are brought over from India who have no local language skills and this leads to a feeling of alienatin amongst the priests and the public.  Priest(s) may be competent in terms of his knowledge of rituals, but if he can’t explain these to the laity, especially the young generation, it adds little value to the temple’s essential function – that of disseminating religion, philosophy and culture.   

Often “bad financial practices” are imported along with the priests.  Prasad and puja are sold at a price, ruining the very sanctified nature of the temple.  Priests’ pay is often kept at a minimum, forcing them to take on additional work as priests for well paying laity.  Templels are rarely adopted to suite the new realities of living outside India.  In my opinion, these thingsIn my opinion, these things should be modified to suite the local situations.

 

So, we come back to the golden rule again.

Temples are there mainly to deliver spiritual, religious and cultural message to the community.
Golden rule of a successful “temple / religious establishment” is, it must be financially self sustaining.  Any long lasting temple / religious establishment has independent sources of income and does not rely on donations of the laity.  This is a golden rule and can not be contravened if a temple hopes to last for centuries.

 

© Bhagwat
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