Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Devaprasnam- A Complete Study
A complete study on Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Devaprasnam is given here. This will put everybody concerned to unnecessary dilemma about the logical culmination of the steps taken by the Supreme Court.
Timing of the Devaprasnam
The recent devaprasnam conducted about the Thiruvananthapuram, Thiru Ananthapadmanabha Swamy appears to be ill timed. The Supreme Court is in the process of some actions in respect of the Temple properties, the recording of the same, security arrangements for the temple and property, opening of the 6th vault (B vault) and the decision to be taken about the property etc. The actions are half way through. The recordings of the property are going on and the court is to decide about the opening of the B vault. If at all any devaprasnam was to be done it should have been before the current process is started. Or it should have waited till the court procedures are over. It is not clear whether the Royal family has taken the sanction of the S C. The representative of the Royal family informed the reason for the Devaprasnam to be the demand by people through letters. Strictly speaking the Royal family has no locus standi to decide about the matter. The Findings of the Devaprasnam
The findings of the devaprasnam as reported in media appear to be like a tutored finding or as if they want to serve somebody's interest. The persons who did the devaprasnam stated that the findings are to the effect that the Royal family will meet with accidents if the B vault is opened, there are irregularities in the procedures followed, the things in the temple are not satisfactory to the deity, for giving permission to open the A vaults the thantris should do prayaschithams (remedial Measures) and the persons responsible for opening the vault will be liable to be punished by the deity etc. All these are already being discussed by the different groups of the public. It should have been left to the authorities concerned to take the appropriate conclusions after taking all the views into consideration. The devaprasnam has only added confusion by bringing in the aspects or religion, spiritually and superstition to the public debate. The groups of respective views are giving logical and reasonable points to substantiate their respective opinions. But the devaprasnam has only added the probable possibilities of one side. Rational Approach and not the probabilities are required
It is not correct to bring in the religion, spirituality or superstition while some agency like the Supreme Court, the highest forum consisting of learned and experience persons as judges are trying to bring some order by the orders given so far. It was unfortunate for them to comment on the opening of the B vault as to the displeasure of the deity and the consequent ill effect the families of the concerned persons who take decision about the temple matters. It amounts to threatening of the Supreme Court judges and the committee of eminent persons and experts formed by the Court. The concerned Astrologers should have thought that the temple belongs to the people of Thiruvananthapuram, the district and the state as a whole. It does not belong to anybody else. Apart from this the court has also involved the thantris, who are having the traditional knowledge of what is good for the temple and what is not. In fact they are more in contact with the deity and god more than those who conducted the Devaprasnam (Astrologers). The astrologers have read part of the Vedas concerned with the astrology and may be proficient in the normal astrology to some extent. But they are fully aware that there are several aspects to be considered before deciding astrologically. Since there were several loose ends in the affairs, there were no straight answers in Astrology to the issues. That is why they went for Devaprasnam instead of relying the more scientific astrology. The devaprasnam is nothing but a sophisticated procedure of the children's play of tossing a leaf or the elders' of tossing coins etc for arriving at a decision they want to take. If one side of the coin or leaf is on upper side, the answer will be yes or no and visa versa. The children's method is far superior to that f the astrologers because the children will be comparatively innocent than the elders who add all prejudices and so many other negative emotions to themselves as they grow up as per the circumstances and their minds will not be as free as that of the children.Findings of Irregularity of Tantric procedures and Administration
The devaprasnam finds that the procedures and systems followed are not correct and the deity is upset over it. Assuming, for arguments sake, we accept this prediction, then the immediate step to be taken is to immediately change the present set up of the administration. With that the change of worship/pooja set up also may be changed so that the problems are solved. Having found out this fact the astrologers (those who did the devaprasnam) should have stopped all further inquiry of all other aspects till the Administrative set up and the tantric set ups are changed. Even if the devaprasnam has to be done for other aspects, the astrologers should have waited for the change and the consequent change in the attitude of the deity, if it is still unhappy. Royals Representing the Temple matters
All of us understand that the great Marthandavarma Raja had lot of problems, on his ascending the throne, to settle in his time. On his prayer to the deity of the family Sri Padmanabhaswamy, he was able to overcome many of the problems. As a mark of gratitude he surrendered the kingdom itself to the deity and committed his successors also for the surrender. Later the great Swathi Thirunal followed his illustrious predecessor with the surrender both in letter and spirit. In the later stage he even abdicated the kingdom telling that he wanted to be only the dasa of Sri Padmanabha and not to others. The Royal family was representing the deity as long as they were Rajas. When they ceased to be the Rajas, they automatically cease representing the deity or temple. Now the temple administration should be under a trust formed exclusively for the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, like that of the Guruvayur Devasom or else it should be under the Thiruvithamkur Devaswom board.
Forfeiture of Temple Administration on Abolition of Privy Purse
Another factor to be remembered is that the temple was managed by the ettu veetil Pillamar of Travancore. The Marthandavarma Raja fought with them and took over the temple and other properties from their custody. So in the same logic the temple should have been given to the ruling establishment of the state that is the State Government when the Privy Purse was abolished. The Guruvayur temple of the erstwhile Zamorin is under the state and they do not interfere in the temple administrations. The Guruvayur temple is also a famous temple of Kerala. The deity was not unhappy over the change. Ettara yogam Committee
One more factor is that there is an evidence of the 'Ettara yogam' or Ettara koottam to decide the matters of the temple. This is a trust formed around the 15th century with 7 potty (the Nampoodiris are called as pottys if they are to the south of Changanassery) families of Koopakkara potty, Attiyara Potty of Vanchiyoor, Attiyara Potty of Kollur, Muttavila Potty, Neytasseri Potty, Karuva Potty and Srikaryattu Potty. The eighth member is from a Nair family who were the protectors of the temple at that time. The family is subsequently divided into two. One member from either of the 2 families of palliyadi Karanatta Kurup or Azhakath Kurup is the eight member. The half membership is for the representative of the Royal family of Travancore. The presiding right of this yogam or koottam is to the Swamiyar of Naduvil Madhom or Munchira Madhom (supposed to be the descendents of the erstwhile Viluamangalam Swamiyar (Divakara Muni) as the Swamiyar is the first to find out the temple and started the establishment of this temple. Another evidence of this is that the descendents of the swamiyar will be doing the Pushpanjali pooja in the morning to the Ananthapadmanabha swamy even to this day and the Viluamangalam Sri Krishna temple in the premises. Since the Devaprasnam anyway found the irregularities it is absolutely necessary to change this set up apart from the fact that this set up has outlived its purpose ad reason.
Logical and Rational attitude
Apart from all the above, thinking logically, what is wrong with the accounting of the property with digital, paper, camera and video so that it will be a permanent record available to people of all times to come. This will indicate whether there is any theft, pilferage, swindling of the property of the temple is taking place or not. The god should not be measured in terms of our mind. It is only the human beings that can think of keeping others in ignorance so that the designers of the ignorance can do what they want. It is only those who want to manipulate the wealth will be interested in keeping things secret. Since the astrologers concerned or the persons of the present administration may not have any intention of manipulating the wealth of the temple they should welcome the recording. Also no god will have any intention to manipulate not only the wealth but any other aspect. Hence there is no question of the deity getting annoyed or angry. If at all there is any such anger, then it should be for not keeping a record of the temple property and not following the procedures and administrations properly. There is an old say that kuppayil kalanjalum alannu kalyanam which means that even the items meant to be thrown out or discarded are to be measured before throwing/discarding. So the importance of recording precious items need not be emphasized. What is Devaprasnam?
Devaprasnam is a procedure like astrology where the factors are not available. To compensate the lack of facts some rituals are carried out by the astrologers to calculate the factors of time and the personalities etc. What is done is to draw 2 astrological charts, one for Rasi and the other for Navagraha position. The position of the various planets depends on the time of an event like the birthday. In the case of Devaprasnam it is the time and date etc off the temple construction, the installation of idol etc. after drawing the charts two temple lamps are lighted and poojas to Dakshina Murthy supposed to be the god for astrology and ultimate guru (teacher) and other deities to invoke their presence and blessings. A gold coin (In Malayalam it is called as puthuppanam) kept in the center of the Rasi Chakram. After the pooja s the puthuppanam is taken and given to a child of less than 7 years of age. The child is asked to keep the gold coin in one of the cells out of the total 12 cells of the Rasi Chakra at the child's discretion. The cell or house is determined as the ascending Rasi or house and other planets positions are accordingly decided. On this basis the astrological calculations are made and findings arrived at. That is why it is mentioned that this is nothing but a sophisticated method of children's play of tossing of leaf or coin to decide about a thing. The child also prays normally in its own innocent way. The Astrologers also select a child to fix the main position of the ascending position by its keeping the coin in the chart. In case of children there will be no show offs.
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