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On keeping our tradition alive

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Srimahavishnu Vinjamuri • September 20, 2000 


Sri Varavara munayE namah.
Sri gOvinda mahA yatISAya namah.
Srimad Venkata lakshmana yativarAya namah.

Dear bhagavatas,

my pranams to u all.

The best way of keeping our tradition is practising it which unfortunately people like self are not doing.

when we go to temple and/or matams we find kainkaryaparas to be very much money-minded. While a few may be really after money, most of them are like this only because of poverty. If we see their houses, we find they do not have good ventilation and toilet facilities. they are so poor that they cannot give their children in marriage to the posh and elite which means they would continue to be poor forever unless thei profession becomes lucrative or they change their profession. While priests get some extra money from the visitors, the madapalli kainkarya paras (cooks), adhyApakars et al. are in a much more pitiful condition.

ours is a temple-based religion and most of the temples are in the hands of govt. For example,  TTD, one of our premier devasthanams, is undoubtedly influenced very much by politicians and Acharyas and followers of other schools of thought.

unless Srivaishnava temples become places of discourses on emberumAnAr darSanam (like ISKCON temples all over the world), it will be very difficult to propagate our sampradAyam. for this, srivaishnava temples are to be run by SV organisations.
In India, the state claims itself to be secular and yet keeps the temples of the majority community in its hand.

As far as the dress code is concerned, it should be there for the goshtI reciting divya prabandha and/or veda. for other kainkaryams like group "Solling Ayira nAmam" and other stOtras, and people visting jeeyars, white pyjamas can be allowed. It will be very pleasing
to see a bhAgavata in white pyjama without mustache and having bhagavat pAda dvayam on forehead. This is only my personal opinion framed after reading Sri Venkatesh's and Sri RR's mails.

dAsAnudAsan
Thirumala Vinjamuri Srimahavishnu


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