Hindu Temples and Endowment Boards            

Sri V.R. Gowrishankar, Administrator, Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri (Courtesy: Arsha Vidya Newsletter, Dec.2003)

Synopsis    -    Need for a united, concerted and equivocal effort to solve the confronting problems – The draconian law of Karnataka affecting the Matadhipathis and Acharyas – A Parliament of Religious Leaders should be the sole authority as far as the management of temples and Hindu Trusts are concerned – We do not want our freedom to be taken away just for sake of giving freedom for somebody else – A concerted movement is the need of the hour – Hindus as a majority are harassed in all ways – Interference of the Government in the affairs of the Hindu temples – We have to fight collectively for the common cause of the Hindus – Our strength is in our commitments.

Need for a united, concerted and equivocal effort to solve the confronting problems    -    The Sanatana Dharmis are now at cross roads and the fight that they are facing are from several sides and any attempt that they make should be united, concerted and equivocal so that a few years later, the Acharyas who have assembled are held as the supreme leaders of our Hindu society.

The draconian law of Karnataka affecting the Matadhipathis and Acharyas    -    
Many Acharyas have highlighted the problems faced by them because of the clutches of the Endowment Act. In the year 1992-93, the Government of Karnataka, in the process of bringing a common law for all the five sub-regions in the State, as per the directions of the Supreme Court, came out with a draconian law as per which a Matadhipathi, an Acharya, who we treated as equal to God, had to take permission for making any expenditure above Rs.100 and that permission had to be got from Government official of the level of a Tahsildar and not even at the level of an Assistant Commissioner.

A Parliament of Religious Leaders should be the sole authority as far as the management of temples and Hindu Trusts are concerned    -    The Acharyas in the State of Karnataka of various sects came tighter in 1993, fought and saw to it that Act got changed. But even now the Act, as implemented, had many problems and if they had to be solved, at some point of time, we should have a Parliament of Religious Leaders, which would be the sole authority as far as our Hindu Dharma, management of temples and management of Hindu Trusts are concerned and it is not political leaders who would say what you should do and what you should not do.

We do not want our freedom to be taken away just for sake of giving freedom for somebody else    -    It was mentioned in this assembly that a Deputy Commissioner who did not even believe in our dharma is supposed to sanction anything that we do and how could one expect justice to come. We did not want to come in the way of somebody who was following his religion. At the same time, we wanted to have our freedom. We do not want our freedom to be taken away just for sake of giving freedom for somebody else.

A concerted movement is the need of the hour    -    This sort of a concerted movement could take momentum only if we come together and have a forum, which would tell how our religious institutions should be run. What I am trying to suggest is nothing new. If we go back a hundred years, the Maharajas, the rulers had a Raja Guru and whatever the dictums that he gave were taken as the final, as far as the religious matters were concerned. The time has come when we should fight for this and the parliament of Religious Leaders could have the power to implement and look after the cause of our dharmic institutions.

Interference of the Government in the affairs of the Hindu temples    -    Interference of the Government in the affairs of the temple is another important aspect to be considered by the Acharya Sabha. To have darshan of our Lord, special tickets have to be purchased whereas the Government gave airfares to other religionists to go to their place of worship. Even the Tirumala Trust is not independent of the Government. If the Government gives directions for diverting the funds of the temple to some other purpose, the Chairman and the Executive Officer has to comply with the same. Similar is the state of affairs with the Shirdi temple. The Government appoints the Charity Commission for the temple and he has to comply with the Government orders. The Siddhi Vinayaka Temple in Bombay had the maximum collection. Seventy lakhs out of this temple collection was sanctioned to a private trust run by a minister in the name of his father.