At lunch today, 2 colleagues and I were talking about money and temples. The discussion started with today's news that India would be giving money to bail out Europe's economy. And the thought was anyways our politicians have so much money in Swiss Bank accounts which are black (unaccounted). This is a golden opportunity to convert it to white. May be they will have a red book in which they will maintain these transactions - ki kisne kitna diya hai operation Europe Bailout ke liye and what should they get in return.
Our conversation turned to the Padmanabhaswamy temple riches of 1000 Lakh crores. Concern - how sure are we that our greedy bereaucrats and politicians will not "eat" into this pie? How sure are we that the riches will still remain with Lord Padmanabhaswamy and will not decorate a neck of someone's wife? Or kith or kin?
Sample Tirupati - a ticket to expedite the darshan time used to cost Rs. 50/- several years ago. Now, they have introduced another ticket priced at Rs. 300/- but the darshan time today is the same time that you would spend on a Rs. 50/- ticket 5 years ago - 3-4 hours. Considering a lakh devotees take the Rs. 300/- ticket on any day, the amount Tirupati gets to make is Rs. 300,00000/- and this is purely based on 1 single type of ticketing. Other than this, there is the Rs. 40/- and Rs. 50/- tickets and the several special darshans priced high (above Rs. 1001/- and above, upto Rs. 25,000). Despite this, there is bribe everywhere. While you are standing in the line, someone will come and give you kumkum and say it is directly from the God. you are excited that this should come to you, of all people and you start feeling special. But this feeling lasts only for a fleeting second - that person forwards his hand and asks you to pay for it!!! :(
There is bribe even to get a glimpse of Lord Venkateshwara for a moment long, bribe for extra laddoos, bribe for lodging, everything ... And right in front of the Lord's eyes... Where is this going to end? Or is there an end?
I guess, only Lord Padmanabhaswamy and/or Lord Venkateshwara can answer this question!!!
Our conversation turned to the Padmanabhaswamy temple riches of 1000 Lakh crores. Concern - how sure are we that our greedy bereaucrats and politicians will not "eat" into this pie? How sure are we that the riches will still remain with Lord Padmanabhaswamy and will not decorate a neck of someone's wife? Or kith or kin?
Sample Tirupati - a ticket to expedite the darshan time used to cost Rs. 50/- several years ago. Now, they have introduced another ticket priced at Rs. 300/- but the darshan time today is the same time that you would spend on a Rs. 50/- ticket 5 years ago - 3-4 hours. Considering a lakh devotees take the Rs. 300/- ticket on any day, the amount Tirupati gets to make is Rs. 300,00000/- and this is purely based on 1 single type of ticketing. Other than this, there is the Rs. 40/- and Rs. 50/- tickets and the several special darshans priced high (above Rs. 1001/- and above, upto Rs. 25,000). Despite this, there is bribe everywhere. While you are standing in the line, someone will come and give you kumkum and say it is directly from the God. you are excited that this should come to you, of all people and you start feeling special. But this feeling lasts only for a fleeting second - that person forwards his hand and asks you to pay for it!!! :(
There is bribe even to get a glimpse of Lord Venkateshwara for a moment long, bribe for extra laddoos, bribe for lodging, everything ... And right in front of the Lord's eyes... Where is this going to end? Or is there an end?
I guess, only Lord Padmanabhaswamy and/or Lord Venkateshwara can answer this question!!!
We all have been waiting for answers from God (or all the various Gods) for a long long time. When it hasn't come till date, why do we still keep asking the same question over and over again? Belief, that it will be answered someday? May be. Won't it be too late for mankind by the time the answers come? May be. I am truly waiting for the prediction of 21 Dec 2012 to come true. Call me a sadist, however, I truly feel it is one incident that will check the harm mankind is doing on Nature/Earth.
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