| Lessons from Kanchi Sankaracharya Events SK Sharam peplefirst@devalt.org T he charges against the Sankaracharya of Kanchi have raised issues of introducing some regulation over religious organisations. During 1977-80, when I was Commissioner, Ujjain Division in Madhya Pradesh, the priests claimed the temple offerings as their hereditary rights. Invoking the Religious Endowment Act of the erstwhile Gwalior State of which Ujjain was a part, I brought the Mahakal Temple under a statutory trust and constituted a Temple Management Committee headed by the district Collector with eminent local scholars and devotees as members. The committee decided that the priests would be entitled to a stipulated share in the offerings. When devotees realised that bulk of their offerings would be used for social good, the offerings multiplied many times, and so did the earnings of the priests! Using the funds thus generated, the pristine glory of the Mahakal Temple was restored and upgraded, the polluted water kund repaired and cleaned and numerous facilities including separate entry and exit to the sanctum sanctorum at the basement level developed. The temple is now supporting numerous social and educational activities for the under-privileged. The priests were so pleased that they organised a special prayer session for me when I was transferred! Some years ago, Jagmohan, then Governor Jammu & Kashmir, brought the famous Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu under a statutory trust. Its offerings increased by leaps and bounds, facilitating numerous improvements in its precincts and the climbing walkway to the Temple. With the ongoing flow of funds, the Vaishno Devi trust has now set up a university of high standard in Katra at the base of the Vaishno Devi hill ! Hindu dharma (or religion) has always been a highly decentralised faith with no one as its high priest, thus allowing various types of worship for different god heads. Many tribal faiths are polytheistic in that they believe in many gods. Islam and Christianity are monotheistic in that they believe in one god and one prophet. As a consequence, they have defined secularism as tolerance of other faiths Hindu dharma, so also other religions of Indian origin such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, as well as Baha’i are henotheistic since they believe in various manifestations of the only super-conscious. Secularism to them is respect for other faiths. As a consequence, they do not indulge in proselytizing. This has led to misinformation being spread that one can only be born a Hindu. The truth is that any one who believes in the Hindu faith is a Hindu! Emperor Ashok first expanded his empire through war. When he attacked Kalinga, the common people came out to defend themselves and got slaughtered. Overtaken by remorse, he became a Buddhist and started propagating Buddhism. This was against the dharma of a king who according to Hindu scriptures, should treat all faiths with respect. Threatened by the expansion of Buddhism, Hindus established the four muths of Shankaracharyas with high priests, a practice alien to the decentralised Hindu dharma. As in temples such as Tirupati, Ujjain and Vaishno Devi, the Shankaracharya Muths too need to be brought under statutory trusts so that their high priests cannot abuse their funds. If and when a Ram Temple is built in Ayodhaya, it should be under a statutory trust headed by an official of the Ayodhaya municipality with local Hindu scholars of standing and Muslim families who have been serving the temples by preparing and selling temple offerings since generations, as trustees. A Ram Darshan, projecting through multimedia the ideology of Hindu dharma symbolised in Ram Raj, be developed for the benefit of the visitors, especially the youth. These are the lessons that we need to learn from the events in Kanchi. q www.peoplefirstindia.org |
