From: narayana@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Kuram T Narayana)
Subject: Re: Shankaracharyas, And Their Outlook. Also Treatment Of Widows.
Organization: Penn State Computer Science
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 23:31:48 GMT

In article <1ht5e7INNi2@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu> vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu) writes:
>In article <C035wr.IH9@cs.psu.edu> narayana@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Kuram T Narayana) writes:
>>In article <1hsnpiINN5r@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu> vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu) writes:
>>>they feel that since they are going to die there, what's the need. The same
>>>people instead, are willing to spend crores of rupees in Tirupati, which is
>>>more a Commercial venture, than a place of pilgrimage now.  The  crass type 
>>>of greedy commercialism seen there in Tirupati,  leaves one in utter shame,
>>>of the lopsided priorities that people have.
>>>
>>>Ponder over these points, and try to find an answer to them.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Vivek.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Noop, Tirupathi is not a commercial venture. Because on an average about
>>100000 people visit the temple every day, the TTD has to meet the obligatory
>>facilities requirements of the Temple town. As a result there is a problem
>
>The greed comes in the form of the Rs. 25 tickets, which people pay to
>jump ahead in the queue, instead of standing for the Dharmadarshan.
>
>The greed also comes, in decreasing the size of the Laddu, and raising
>its price at the same time. It also manifests itself, in the expensive
>guest houses built for the rich, providing, the richest of amenities &
>having just the minimum for the choultries for the poor.
>
I think you know very little about TTD operations. There used to be
different sevas in the temple apart from Dharmadarshanam. When the
massive queue system was made operational, the TTD rationalized these
sevas. It extended the daharma darshanam duration, and eliminated
a speial paid seva (which is the 25 rs one). Because the seva was
eliminated, and people are willing to pay, those who pay were
allowed to enter in a separate queue in the Dharamdarshanam queue.
There are some devotees who save money (in the name of god) whose
practice allows them to spend the saved money toany purpose in
their piligrimage to the temple. People generally are willing to pay that.
Those who cannot afford can enter the regular queue which runs about
18hrs a day.

The Laddus of Tirupati temple were very famous for their taste.
Because of the volume of people, the temple cannot hope to
maintain quality and guarantee an adequate service. If you
compare the cost of Laddu, you will see that the increase in
price of Laddu is less than the rate of inflation over the period.
The sad thing about the Laddu is that with the increased volume
that they have to make, there is no corresponding quality
control exercised. These days Laddus won't last for more than
a week. In the 60's and 70's you could keep a Laddu for about
3 months.

Ten years ago, prasadams were not freely available. Today
every devotee who stands in the queue gets to receive some
prasadam. In addition every devotee who stands in the queue
gets a free (and an excellent) luncj coupan. Many people 
make use of this facility.

There used to be a time, when devotees had to pay char annas
to get their head shaved. The TTD eliminated this fee also,
and pays regular salaries to barbers.

In addition, the money that devotees pay into the Hundi
goes to pay for the maintainence and upkeep of the lord,
his jewelry, the services and the sevas, the numerous
educational institutions, the contributions to the dance,
drama and sculpture, and the veda university on the Hills.
The TTD maintains a lot of temples outside of Tirupati
incurring expenses from its treasury. You may that the
temple employees have one of the finest retirement systems.
But that is something that they have achieved by their service.


As for as the choultries are concerned, some of them are TTD
choultries (both up hill and down hill). Many of these are free
to the public. Some choultries in which marriages are performed
have only a nominal fee. Compare the fee to that charged for 
a marriage hall in Bangalore. You will then find how cheap are they.

As for cottages of private individuals, any body can construct 
a cottage on Tirumala. The entire hills is owned by TTD. The
deal is a private owner constructs the cottage on the land.
The owner gets to live in the cottage for a ceratin number
of days a years. The rest of the time the cottages are rented
to devotees. Two years ago we stayed in a cottage by paying
a nominal rs 10 or so. It may be a little bit more than that.
That is pretty cheap when compared to  the cost of preparation
and maintainance for the stay. 

By all accts that I know of, there is no charitable place of
outstanding quality as the Tirupati hills. It is one of the
finest contributions that Andhras could make to their
countrymen. That does not mean that there is no scope for
improvement. If you have grievances or suggestions, please
write to TTD information office either here or to Tirupati.

When looked at the fate of temples in TN, and the general lack
of interest in manitaining the art, sculpture, and tradition,
TTD can singularly boast of an achievement. They try their level
best to serve the lord and his devotees, but they live in a society
that is currupt. Sometimes that has also influence.

>
>
>>I have not seen anything greedy about the town; do you mean to say
>>the people are greedy! All around the world people are greedy! Thats
>>what brings us to USA.
>
>
>Not what brings us to the U.S., but what makes us stick to the U.S. on
>completion of our degrees. 
>
>Besides, I am referring to greed on the part of the management,  which 
>I have given specific instances above. However,  I do not intend to be
>critical of them, since they have their own reasons for doing, what is
>being done by them, but I am trying to draw the attention of people to
>the plight of human beings in Kashi and Gaya etc.,  a matter, which is
>much more of need to be addressed,  than continuing to lavish the kind
>of attention that Tirupati is getting.
>
>
>
>>...kt
>
>Regards,
>Vivek.

While I do think that Tirupati temple can assist in maintaining some
of these places of piligrimage, the laws of the state may regard contributions
of the devotees as income of the lord. I am not sure if the lord is taxed
so that the moneys go to the state exchequer. If he is not taxed, then
TTD can spend the money as it fits their agenda. TTD does a lot of charitable
work around the state (maintaining temples, culture etc.). I am not sure
if the monies go outside of the state (or can go outside of the state).

....kt
...kt
>