Rich build temples to shiva, what can i build ?
A poor man, Lord am I !, My body is the shrine
Its pillars are my legs, The golden pinnacle my head
Hear me, kudala sangama Lord
standstill perishes, which moves alone persists
Vachana by Allamaprabhu
Having built a stone temple,
And chiselled God out of stone,
If you put one stone on another,
Where did your God go ?
He who installs the stone Linga
Goes to hell, O Guheswara !
These vachanas are so crystal clear that they need no further explanation. If there is a temple, it must have priest. Priests of yesteryear ruined the harmony among fellow hindus by tweaking chaturvarna system, shastras and agamas according to their needs and made temples as their means to enjoy the worldly pleasures.
As swami vivekananda puts it ,
"Its not the problem of hinduism but its the problem with the orthodox people in it, its the fault of the priests".
Commentary Further reading Basavanna's Vachana needs to be understood in the backdrop of
1. All along the history we have seen that Temples catered a particular section of people especially financially strong class and suppressed people were denied entry in the name of chaturvarna.
Basavanna who is deeply pained with the behavior of temple priests expresses a great social concern, he says Let us respect the human beings first, so what if you are denied entry to temple, here
we are, the body itself is a temple, our Legs are the pillars, this body is the shrine and Head is the Golden dome.
2. Some Orthodox and traditional hindus argue that, basavanna did not condemn the temple concept but just the ill practices carried out by them. For such, the answer lies in the last line, Basavanna says bluntly, that which is standstill will perish just like those ancient huge fortresses which remain as ruins.
So this applies to Church, temples and Masjids also..., if at all mankind is progressing then all such barriers will have to be overcome, such structures will eventually fall as time passes and collective human mind becomes rational.
Vivekananda condemns the intention of the priestly class in strong words that pushed for temples, infact he ridicules the priests for the atrocities they committed It seems Temples in India did not originate with a Noble motive, but originated in order to give new breath to dying Hindu Culture and also Puranic Hinduism[Very different from Vedic scriptures, for e.g. Veda says man is Shatayushi[100 yrs life span] purana's say 1000 years life span isalso possible which is foolish to believe] required a symbol for worship. But soon temples which were supposed to be the source of inspiration and devotion unfortunately lost their way when they became mere offices which performed four basic duties
"Of course, the idea of the impersonal[1] is very destructive: it takes away all trade from the priests, churches, and temples. In India there is a famine now, but there are temples in each one of which there are jewels worth a king’s ransom. If the priests taught this idea of the impersonal to the people, their occupation would be gone. Yet we have to teach it unselfishly, without priestcraft. You are God and so am I. Who obeys whom? Who worships whom? You are the highest temple of God; I would rather worship you than any temple, image, or Bible. [ Swami Vivekananda]
a) Financial centres and commerce It’s hard to digest Temples accepting costly donations from corrupt people like Janardhana reddy [recently arrested Mining czar] and also Tirupathi temple refused to return back the Diamond studded "Kireeta" gifted by Janardana reddy. Riches unearthed at Padmanabha temple will not be surprising to someone who knows history. Temples were always rich because priests pushed for donations and offerings by instilling false beliefs in the minds of common men that sins will be washed away with acts of offerings and donations.
Below statements S1 and S2 from Historian Romila Thapar confirm the above facts.
Pooh! India is to be raised, the poor are to be fed, education is to be spread, and the evil of priest craft is to be removed. No priest craft, no social tyranny! [ Swami Vivekananda]
1) Systematic way of spreading Inequality among fellow human beings by enforcing chaturvarna system citing Manushastra and justifying it with imaginary Puranic cock and bull stories.
2) Denial of Entry to temples, if one thinks its no more in practice, then get updated its rampant in Tamil Nadu, Orissa , Gujrat then imagine the fate of other states
3) We all know how Govt is being run in Gujarat and Karnataka. They have extensively made use of temples to appease a certain class of people. The two leading states of India Gujarat and Karnataka we find inequalities followed in temples.
To this day Dakshina Kannada temples are the store house of inequalities one can say. And a SURVEY OF 1,655 VILLAGES IN GUJARAT FINDS NOT A SINGLE ONE WHERE UNTOUCHABILITY IS NOT PRACTICED..... Vibrant Gujarat a Myth
c) Spread Blind Beliefs
I think we need not talk about this but to cite few
1) we all know how nagarpanchami is celebrated by offering Milk to snakes, we know that snakes dont drink milk.
2) Its unfortunate to till this day their exists a blind rituals like Made sanana @ kukke Subbramanya temple [ messy’ custom where the devotees roll on the left over meal of uppercaste], what are priests doing why can't they educate people
3) How can a Hindu priest say he is tolerant when he justifies denial of entry[to temple] to Yesudas. Then the priests should pour themselves molten lead into their ears because they surely would have listened to the devotional songs sung by Yesudas.
4) COW SHIT PURIFIES WHAT A HUMAN BEING MADE UNCLEAN
Gandhi considered a situation in all its aspects and so when he was keen to raise the status of women in India to its rightful place, he took into. account the question of the prostitutes and Devadasis. He felt very pained at the problem of Devadasis, because he felt that it was deceiving God to use young girls for the priests' carnal pleasures under the guise of service to God. Similarly, he considered the existence of the institution of prostitutes a shame on society and more so a shame on men. In connection with the problem of Devadasis, Gandhi considered the name 'Devadasi' a euphemism for prostitutes
. He considered it in the same light as that of prostitution. And to him this crime of man against woman was much more serious than that of a hungry man stealing a banana or that of a needy youngster picking a pocket. Gandhi believed that this vice was prevalent in cities and the majority of villages were more or less free of it.
He felt that after India became free, the system of temple women and brothels must be abolished. Even though on paper we have abolished the system of Devadasis, rampant exploitation of women as sex servants has continued.
Gandhiji was very disturbed by the plight of this low caste untouchable section of the society, namely the Devadasis. (See also: The Temple Women) He was hurt by the miserable way the children of brothels were treated. He had made elaborate plans for their rehabilitation. He declared that protecting women's honor was important and as holy as protecting cows. His book "Women and Social Injustice" contains discussions of very deep thoughts and solutions on the topic. He felt that after India became free, the system of temple women and brothels must be abolished.
Grand Padmanabha sitting inside the jail called rich temple is silently watching around him the blind ritual of pouring milk on snake in the name of nagapanchami , made snana rolling on left over meal plates of upper caste by devotees, poor people who dont have any thing to eat but in temple is lying wealth, and oppressed caste is still unable to open eyes under the misguidance of Priest craft....
An unfortunate Saga from Astronomy to Astrology - Can we revive astronomy in our minds?
By the time we reach end of this article we shall witness that it’s a heinous crime to associate Astrology with Early India [who had scientific approach]. We shall see how Astronomy became Astrology. One should be proud of 28 stars they identified ranging from ashwini to revathi, lunar cycle & heliocentric theory to mention few were all science.
A teenager called Srinivas Ramanujan from a not so famous city Kumbakonam in 1900s arrived at Eulers formula eix= cos(x) + isin(x) by playing with math equations, which Euler had discovered 200 years ago. Yes Ramanujan was not even aware of Euler at that point. Why did this happen to a Nation that had discovered Pythagoras theorem when the people of west were still barbarians and Archimedes was yet not born.Aryabhata and varahamihira are the last know contributors, for centuries there was zeroachievement in the field of Astronomy. We had to wait for 25 centruies for a man of class C V Raman. Still we have not produced a man of class called Einstien.
Priestly onslaught: reason for Astronomy becoming substandard astrology in India:
Astronomy developed under the shade of enlightened saints called Rishis. In the guise of vedic rituals to build altars geometry, trigonometry etc developed. But soon were controlled by a selfish class of people called priests who were busy counting money earned by performing rituals. Knowledge remained with priest class, ah! from where a Rishi is to be born to carry the legacy. Rishis were frustrated with this priestly act and their thought process went inward. unquestioned Priests forgot science, they froze it and announced themselves there is nothing to be discovered further they became
ambassadors for Rahu,kethu, they ensured that people feared eclipse- a celestial class act, churned out beautiful stories to support them, learned people say you will find such stories only in puranas not in vedic scriptures. Priests coupled with Kings created an unhealthy environment for the development of science. Science requires space for objective analysis and thought process. Ah how could you think further on solar eclipse, it’s a sin, you can’t question rahu because purana say so. Lack of freedom for objective thinking [basic need for science] received severe hindrance by subjective sectional interests resulting in false praising and blind following of vedic karmas and citations. Astronomy[Khagola-vignyana or Jyotishya ] treats SUN as a star. Even now the Astrology[Phala jyotishya] call SUN as a planet. People of West were better as Galileo was just tortured, in India they ensured Galileo’s remained unborn.
kalaya tasmai namaha
They classified directions as auspicious and inauspicious. can you believe these people called astrologers classified time. They differentiated time as good and bad. Sanskrit Shloka says "kalaya tasmai namaha" which has a great meaning "Salutations to that great entity called TIME" but selfish astrologers mask this to instill fear among people, to take advantage of weak minds. All just for money. Poets have written loads and loads of poems on "Time" with great reverence. It’s disgusting to talk about such people...
Hindu Scriptures:
It’s a Blasphemy to believe in Astrology after reading the
enlightened statements from some of Hindu scriptures.
Yogavasista lays down that
what is not consistent with reason should not be accepted even if Brahma were
to tell it. No human being is absolutely and perpetually blameless.[ Swami
Sharvananda taittiriyopanishattu, p 68, 1956]
Charaka samhita's scientific
voice says: "Any success obtained with lack of logic is just a
coincidence" [ G T narayana Rao, “Srinivas Ramanujan Lived here”, P 185]
There is a famous Shloka in Sanskrit that says “ sarvam
khalvidam brahmham”, now let me know
from where did these planetary objects come in between.
Upanishads have declared “jnana yajna” is the best… but
still no priest or Astrologer reveals this to us, either they are dumb fellows
Or they are masking the bright words of self confidence and reasoning from
common people with an Agenda. What is their agenda, it seems to control us. No two astrologers come to a consensus both in
prediction and also in providing scientific justification for Astrology. Each
one has his own hypothetical interpretations, as Yoga Vasista lays down, we
should not believe in Astrology. It’s Astronomy what we should believe.
"It is the coward and the fool who says, 'This is fate'" — so says the Sanskrit proverb. But it is the strong man who stands up and says, "I will make my fate." It is people who are getting old who talk of fate. Young men generally do not come to astrology. We may be under planetary influence,but it should not matter much to us. Buddha says, "Those that get a living by calculation of the stars by such art and other lying tricks are to be avoided"; and he ought to know, because he was the greatest Hindu ever born. Let stars come, what harm is there? If a star disturbs my life, it would not be worth a cent. You will find that astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food and rest. [Man the maker of his destiny - Vivekananda ]
I think the Greeks first took astrology to India and took from the
Hindus the science of astronomy and carried it back with them from
Europe [ Vivekananda ]
Astrologers predict both past and future. If even 25% of their statements about your past are true. You shall believe the future he predicts with 250% trust. If one notes down all these and checks after 20-25 years, he would be convinced that predictions were mere predictions.[ Mookajjiya kanasugaLu ]
Ramanujan is in critical condition fighting death, her mother helpless takes the horoscope to Phala jyotishi advises her “if the bad phase has to go away soon, ask Ramanujan to keep away from his wife”. Ramajujan defies it saying it’s foolish. [ Tell me who would take care of him who is in such bad condition ].
In his novel “English Teacher” [ Unofficial Autobiography, My Days his official Autobiography] discusses that he persisted to marry his Girl despite the horoscopes did not match.
Echoes Vivekananda and says its “ it’s a sordid game of people who wanted to earn their lively hood in a easy manner, donot believe them”. He opines that when Astrologers made it a profession, astronomy declined. [ he says “hotte horeyuva vidye” ].
A Saivite Saint Thiru Gjnaana Sambandar sings in Thevaaram:-
"Naazh En Seyum--Kozh en seyum"=What stars,planets, good or bad days can do on me ?
"Kumaresan Thaalum,Tholum,Sadhngaiyum en Munnay Thondridinay"=if Lord Muruga's feet, shoulders and His ankle jewels come before my eyes ?
He defied Astrology and its advices yet succeeded.
Another Saivite saint Thiru.Appar.says "when Lord Siva's image is before me,the Lords of Sun,Moon,Mars,Mercury,Jupitor,Venus and Saturn (Astrology) would stand before me and can do me all benevolence only.
Gautham -- Most consult an astrologer if pressed, so struggle is futile.
Balasundaram -- Tests of astrology are indecisive, it needs demystifying. Tiwari -- Vedic = beyond sensory experience. How can Vedic be science?
Gupta -- Astrology may be a science-like knowledge but more difficult.
Mandal -- We either accept astrology and reject evolution, or the reverse.
Ganeshaiah -- Issue is nonsense vs good information, not arts vs sciences.
Abhyankar -- Astrologers offer only therapy by talking. Why be fooled? Narlikar (review of Astrology: Believe it or not?) -- Not! Recommended! Sitaraman -- Science not threatened by Vedic astrology or any other.
Heart within, and God o’erhead [ H W Longfellow , "A psalm of Life]
Great numbers of Galaxies are being found. We are able to witness farther and farther Celestial dance. It would be very novice to believe that only solar system will have an effect on human beings. Modern authors of India and visionaries like Vivekananda have discarded astrology by terming it as a sordid game of priests who enforced it on people so that they can earn their livelihood.
"Past is misery, Future is mystery, present is pleasant" this is the trick used by astrologers.They succeed when we miss the present pleasant trick
