myIndiamyGlory

Some claim these laddoos were never offered to Balaji and were just sold in the store to devotees. Even if that is true, how are they then referred to as prasadam? Even if that is true, the sacred premises of Tirupathi has been desecrated and needs to be repurified, which will take an immense amount of tapobala to remedy.

 

Then of course there is the plight of Hindu devotees who have consumed the contaminated food. For those of us in this plight, there is prayschitta that can be done, as Sri Ramachandra Roddam has shared in his post. But what cannot be remedied so easily is that shaking of the faith that will haunt each and every one of us when we go to a mandir now and hesitate before consuming prasadam. The importance of prasadam cannot is paramount, perhaps especially for Vaishnavas. This is our direct, tangible link to the Divine; this is how we receive the grace of Bhagavan. The shraddha of that is what gives us Bhakti and blesses us. To let a shadow of a doubt enter into that is so utterly destructive. We must guard against that — we must not allow our resolve to go on tirtha yatra, to have darshan, to take prasadam, to weaken in any way.

 

Rather, our resolve should strengthen. If all these miscreants have desecrated our sacred spots, then it is on us to go to these sites and strengthen the protective bandhas and restore the tapobala of the sacred premises through our sadhana and anushthana. This is our duty to the Devas!

 

One more thing we must ask of ourselves. Generally speaking, a temple should have full control over the entire process of creating prasadam — the ghee should be from its own cows; the vegetables and crops should be grown on its own lands, etc. — so that no contamination is allowed. This is why temples owned so much of land and property so that it could be its own self-sustaining ecosystem. Tirupathi is now dependent on external vendors and for-profit suppliers that have their own vested interests.

 

If that is the case, then extra scrupulous care has to be taken to ensure proper standards are maintained via a strict regulatory process and certification by a qualified board that the products sent to temples are at the very least vegetarian but also in compliance with other rules in the shastras relevant to that particular temple. The first preference, though, would be for our temples to become as self-sustaining as possible.

 

Part of what prevents sustainability is over-development, over-crowding, and commoditizing what should be a spiritual experience and a pilgrimage, not tourism or holiday-making. We have to ask ourselves tough questions about that, too.

 

Perhaps the saddest, saddest, saddest part of this (other than the insult of what has been done to Bali, which I cannot get over) is that so few of us seem to care. What has become of us? Have we become so totally deracinated, so totally self-hating, so totally unrooted, that we cannot feel anything at this gross betrayal of all that we hold sacred? This is the problem with too much pseudo-Vedanta and too little Karmakanda — too much philosophy, too little practice — we do not even realize what we have lost after it is taken away from us.

 

Tirupath is unique. The miracles performed there, the extraordinary blessings that Balaji keeps bestowing upon us, even when we do not deserve it, the incredible kshetra that it is that keeps attracting more and more devotees — we cannot afford to let the sanctity and power of this site slip. If we are here today, it is because of places like Tirupathi — centers of power that have protected us through the ages. We must do our little bit to protect them, too.