After shelving my plans of paying a visit to Lord Tirupathi umpteen number of times in the last three years, I finally managed to visit the holy shrine this July.
I was quite upbeat about having a look at the huge Hundis there and the South Indian ladies throwing all the jewelery that they have on themselves right in to the Hundi. But alas, that was not to be. Instead what I got was a one hour long wait in a cramped suffocating queue to have my prasadam. Moreover, my sightings of the idol were limited to a meager 2 seconds, that too with an iron hand clutching my elbow and wanting to throw me out as soon as the allotted 2 seconds were over. A graphical account is presented below of my sightings of the Lord's idol.
But what disappointed me most was the uninspired manner in which most of the devotees conducted themselves and the utter lack of camaraderie among the co-pilgrims which is so evident when you pay a visit to Vaishno Devi. For most of the pilgrims, it was seeming like a forced visit with a total lack of enthusiasm and devotion. (I sincerely hope that I am wrong here but this is what was visible, at least from the outside.)
This made me come out with a theory of my own which professes the fact that popular Mandirs can also be viewed as God's SHOWROOM these days. The salient features of my theory follow:
I was quite upbeat about having a look at the huge Hundis there and the South Indian ladies throwing all the jewelery that they have on themselves right in to the Hundi. But alas, that was not to be. Instead what I got was a one hour long wait in a cramped suffocating queue to have my prasadam. Moreover, my sightings of the idol were limited to a meager 2 seconds, that too with an iron hand clutching my elbow and wanting to throw me out as soon as the allotted 2 seconds were over. A graphical account is presented below of my sightings of the Lord's idol.
But what disappointed me most was the uninspired manner in which most of the devotees conducted themselves and the utter lack of camaraderie among the co-pilgrims which is so evident when you pay a visit to Vaishno Devi. For most of the pilgrims, it was seeming like a forced visit with a total lack of enthusiasm and devotion. (I sincerely hope that I am wrong here but this is what was visible, at least from the outside.) This made me come out with a theory of my own which professes the fact that popular Mandirs can also be viewed as God's SHOWROOM these days. The salient features of my theory follow:
- People went to Mandirs supposedly for the tranquility, silence and the peace there but I doubt if these three words can be found anywhere in Tirupathi's vicinity these days. According to my theory, if you want the Holy Three combination, offering a Puja at your home is the best option and hence, any popular Mandir has been reduced to more of a showroom where you come to decide whether you want to take up (buy) the belief of this God.
- In case of repeated visits, it's more of a tax paying spree (the long queues notwithstanding) where you come to pay the taxes of the services that you have entailed for the last one year.
- Another point seconding my reasoning that Mandir = Showroom: Mandir is the place where the Lord displays all His might and tries to lure you into buying His belief by showing you:
- The huge fan following that He has got (in terms of the long queues)
- All the worldly wealth that He possesses (in terms of the very rich Mandir and all the gold adorning it)
- Lastly, His divine powers (in terms of all the miracle tales that you hear from your co-pilgrims)
- Sadly, the option of a test ride still hasn't been roped in. The test ride translates to: you giving the Lord one of your wishes and testing whether He can make it come true in a week. And given the large no. of Hindu Gods available, we can surely lead a very peaceful life just by "testing" all of them one by one.
4 comments:
That they could spend just 1 or 2 seconds at the deity is an oft repeated statement by those who visit Tirupathi.
But, I want to point out the fact that around 50,000 to 60,000 devotees visit the temple everyday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirumala_Venkateswara_Temple). And the temple has to be shut down for some minimum time according to the temple shaastras. And alas, a day has just 86,400 seconds.
And as for the iron hands, without them, anyone who has travelled hundreds of kms and spent more than 2 hours in the queue will not leave the deity.
But, people are very clever. They have started moving slowly towards the deity, to spend a lot of time before they actually reach the deity. So, not only are we pulled away from the deity, we are also pushed towards it by the temple employees.
Tirupathi is a favorite destination of mine (though I am Agnostic). I simply love the feeling I get near the deity after going up the hill on foot and spending a lot of hours in the queue. I pity the VIPs who go into the temple immediately on arriving. They can never understand this feeling.
And yes, the Tirupathi Laddoo is the best thing I have ever eaten in my life...
dude you x and y axis are interchanged ... i agree with the rest
well i have a temple in mathura and i agree with your views . good one ....
@ Sunil:
I never said that the authorities should not do what they are doing presently or what they are doing right now is wrong. I just feel that after so much of toil and hardship, a soul deserves more than his 2 seconds of divinity, though it is logistically not possible.
I concur with you on the Laddoo issue .
@Somani:
point taken (and acted upon). Thanks!
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