Who Gets to Enter Hindu Temples?
In the January/February/March issue of Hinduism Today Sheela Venkatakrishnan shares an experience of being denied entry to one of her favorite temples. Not herself, but two monks she was with that day in July as they sought to worship God Siva at the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore. That denial of entry to pure and wholehearted Hindus did not sit well with Sheela and she wrote passionately about it:
"In my hometown of Chennai, I was visiting an ancient Siva temple with two monks who had traveled thousands of miles to worship at this renowned pilgrimage destination. One, brown-skinned with Tamil features, was clad in the orange robes of a sannyasin. The other, wearing the yellow robes of a yogi, was white-skinned, light-eyed, obviously not Tamil or even Indian. A small group of us waited eagerly to have darshan of the Gods in this famous temple in the presence of these two monks from the Kauai Aadheenam in Hawaii. A special ticket can give access to the inner shrine, nearer to the Lord. But on this day no access would be permitted for the yogi. The priest denied him entrance. If he could not go in, how could any of us? So, we had our darshan from the outer mandapam. The priest took our offerings to the Lord, performed arati and brought out the flame for us.
"Who decides these things? Here I attempt to express my feelings and thoughts surrounding what occurred, hoping to find solace for my aching heart and, ideally, contribute to finding a resolution to what seems to me to be a critical issue in the Hindu community."
For the author's full appraisal of this happening, stay tuned to Hinduismtoday.com
5 Responses to “Who Gets to Enter Hindu Temples?”
From Our Gurus' Teachings
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February 21st, 2018 at 2:32 pm
Thank you for the posting.
We should not worry about this incident.Siva yoga Swamy went to Kasi and saw Viswanathar within.He went to meet
Ramana Maharshi but did not talk a word but they communicated from within.This incident is a blessing to the Monks .
Sivan at Kapileswara Temple has told the Monks why come here I am within you .Sevane Sivan … as Yogar Swamy proclaimed .Realize Sivan who is within and without everywhere is the teaching of our Guru. Temple worship is a means to an end to realization of God within and live in God.
Who decides who will enter the Temple ? is the question .The Answer is Sivan decides as He is in every one .Not an atom can move without HIS WILL . Hence we must take this action as HIS WILL AND A BLESSING TO SEE HIM WITHIN .
As Sellappa Swamy questioned WHO ARE YOU ? ELIMINATE THE BONDAGE AND SEARCH WITHIN YOURSELF ?
I AM WITHIN as we are NOT the body but the soul and in the Soul is Sivan.
Let us enjoy the dance of Siva in everyone of us .
God bless all to realize God within and not in inanimate objects only .
February 21st, 2018 at 3:56 pm
What a wonderful and much needed article! Thank you for having the compassion and courage to raise this issue. This is discrimination based on colour of skin and undermines the very basic of our Saiva teachings, Siva is in all.
February 21st, 2018 at 9:17 pm
My sincerest and deepest prayers that the Priest can perform his own Atmartha Pooja before he attempts and continues to perform the Parathma Puja as Pujari for a Shiva Temple for ALL. May Shiva bless this priest to clear his own subconscious mind and prejudices before attempting to worship as a priest. May MahaDev bless him to see Shiva in ALL Living Creatures. It is for such prejudices that each religion belongs to a certain demographic groups of people scattered over the planet ,but a SELF Realized Soul belongs to ALL in the Cosmos. May this Priest be blessed with a prejudice free heart and a Saravanabhava subconscious.; so he is able to super consciously know the Purity of a Soul. Thank You for having the courage to admit the highly discriminative aspect of our man made practices which are no where the TRUTH in this relatively ‘Apparently Real’ Bhuloka. Once again, my sincerest prayers that this priest realizes that our Jiva is Shiva; and we are in TRUTH the TRUTH we seek so that others can benefit from the Parathma Puja, and it can traverse beyond BhuLoka. ? TAT SAT
February 21st, 2018 at 10:06 pm
? GURAVAENAMAH. JAI GANESHA
On a very positive and uplifting note, I take this opportunity to tell about an experience I had in Trivandrum, Kerala, India, on January 31st Full Moon. SatGuru and the upcoming Innersearch were on my mind as we were waiting for our Taxi in the hotel lobby to go to a hill top at the ocean Shiva Temple. Due to circumstances it was not possible for me to attend the Innersearch as I had to be back home. While waiting for Taxi, I opened a big picturesque book called Spirit Of India.
As I opened the first several pages randomly, I get Darshan of GuruDev Bodhinatha seated on an ornately decorated Elephant in Tamil Nadu, and a man on the road fully prostrating to SatGuru. I have photographed the page and caption to send to Kauai. It made our Day, and both my Husband and I were thrilled and got very excited about our trip to this old Shiva Temple.
Well, when we got to this beautiful Temple, the Head Priest told us there will not be Puja at 5 pm and the Temple is closing due to the Full Moon with all planets between Rahu (North Node) and Ketu ( South Node). The exact time of the Eclipse was 6:18 pm Indian Standard Time. I asked the Priest after the Arti if I can sit there and do silent Japa. He smiled and said okay but then after You have to leave. I got my Japa Mala out and The Vibhuti Prasadam from Kauai. I offered him the bag, and asked if he knew of Kauai, and Kadavul Temple, and Hinduism Today Magazine, and Our Lineage. He smiled and said, “Yes,yes. He knew of GuruDeva and GuruDev Bodhinatha, and HT.” Then he went in and gave me the One Big Lotus Flower on top of the Shivling and said, “God Blesss You and Thank You so much for this rare Prasadam from Kauai.”
So we got Darshan at the Shiva Temple and a very happy Head Priest, who was overjoyed. ? SHIVA SHIVA.
February 24th, 2018 at 8:11 am
A similar incident happened on one of the innersearches we attended.