Let me begin by asking a simple question: Why do we visit temples? To remember god, to ask for forgiveness or to clear our conscience. Whatever be the answer to above question, the rituals we perform remains more or less the same. It begins with a ‘thali’ with offering of sweets and ends with giving dakshina to the pundit/brahman.
The value of offering improves along with the grandeur of temple. You may not be offering the same local halwa or 10Rs note when you go to Tirupati, isn’t it? After all we travel this far not to offend the lord. But one may not be consciously aware that there lies a great business in it, behind the scenes, of a mammoth proportion!
The turnover at Tirupati Balaji easily crosses a whopping INR 500 Crores each year. Following are the approx. figures:
The temple also has 5 tonne gold reserve! (Note that this is only the reported figure).
All this money doesn’t come that easily; everybody has to work hard, including lord himself. And god has his own ways of rewarding his pupils. If you are willing to sacrifice more from your wallet (say around 10,000 Rs), then you can get into VIP line, where you don’t have to wait much, you get a chance to get close to your almighty and also get more time for the darshana… see how generous the god is!
There are other lucrative schemes also:
-Pay Rs 1 lakh and get a chance for darshan for 2 days a year for 20 years for six people
-Pay Rs 50,000 and get a chance for darshan for 2 days a year for 10 years for six people
The lesser mortals who are unwilling to part with their money (for whatever reasons) get to wait for as long as 12 hrs, the darshana lasts for meagre 2 seconds…as you sow so you reap, rightly said!!!
The temple administration (TTD) has devised novel ways to improve the reach of the lord; the sinned souls can now donate the money online through their Citibank credit cards, get rid of the sin and sleep in peace.
The god himself works from 3am in the morning till 1 am (22 hrs, and he gets no holiday!), the doors of temple are closed for pilgrimage only for two hours (and we cry foul of our long working hours!), during which god sleeps in velvet mattress, suspended by gold chain. Of course the pilgrims outside sleep under the open sky, on the floor...because pain purifies their soul!
May the god keep bestowing his kindness and forgiveness to us poor humans, may his temple stand erect till eternity, relieving us from the burden of felony, but wait…in which temple should I pray for it?
(Sources of data: www.hindu.com, www.tirumala.org )
No comments:
Post a Comment