[Assam] South India Pilgrimage

[DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS]

Kakaideo,
  Now you did realised how temple loots.Si I dnt go to any traditional temples.Blame it on Maharaja Rudrakanta Singha- who was inspired by Lord Shiva and Srikisshna ans then got converted to Hinduism.But our Assamese Hinduism and reast of India are Akaash-Paatal. In 1990 I had bitter exoperience in Badrinath Shrine at the Himalays, where as the highest Gurudwara Sahib at Hemkund Sahib is excellent one.Not a single penny you need to spend and nor any dhoti or so-
  Indian temples are nothing by looting sprre in the name of God.
  Seee at tirupati- if one Vijay Mallya like comes, the darshan for others stopped.All the pundits made marathon race.......So where is God!!!
  My mind is enough to be God.I do go to an encient 1000 yrs old Shiva Temple in the Ulsoor area of bangalore- silent and cool.Stil the pundits look for Rs.100 and above nore in the Arati plate.Then he will give you a large prasad........
  this is Gods story.
  Kovalam beach, the paid area is the best.In the Himalayas, hemkund Sahib is nothing to beat with Valey of Flowers.
   
  Bikash.
   
  Bikash.
  

Ram Sarangapani <assamrs at gmail.com> wrote:
  On the way heading back from our trip to Kovalam beach (and Kerala), the
driver convinced us that a trip to the Padbhanama temple was really the
thing to do... you know, good for the soul, etc.

Trivandrum is also one of those dirtiest places on earth not to visit
again, if possible. The temple (an old one) occupies probably an entire city
block or more.

Well, we parked, and about to visit, when we were told that it was
imperative for us to wear dhotis to enter the temple. The men, were required
to wear only a dhoti - no pants, shirts, ganji, wallet, and of course shoes.
Women too were required to wear a dhoti. A concession is made for them
though, they could wear it over the sari/mekhela/etc. And of course they
could keep wearing the top.

The touts who sell some threadbare dhotis are also around to make it easy.
The driver advised to keep all our clothes, wallets etc in the car, and for
us to finish our darsan. That kind of scared me. This was a rental car. What
if the driver decided to take off? I only had a few Rs. in my hand - no
passport, id or whatever. Gave me the shivers ... but lucky for us the
driver was a good man.

Anyway, while the temple itself was impressive, inside it was sheer chaos.
There were touts wanting you to part with your Rs.
There was one guy, right at the gate, armed with a huge bamboo staff. He
came running to inspect Alpana's bag - no wallets, cell phones etc. The
cabbie, again came to our rescue - he held these for us.

Inside there is this other guy, who sells 4 small earthenware lamps (with
oil) for Rs 100 or something. These are in a plate, you take the lamps, pour
out the oil in a container, which the oilman, I guess resells (back to you
if possible).

This is similar to other places of worship/interest in Kanyakumari (another
dirty place to place on the list). The Hanuman temple is also full of
crooks. And the last place to meditate is the Vivekananda Rock. It was too
crowded. It even has a "meditation room" - only that too is crowded, and
reeks of body odor. The rock itself is clean and nice, if only there were no
tourists around :) :)

Lest, I am misunderstood. Its not so much that the temple as rules or that
someone has to make a living. I am all for that. The rules, though need to
have a purpose, and be logical. Touts ought not be running (and ruining
temples).

Some tips: The GRT resort on the way to Pondicherry is really good,
beautiful. Kovalam is great - really a tropical paradise, but Trivandrum &
Kanyakumari are really overrated.

--Ram
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