Some Experiences About My Recent Temple Visits In India

Just came back after India vacation feeling refreshed. Missed my blog writing though I manged to post couple of updates in Vishnu Sahasranama sloka. This is again a very quick post about my recent temple visits in India, We had been to Kanchipuram, Thirupathi, Vaitheeswaran Kovil and our Kuladeivam temple in Mayavaram, Tamilnadu. We had very good darshan. But I felt little bad and sad to see certain happenings and the business tactics played in some of such sacred places. Let me quickly share my experience.

The moment we arrived at Vaitheeswaran Kovil, one person tried to redirect us to a specific shop (located outside the temple) to get the Archana items . We silently walked away and went inside the temple. There are lots of shops inside the temple and indeed lots of competition too, among themselves. We bought Archana items from one such shops, priced at about 200 rs. and proceeded further. Next comes the sales of salt and pepper (that we use to offer in a specific place in that temple as a form of prayer) for about 20 rs. They try to sell it somehow to you even if you do not have such kind of prayer. We had to buy one packet each and then finally went inside. By the time we arrived at the temple it was about 3.30 p.m.and the Sannadhis were closed. So we waited till 4 (that's when they open for evening darshan) and went around the temple. Since it was the first darshan in the evening, we faced extreme crowd. It was like mini Thirupathi to be more specific. We got the Archana tickets and proceeded to a Gurukkal who performed the Archana, for which, we again gave him some dakshinai. (we could not take a closer look though, due to the huge crowd) and completed our darshan. 

The following points really disturbed me:

• Except Thirupathi, all the other temples I visited, lack in cleanliness. People even spit near temple areas.
• Priests definitely show two faces to people who offer money in their trays and who do not.
• In Kanchipuram, we received Sankaracharya's photo by one person, and while we started to take it as a blessing, the same person came with a pen and a paper to note down our address for getting money for some cause. This disappointed me a lot.
• Crowd is unmanageable at times. We need to certainly push others (while we are pushed by others) to have darshan. Or else it is impossible to see the deity.
• The salt and pepper area (in vaitheeswaran koil) is always overflowing. I just wish and pray that they do not recycle (sell) the same salt and pepper to new people.

I do understand that priests make their living by the offerings people give them. But what disturbs me is the way they behave to others who do not give any offerings. They even yell and shout when there is extreme crowd, and sometimes skip giving prashad like holy ash, kumkum, thirtha, etc. Their frustration could be due to many factors, but people visit temples mainly to get mind peace and if that itself is affected, then whom should we blame for it? Is it right to bring business inside temples? What can we , as common people, do to improve such conditions? Please share your suggestions.