Should Non-brahmins Conduct Temple Rituals?
I am not talking about it and I am just trying to translate what is written in the constitution.
As to how any spiritual or if you want to call it religious spaces should be managed or run the fundamental rights in the country and most parts of the world.
Almost every democratic nation everybody can run their spiritual and religious institutions the way they want.
Those who want will go there. those who don’t want will not go there.
So should a particular community come back?
This issue of only one community should be inside the temple.
I think we have settled it with the Dravidian moment’s communities were formed based on profession.
- If you’re a carpenter you’re one kind of acharya.
- if you’re a goldsmith you’re another kind of acharya.
- If you’re a blacksmith you’re another kind of acharya.
- If you’re a trader you’re one kind of vaishya.
- If you are an agriculturalist you are another kind.
Should Non-brahmins Conduct Temple Rituals?
So based on professions, communities happened over a period of time.
It is not that there was no transmigration people could go.
It is over a period of time where unfortunately people will perceive differences as discrimination and use it as a tool of exploitation.
They must be liberated Hindu temples.
Liberated because one important aspect of this is it never belonged to a particular religion.
It belonged to a particular trait.
Devi temples are made one way, shiva temples are made another way, Krishna temples are made another way Vishnu, temples are all in one way, Brahma temples in different ways, and all the different kinds of Devi.
They are made differently. these were all energy centers established for different purposes according to your purpose whoever you are you could go there and according to its nature different class of people manage different types of temples over a period of time for the maintenance of the temple by the devotees constantly contributing to the temple.
Temple’s wealth grew.
As the wealth grew slowly, certain communities tried to kind of dominate that because there was so much money and so much wealth so naturally certain people dominated. that well in the British era you must understand this the Hindu temples were not taken over by the British empire
It was taken over by a corporate called east India company – a business that took over the temples.
Why were you think the business was interested in your religion? no,
Because they saw there was so much wealth. they decided they must take it in 1840 because these temples were managed by the English people.
Resistancearosee in the Christian community both back home for them and also here that Christian men are managing pagan temples and we cannot condone that so they decided to hand it back.
By then they had shaved off all the jewelry this that.
They couldn’t take the land to England so they took only what could be mood.
Some temples escaped.
Most temples lost their gold and diamond and everything that they had in huge quantities because people went on contributing only when some emergency like a famine or something came.
It was for the temple to decide how much it should spend on those situations.
Should Non-brahmins Conduct Temple Rituals?
Anyway.
that’s a history thing.
Now if we release, should the brahmins come back? not at all.
there was a time where if you had to be in the army, you had to be Kshatriya.
If you have to be in the temple, you had to be a brahmana.
Well as you know today you can join the Indian army, no matter what caste creed or religion you are.
So similarly the same should happen to the temples the only thing is the necessary training so we can open up institutions which will do the training.
So it doesn’t matter what religion or caste you are.
Should still be able to serve.
Similarly, we must establish institutions where we will train people on what should happen in a shiva temple, what should happen in a Krishna temple, what should happen in a Vishnu temple, what should happen in a Devi temple.
So whoever learns the process and passes the examination, will run the temple.
Well right at ESA yoga center this is a classic example. there the birabi Devi, a stringent training process, because this has a certain level of ritual, involved only women can do it and men are only in the outskirts of the temple.
They cannot go in because that’s the nature of the consecration.
Here in the dhyanalinga temple one half of the month, the lunar month, men manage it.
Another half of the loan or month women manage it but they’re all brahmacharis both ways.
They’re all ash people because he is us. that is beyond the 12 number he is like that.
Now there is a Karla Bhargava temple coming up.
You will see there will be totally a different breed of people managing that.
Yes because that serves not only the living that is built to serve the dead so that needs a completely different kind of involvement.
It’s a different kind of competence to manage that and even in terms of who comes into the temple –
Should Non-brahmins Conduct Temple Rituals?
See their people of all kinds of religions, caste, creed, everybody is coming. nobody checks who is who because they are not interested in who your father was.
They are only interested where you want to go.
This is the fundamental of democracy I’m telling you.
The fundamental of democracy is they are not interested in who your father was/
They are only interested in who you are. that’s democracy.
That is the basis of spirituality, They don’t care who your father was or your grandfather was. whatever he might have been.
What are you?
Where do you want to go this is all the concern of a spiritual process so temples were not places of worship.
Temples were not places where one man leads the prayer and everybody follows
what he says.
It never was. the priest only conducted a process.
He’s just there to facilitate. he’s never ruling the place. he’s never dominating the place. he’s never giving teaching. nobody ever gives teaching
or philosophy or any kind of stirring up of the society.
This is very important for the future of the world so do not just call them Hindu
temples.
They are really temples where human beings can transform themselves.
Human beings can nourish themselves for their inner development so right now I am saying even
mosques and churches and everything should become like this.
Let us say I like one aspect of what they are doing in a mosque.
Why can’t I go there? no, it’s all segmented now.
you can only go here and they can only go there.
Any human being should be allowed not only to enter the place also to be in the sanctum.
Now institutions that trained blacksmiths, have become blacksmith caste, it’s an institution.
Unfortunately, somehow the goldsmith people started propagating that goldsmiths are superior to blacksmiths.
Though you cannot live without a blacksmith in a society you can very well live without a goldsmith.
Yes, so this superiority inferiority business is something that’s happened later on.
The temple never had that.
Temple means – it is trying to make a certain dimension of life that is crossing the boundaries of
one’s physical nature available to people. available for people to experience that dimension.
If you cross the boundaries of physicality, you have crossed all boundaries and divisions that you have created in the world in the name of caste, creed, gender nonsense. all kinds of nonsense.
We have seen all these things have happened in many temples.
They don’t allow foreigners. see there was a time wherein in India there were boards – Indians and dogs are not allowed into this place.
Should Non-brahmins Conduct Temple Rituals?
So in reaction, you put it up in your temple – foreigners not allowed.
This was your little reaction and also it was true people came in just to desecrate the temple.
They come and there is any number of incidents where they come inside and they want to spit in the temple.
The number of incidents where intentionally they want to urinate in the temple.
those were the times of occupation that is gone.
Today if somebody who is not born in India wants to come into the temple, they’re coming in because they genuinely want to come.
Not to desecrate it. not to dishonor it. they’re really coming because they want to experience it.
So nationality gender caste creed nothing matters because this is a dimension.
The temple is a dimension where you transact with that which is beyond your physical nature.
This is open to every human being, not only for management, not only for use. also to be in touch with the sanctum.
Sanctorum is open to everybody.
It’s important. this is important not just for the temple.
This is important for humanity that without discrimination everybody can aspire to grow.
Everybody can aspire to touch dimensions beyond the limitations of who we are.
right now.
This is the reason why I’m asking for liberating the temple from government clutches because they’re still hanging
onto a nasty part of the history that was there.
It’s time to eradicate that and build a grand future