Sadhguru: Tamil is not just a language, it is a culture, it's a civilization.
The root, the source and the core of this culture and civilization is devotion.
And the sthanas or the centers of this devotion
which churns this devotion, in this culture,
for thousands of years,
is the temple, which is built to a certain science.
Temples became powerful means of transforming one's lives.
Participant: When a child is born, on the occasion of birthdays,
we wear new clothes and go to the temple
Even when a marriage is fixed,
the first invitaiton to the deity
in the temple.
Sadhguru: And unfortunately, today, these temples,these powerhouses, these very life
center of Tamil culture is enslaved in the hands of bureaucrats and politicians, who
have no concern or care or involvement or devotion for these powerful centers, which
have been the heart of our Tamil culture.
It is painful for me
to see that
the avarice and the greed
of East India Company
which came to
this land in 1700s,
which decided to capture
the temples in this nation
(Laughs)
– not because they were interested
in the sanctity of those places,
the power
and
the benefit of those places –
they were interested in the wealth,
the gold, diamonds, money and
the land, which the temples held.
That vulgar act
of taking over Indian temples,
unfortunately is continuing till today,
after seventy-four years of independence.
This is very painful
because
a temple is not a place of prayer,
it is a soul of this community.
UNESCO, the UN agency, says,
the traditional temples of Tamil Nadu are in
a bad state of decay.
Participants: This temple is till under the control of HR & CE.
This temple had beautiful surroundings.
Forty, fifty years ago, the idol made of
panchaloha (5precious metals) was stolen.This does not look like a temple
built by King Raja Raja Chola. There is just bush and grass
at one time. Now it is all gone.
Sadhguru: Well, if they had demolished the temples, people would have built it back.
But they have chosen to suffocate the
temples slowly, make them into nothing.
In the year 2020, in the Madras High Court, the HR and CE ministry has submitted that
they are not able to maintain even one puja or ritual per day in 11,999 temples, just
one short of 12,000, because there is no revenue.
34,000 temples have less than 10,000 Rupees income, not per month, per annum.
37,000 temples, they are not able to appoint
more than one person to do whatever is needed
in the temple.
That means the same person does the puja, he is supposed to clean it, he's supposed
to take care of the management and everything.
It's time that the temples of Tamil Nadu
come out of the clutches of the government
and into the hands of responsible, competent and devout community.
Participants: Even today, if they write and say,
People are ready to re-establish the temple
We are praying to the deity to make this happen
Churches and mosques are in their own control, so they are maintaining it well.
"You take care of it,"
we will take care of it.
The hindu temples alone are in the government's control,
so there is no proper maintenance.
Not even one pooja is happening. There is no way to even light a single lamp.
We want this deity.
We will do whatever we can do. We want our deity.
Sadhguru: Please leave it to the devotees.
We will manage it.
If it's at the cost of our life, we will manage it.
How to do it, the complexities of it, we will look at that later.
First thing is, the government
should show the intent
that the temple should be managed
by the community, not by the government.
In my understanding of what is secular
– secular nation means a religion does not mess with
the government and the government does not mess with the religion.
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