News Brief
'Promise People You Will Free Temples From State Control', Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev Tells TN Political Parties As Polls Approach
- The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department itself had submitted to the Madras High Court last year that 11,999 temples are dying without a single pooja taking place, as many as 34,000 temples are struggling with revenue of less than Rs 10,000 a year and 37,000 temples have appointed just one person for pooja, maintenance, and security.
Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has called upon the Government of Tamil Nadu to free temples from state control, to enable their upkeep, preserve their sanctity and reverse their alarming state of decline.
The tweet was part of a series of tweets that Sadhguru has recently released to highlight the pathetic state of temples under state control in Tamil Nadu.
In a video message released on Twitter, Sadhguru called the temples "the source of our Tamil culture," and said that they must be cared for and managed by devotees who "value temples more than their lives."
Sadhguru observed that it was shameful that temples captured for greed by the East India Company 300 years ago, continue to languish in dilapidated states of utter neglect even 74 years after freedom from colonial rule.
Sadhguru said that the term ‘secular’ means that the state and religion will not interfere in each other’s affairs, a right enjoyed by all religions except the Hindu faith.
The Constitution terms India a secular nation. However, though all religions manage their own spaces of worship, the special Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act gives the state control over Hindu temples.
"You have to give this commitment to the people if you want to win the coming elections, whether it is the ruling party or other parties. The temples in Tamil Nadu should be freed from the slavery of the government," he said.
