Deivathin Kural Series - 107

Om Namah Sivaya.
Deivathin Kural # 107 of 28 of Nov 2006.
1. To-day's title is 'Aalaya Vazhipadu', or 'Worship in theTemple', occuring in pages 490 to 492, in Volume 1 of Deivathin Kural, Tamil version, published by Vanady Padippagam, Chennai.
2. To be thankful for the assistance recieved is a good habit and duty too. For the Man who is not capable of creating even a blade of grass, to express a sense of gratitude to God, who has provided so much of everything in abundance, is an inescapable duty. We must offer the food to God before we eat it, because it is His grace. Having shown it to Him, eventually, we are only going to eat it. All the clothes and ornaments we wear are His blessings only. So we must offer to Him, the best of clothes and ornaments. This may not be possible in every body's household. So as a society, we all join hands and submit our offerings to God, in a centralised location. Temples have come into being thus, as common devotional centres.
3. In olden times, great Saints by the concentrated power of their 'Tapas' could invoke the Omnipresence of God, in some specific idols and statues and install them in the Temples. Actually the Temples evolved around such Vigrahas or Idols. All people must regularly go to the Temples, including those who do Pooja at home. Only when we keep visiting the Temples, the functions there will be conducted without a let up. If I visit the Temples, at least for my sake, they clean up the place; repair the lights; make clean Prasadam offerings; wear clean clothes. So it is my duty to keep visiting the Temples.
4. We have forgotten the subtle points. He is the provider of food. We are forgetting that what we offer to the Almighty, should at least be a small reflection of what He does for us. We are not paying attention to His dress, who caters for all. Now-a-days, the most ill-dressed in the village, is the God in the Temple. If we see to it that He is dressed cleanly, the dirt in our minds will go away. In Tamil sayings such as, "Aalayam thozhuvathu salavum nanru", (meaning, it is good to pray in Temples), "Arani maravel", (meaning, do not forget God), "Thirumalukku adimai sei", (meaning, be a slave to God). Is it not our bounden duty to keep these Temples in good working condition? It is our foremost duty.
5. Now-a-days, there is a wrong notion that, we can make any changes in the devotional procedures, to our convenience. Nothing can be farther from the requirement. Temples are like electrical power houses. If we play around with the procedures in the electrical power houses, we will get electrocuted! The omnipresent power of the devine has been tapped in the Temples, by way of application of 'Aagama Sastra Rules' and the devotional procedures evolved. If we interfere with those systems, the divine power will be lost.
6. If the 'gurukkal' or the person entrusted with the duty of conducting the 'pooja paddathi', in some Temples, is failing in his duties, that is no reason to give up the procedures. Do we mean to send out the balance divinity too? The loss is ours and not God's. We must strictly enforce the highest discipline in the conduct of Temple affairs. We are not to experiment with new rules and procedures. Temple is not a Science Laboratory!
7. For political reasons, we should not interfere with religious procedures. New will not be strong. When there is flood in the month of 'Aadi', it will erode some banks. We need not worry about that. If we explain the logic of what I am saying, they will agree to it. The so called, 'social reformists', have not read our Sastras. So they are annoyed. We should avoid getting annoyed ourselves. We should be respectful and loving, even with people who are trying to play with these things. We should patiently and lovingly, explain the principles behind the 'Aagamas', based on which these Temples have come in to being.
8. The Temple procedures, that have been observed, from the time these Temples were initially constructed; and continuing till now, should carry-on without interferance. If things have deteriorated, we are the reason for that. Let us correct ourselves first.
Sambhomahadeva.