May 26,  2009

“A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss.” Swami Vivekanada

"There is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in work. Were he never so benighted, forgetful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works: in idleness alone there is perpetual despair."  Thomas Carlyle

Hindus have to be awakened to the reality of the potential danger to their culture. They have to be united. They have to be proud of their religion, and act as Hindus. They need to read and digest the history of India and how the Hindus were subdued, conquered, and ruled by Muslims and Britishers. We have forgotten our history. It is time to stand up, protect and defend our culture and Hindu Temples. It is not time to despair. In fact, it is time to reflection and determination to double their efforts to protect their religion.

Sri Kamal Kumar Swami sent the following message describing the need protect our religion and his plans to initiate Maha Pada Yatra 3 in the proper Hyderabad City.

Circumstances warrant to initiate Next Maha Pada Yatra

One need to read neither  Indian history nor  dig out hills and forts to understand the rich cultural  & historical background  of India but he can understand everything if he just visits any temple in the near vicinity. But unfortunately today, thousands of  small and big temples  in Andhra Pradesh are found to be  in dilapidated condition and on the verge of collapse. These temples, due to improper monitoring and negligent behavior of Endowments officials, are standing in a state of destruction viz., spoiled idols, dust and garbage accumulated here and there,  persons visible there in with playing cards is the most obvious scenes.  There are no priests in these temples and even if they are there, they are not able to make even Rs.300 to 400/. If the temples deities own lands, the same will be  in a state of either encroachment or under leaseholders who do not pay any lease premium either in cash or kind. The jewelry presented to the temple deities by the donors are not available and nobody knows, where these jewelry is kept. Looting, robbing and dacoity in the temples is most usual phenomenon.  The metallic idols (pancha loha vigrahas)  1000 to 1500 years ago do worth now crores of rupees. These idols are smuggled, looted and robbed and sent out to foreign countries

The Police Department does nothing to arrest the culprits unless the thieves surrender themselves with realization.  The families whose ancestors have donated their land to the temples are now living in state of abject poverty while the encroachers/ illegal leaseholders do lead a luxury life with the clandestine cooperation of Endowments officials. In spite of the fact that  large number of  Emperors and kings of great dynasties have donated hundreds of acres of land to various servitude personnel  belonging to diversified castes, due to improper monitoring of  all such assets, temples are thrown into a state of dilapidated condition  without even daily rituals.

It is an ardent truth that the main culprit for destruction of the temples is Government itself as any new scheme initiated by the Government for supporting landless poor, the first action is to disturb Endowments lands.   While 5 to 10 churches have already  been built in each village and  some more new churches are already coming up, the one or two temples built hundreds of years ago in each village, are closed down.    When  one starts self-introspection,  one may definitely conclude that  we ourselves are responsible for this pitiful state and that we claim to be true Hindus.  It is, however, true that we are traditional Hindus but we are irregular to visit  temples and in the present day Hindu Society, only less than  5-10% of population are visiting temples.  On the Sri Rama Navami Day,  while the Kalyana Mahotsavam of Shri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy is  getting performed, one can find only the purohit and Ubhayakartha. In none of the temples, Bhajans are performed and the practice of Bhajan Sampradayam has been completely given away.  Even if some Bhajans are performed,  surrounding people feel it disturbing  and do not hesitate to go to Police Station immediately to lodge a complaint against the temple organizers.

While all these factors are self-made and self-contributed in negligence of temples, the other major hinderance for the progress of the temples is Endowments Department.  Although the main intention of the Endowments department is to safeguard the movable and immovable property belonging to temple deities, the same department has proved to be destructive department.  The staff and officials of the Endowments departments are synonymous to the disrespect/ ill-treatment  and  that one feels irritated and unrestful to write about the misdeeds of the Endowments officials. One of the EX-Executive Officers of Bhadrachalam Temple has always been found to be in a state of intoxication after 18.30 hrs with the company of  various contractors executing works in Bhadrachalam Temple.  The Executive Officer of Annavaram Devasthanam, Shri Raghunath, was found to have gathered assets disproportionate to his income and while ACB officials conducted a search into  his   locker  at SBH Branch Annavaram, lot of gold ornaments were seized.  ACB officials raid on Endowments Officials has always been reported in the PRESS. The list is endless.The Endowments officials are, in their status, treated on par with the murky politicians. While the salary of the Temple Executive Officers is between Rs.15000 to 20000/-, the salary of  Pujaris are between Rs.600-700/-  While the EO will never visits the temple, the pujari shall  always be available in the temple premises.  It is an ardent truth that in hundreds of  villages, pujaris quit the temple in the absence of  square meal a day.

All these situations led to the upsurge of  movements under Hindu Devalaya Pari Rakshna Samithi to safeguard the temples.  During 2006, when Government of Andhra Pradesh  issued a Government Order to acquire Endowments Lands for construction of  Indiramma Gruhas, HDPS approached Hon’ble High Court and obtained Stay Orders preventing the Government  of AP from acquiring/ using  Endowments lands for unintended purpose.  While in 2005,  HDPS has conducted and thrashed the  ill motive of Endowments Department to acquire  power over 181 Mutts, Peethas and Ashramas
To reunite the downtrodden, tribals and fishermen with the mainstream of Hindu, two Maha Pada Yatrs across the state were conducted giving a message that we can only save our temples.

Maha Pada Yatra –I :
Started   from Basara (Adilabad District) on 16.9.2007  and reached Thirupathi on 25.1.2008   covering a distance of  3200 kilometers in  130  days.

Pada Yatra-II :
Started   from  Srikurmam on August 8,2009  and reached  Thirupathi   on  February 16, 2009 covering a distance of  5500 kilometers in 200 days in 11 districts.

Maha Padayatra – III  in Greater Hyderabad  from September 2009 :
It is now proposed to conduct Maha Padayatra – III from 19^th September 2009 in Greater Hyderabad City covering 3000 slums and 3000 Temples

I had  been relentlessly struggling for safeguarding great Hindu Religious Culture by creating an awareness in the devotees to protect the property owned by temples, to highlight  the negligent attitude of the Endowments Officials  which has resulted in a state of dilapidation of thousands of temples in Andhra Pradesh and to integrate the downtrodden community with the main stream of Hindu Society by mingling with them in the Pada Yatras conducted across the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Once again, I wish to make a fervent appeal to all Hindu devotees to join hands in protecting Hindu Temples cutting across the communal barriers and stand united irrespective of  regional differences and diverse castes

 Proposed Maha Pada Yatra 3 will start on September 19, 2009  (ASWAYUJA SUDDHA PADYAMI, DUSSEHRA PRARAMBHAM)

TOPICS to be discussed

"Protection of Hindu Temples (Devalaya Parirakshana)

Christian Conversions

Protection of COWS (Go Samrakshana)

Protection of Mother Tongue (Mathru Bhasha Rakshana) "

VENUE:

The meeting  will take place at 18.00 hrs. on 28.5.2009 (Thursday) at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram Mini Hall, Bagh Lingampally, Hyderabad.

Chief Guests :

Shri Hanuman Choudhary

Shri Kouta Manohar

Shri Potturi Venkateswara Rao

Shri P.V.R.K.Prasad

Smt.Sathya Vani

Shri Bhagavan Reddy

Shri Gangu Bhanu Murthy

Shri Soundara Rajan

Shri Vasudeva Deekshitulu

Dr. (Smt) Sandhyavandanam Lakshmi Devi

Shri Padmanabham

Shri T.Sreenivas

Shri Komal Reddy

Shri Gadepalli Bhaskar

Shri Anjaneyulu, Hindu Jana Jagruthi Samithi

Shri Edida Subrahmanyam

Shri Dusharla Satyanarayana

Shri Basaveswara Rao

Visit us online:

http://savetemples.org

http://www.globalhinduheritagefoundation.org