Nair, That is a good note on traditions. actually i believe most of then indian traditions have a valid point but are albeit wrapped in the religious belief.as you say the fear of God did have its way. best example poi sonna sami kanna kuthum (if you lie, god will poke your eyes) was what my grandmom used to tell me when i was a kid..and i believed that though i cannot say the same to my son.. Sowmya, Even i feel bad when the prasad is thrown from that height..but some of the temples have also gone down in their beliefs from what i have seen. when i was a kid, there were temples where money was never asked for any of the darshans, today i see them asking money to give that prasad and it pains a lot. there are woman priests in hindu temples..though the number is low. there are a few temples where woman are the priestess and most of them are devi temples. you can google for the same. Ladies can do pooja in the sanctum in melmaruvathur. but at the same time, the society should also accept that women are capable of doing the same. infact, I referred to mandakini lele the first indian woman priest in my blog. CL, it is believed that shivan sottu kula nasam (property of siva is not good ). that is why nothing albeit the theertham, and vibuthi is bought home from a shivan temple. and you always see a chandikesavar sannidhi in the outer sanctum..many of us go and snap our fingers there isn't it..actually the belief behind it is that chandikesavar being the custodian of the properties of shiva, we go and tell him by clapping our hands that we have visited the sanctum but we are leaving empty handed..
Not sure spidey but from the little that i have learnt, it could be a misconception that is still practiced. In those days most of these temples would have been full of valuable treasures, say for example tanjore temple. history says that it was full of valuable treasures..(I assume this as the saying is in tamil) that they were punished/embarassed for life if they committed robbery I remember reading something in deivathin kural which could have a clue to this too..though it eludes me..
We can take prasadam and viboothi from the Shivan temple. We shouldn't take home sand from the temple, flowers from the trees there or other such objects that are not prasadam. Material possessions are not to be taken home from the Shivan temple.
Shanvy, Thanks for your explanation. I did not know. Now when people ask me then i can explain to them. We have so many traditions which were good on those days. Reg women priests, I was tod that young women were not allowed to do it because of our month periods. I is sad to see the temple collect money to give Darshnam. If you show the money, priests take you ahead of the line. I know it is wrong, but most of us use this practice. It happens all over the world when you collect money. Should we blame Government and the management of the temple for it? If it is regulated properly as Government organization or Private sector, may be Temples may run properly. That is my opinion. Hope to hear form you. CL
CL, Things were reasonably ok until the government took over the maintenance and the administration of these big temples. teh hundi money goes to the government coffers. a salary is paid to these people. in some temples the salaries are big, and in the small temples it is not so much. it more like nationalizing temples (no pun there). there is lot of resentment because of that. now coming to the dakhsina, and money, i know priests in the temple we regularly visit telling us not to put that money in the hundi, it does not go for the benefit of the temple or the pujari there.. but that does not excuse them from monetizing even the darshan .. we all know what scams are happening in tirupathi. let me stop here. There are one or two temples where women CAN visit during periods, but i don't remember the names..will write her when i recollect that. CL you may like this thread and the discussions there. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/queries-on-religion-and-spirituality/5646-do-you-know-why-no.html
Thanks a lot, Shanvy. I would love to give it to priest than the temple. When we went to Vaitheswaran Kovil few years back, it was very sad how they collect money form us. Not the priests only, but they have so many middle men who are involved in the scheme. As you have written, the Government got involved and poor temples are suffering. Sorry to see that. we normally don't give money to temple. Instead of that we used ot give to orphanage. Then i heard that they are doing the same thing. So if I want to give some thing, I select an individual and support them. where ever we go, there is politics and corruption. I saw the link you have suggested. You have explained very well. Bye now.:cheers
Shanvy got to know something behind the sayings from your post.Thanks:thumbsup. Talking about temples robbing money:rant,even in a local temple, there is a separate queue for extra money when very very rarely the temple gets crowded.When I was studying in schools,I used to think that only in temples, there is not much difference b/w rich and the poor,but nowadays everywhere.That makes me so sad. I hate to talk @ Tirupathi.There is no such thing as humanity there.I try to avoid visiting temples during special days to avoid crowded darshans that makes me go crazy:spin.But you can't oppose when it comes to elders:hide:.I saw a man literally crying with the pushing-guys in Tirupathi to let him watch God just for a few more min since he has come so far from the North part of India.Even then, that security idiot didn't allow.God!!I felt terrible.Why would you want to go so far and get locked/wait in cells like animals for hrs and hrs just to get pushed by these security people?!
You are welcome sowmya. i tend to think about it a lot, because i have a very curious son who will not accept unless there is a reasoning behind it just like others in the generation.we were too once.. even the inauspiciousness behind aadi maasam has a reason and have blogged about it. .Weren't they great planners - IndusLadies Actually if you look at a few things there was a reason. the kodi kambam in any temple.. (the dwaja sthambam) was made of metals, that were lightning conductors..and in those days, you were not allowed to construct houses higher than the dwaja stambham and there is a saying for that too..:bonk:bonk. The temples were built strongly, and were spacious to shelter people inside if there was unwarranted natural disasters..the kitchens were done spaciously too, and i have read there used to be a public granaries..these day we only see about wheat that rots for lack of storage Wheat rotting in govt stores [India] | Times of India, The Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET will come back later..
Regarding Aadi (separate bride/groom) or whatever else they came up with - if they had a reason in older times, great. But people also have to evaluate whether it is applicable today - when things are different, people deal with heat by having a A/C etc. The things that dont apply to modern life can be changed, but for that one has to understand why it was there in the first place. For that, the explanations you provided helps Shanvy.:thumbsup And, just like you mentioned about your DS, I refuse to accept anything without an explanation, and even if there is an explanation - I need to understand whether it is applicable in today's life or not. Only if I am convinced, then I consider it, otherwise rejetted
