Who is the owner of the temple?
A question from WhatsApp reader: “Uday, the chief minister of Kerala said that the government-controlled Devaswom Board is the owner of the temples. But the devotees say that temples belong to them and some learnt people said temple is owed by the deity. Can you throw some light on this subject?”
The answer cannot be provided in black and white – it is rather complicated. I have written about the Hindu temples in my book Why Am I a Hindu? Obviously you haven’t read it. If we don’t understand the actual concepts, everything may appear like contradictory. So I will try to explain here.
A temple is NOT a religious institution like Church or Mosque. The original purpose of the Temple was NOT for public worship. Unbelievable, but true.
Did you know that idol of the deity was made up of certain alloys (specific metallic combination) – panchaloha (five metals), sapthaloha (seven metals) and navaloha (nine metals). That had some sort of chemical properties as well as energy remittance. This was maintained by an expert person (probably a priest) using specific frequency Vedic chants (sound energy), specific mode of arathi (heat energy) at regular interval and deepam (light energy).
However, there is no point in explaining the science behind it, as the whole thing is a lost art now. I don’t know if any of today’s priests even know about it. And most of those original idols are in the showcase of rich foreigners.
A temple was built for the deity who was the actual owner of the village or the country. In most places, the entire wealth of the village was stored in the temple, not in the treasury of the King. The temple was known as “devalaya” (abode of the god).
If you approach a temple with the concept of Semitic ideals, you won’t understand this. The Church and Mosques are “prathanalaya” (prayer hall). Followers of Semitic religions don’t believe in idol worship as their Gods are up in the heaven. Hindus do believe that the idol has divine power and consider it as a representation of God.
The properties of the temple and surrounding places were known as “devaswam” (meaning deva=deity and svam = his/hers). Obviously the temple and its wealth belong to deity only.
According to Hindu economic fundamentals, the purpose of temple was to store the wealth for their descendants (like the honeycomb) and act as the nerve center of the…
(Excerpts from my book: MANTRAS and RITUALS: THE LOGIC OF HINDU SCIENCE. For further reading: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B093Z2M52M ) You may visit Amazon site of your respective country and search “B093Z2M52M”
To join Udaylal Pai’s WhatsApp Broadcast List – articles/ blogs/ answers: (Weekly once or twice): (1) Save/add the number “+91-94475-33409” in your phone by creating a new contact (2) Then just send ONLY your name through your WhatsApp to +91-94475-33409. The broadcast will happen ONLY IF the sender’s number is saved in the contact list of the receiver.
By
Udaylal Pai
Let’s share and care. Let’s get connected:
Facebook: udaylal.pai
WhatsApp Number: +919447533409
E-mail: uday.pai@hotmail.com
Website: www.udaypai.in
Twitter: Udaylal Pai
Book: Why Am I a Hindu (The Science of Sanatan Dharma). For kindle and international paperback, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9PAGLT
For Indian paperback (print) edition only: http://prachodayat.org/why-am-i-a-hindu/
