Monday, October 6, 2008

Cleanliness is ....

How many times have we been exposed to that saying Cleanliness is next to Godliness. I was surprised to find what used to be displayed in the corridors of school or scribbled on the blackboard as 'thought for the day' has its origin in Hebrew writings!


And why have I brought it up today? I am back from a short trip to the temple town of Srisailam. And the lack of cleanliness in the temple and its surroundings strikes you the minute you enter the town.


Most trusts that maintain the temples are flooded with funds. Why can't a small part of the funds go towards maintaining the town. The trusts manage educational institutions and hospitals and that is very commendable. But the basic aspects of hygiene and sanitation in the town is overlooked. When other places of worship like churches, gurudwaras, mosques can be kept neat and clean, why do temples lag behind in this aspect?


When we have so many people going on pilgrimages, it is time that this aspect be taken care of. It has been thought that the slippery floors in the Jodhpur temple led to the stampede that took the lives of so many. One would only hope that the unfortunate incident has made authorities sit up and take note of the sad state of our temples. And action towards cleaner temples should begin NOW.

2 comments:

  1. Temples are the flavour of our blogs it appears..telepathy of some kind:-). In your inimitable simple and clear manner you've said the what irks me most about our temples.On our visit to Tirupati this time, it was raining and all the sticky 'prashad' mixed with rain adorned the slippery temple corridors.Ugghh.. I wonder if there is some clever crowd management strategy at work there ;). I mean people will stay longer if it is comfortable isnt it !

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  2. They say the Hindus ( we are not talking of fanatics) are a tolerant lot. But this tolerance to the dirt is not acceptable. Cows may be holy, but they can't be allowed to roam and dirty the place. At the temple towns where food is served free at some of the chatrams, why are people allowed to beg? Once fed, they should be made to work for a living. And like the karseva at the Golden Temple, why can we not have some thing like that? Some work to be done voluntarily and the needy can be paid. There is so much money with the Trusts that run the temples!

    And yes - I was pleasantly surprised to see the topic of your blog post too!!

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