The Golden Temple of Sripuram.

The Golden Temple at Sripuram near Vellore is the current craze of the holiday makers from the rural areas in Tamilnadu and adjacent Andra pradesh. As my friends were gloating about the splendor and beauty of the temple through their mails and sms, I decided to visit the temple on a hot and humid day.

When I got down at Sripuram, the temple looked like a cinema theatre in a small town. There were separate gates, one for the les miserables and another one for the privileged who could shell out Rs.100.00 for a quick and hassle free darshan. I decided to try the free entrance as I was not in hurry to finish darshan and rush to Tirumala. The entrance led to a row of cages of steel mesh through which the eager devotees walked to reach shelters where they had to stay waiting till the benevolent gods from inside decided to open the gates to allow them in. During their stay in the shelters, they can refresh themselves with snacks and cool drinks sold by the temple staff at exorbitant prices. A trick often played by the touring theatre operators to earn some extra income! There was an airport search once we went inside and all our mobiles ware carefully taken away for safe custody at a cost of Rs.5 per piece.

It was a spectacular visual treat once I went inside in direct contrast to the dry landscape outside. The place looked like the lounge of a 5 star hotel with manicured lawns, flowing water and floor paved with very smooth granites and other costly tiles. Soft music flowed from nowhere and it was a surprise to find out that the speakers were artfully camouflaged in the sidewalk. Common people looked around with awe as the plum settings with beautiful statues, lush green lawn looked like a dream sequence from a Shankar movie and far removed from reality. Sure Heaven should look like this! The corridor which takes us to the chief temple is quite long, but it is a wonderful experience for a layman like me to walk down the entire stretch savouring the beauty of the lush green atmosphere. It was so tastefully decorated and kept spotlessly clean.

My positive feelings about the temple slowly turned opposite when I approached the temple of the presiding deity Goddess Narayani, consort of the Lord Venkateshwara. In Tirumala, whether you go through a free entrance or you have paid a heavy amount for the darshan of God, everybody is taken near the abode of God, however brief that darshan may be. But here one who pays Rs.100 only can go inside the temple which is said to be covered with layers of gold. Like Nandanars the les miserables have to content themselves with remote darshan of the Goddess from behind the barricades that were put up outside the arena of the golden structure. They are rudely shoved away from the place as quickly as possible by the watchful guards. May be the authorities thought that if they allow poor people inside, they may scratch the walls and walk out with a few grams of gold.

The basic concept of coating the walls with gold itself seems to be very crude – how many poor families yearn to have a few grams of gold to get their daughters married, their little gold ornaments lie most of the time with the marvadis or banks – such is the predicament of the poor families and when they see the entire temple glittering in gold they feel dismayed at their helplessness. I remember the story of the Happy Prince (by Oscar Wilde) whose statue is fully adorned in gold. When he looks at the poverty of the poor people, he feels very sad and requests a sparrow to help poor people with the gold peeled away from his statue. I am sure Goddess Narayani would make the same request if She could find a helpful sparrow. The true worth of money can be realized only when it is spent purposefully to help the needy and the poor and not in spending it lavishly to decorate a temple. When the common man is living in filth and squalor and his Goddess in excessive opulence, it revolts against our conscience.

This feeling of dismay grows stronger when one comes out of the temple. In the middle of the path there is a canal with flowing water in which people throw cash as a mark of prayer to God to grant their wishes. Which Goddess wishes her devotees to throw money in water, money which is badly needed by a poor man to buy medicine or to get provisions for the next day. Instead of employing their well trained guards to prevent such misguided faith, the temple is keen on engaging them in selling novelties in shops which the devotees are directed compulsorily to go inside on their way to exit.

The devotees have a small cup of variety rice as prasadam before they leave the temple. One forgets and forgives the entire spiritual experience as their belly is happy with the tasty food.

I was confused when I came out of the gate. My mind was frantically searching for the correct words that could aptly express the sum total of the images floating in my mind - beautiful garden, uniformed guards, paid servants, lovely statues, soft music, shameless exhibition of gold, stalls, money thrown into water. Within seconds I got two results diametrically opposite to each other.

+ A stupendous effort to provide a clean and serene atmosphere to raise the spirits from the dirt and filth of the mundane life and to give a glimpse of the blissful experience one gets in the presence of the almighty.

- It is the decrepit expression of a clever man to market God in a novel way to attract people.

What do you think?
06/08/2009