As India gets modern...

All those who have visited Guruvayoor, will know that they have to stands for a couple of years, getting jostled and pushed in the long serpentine lines, while trying to keep the spirit of devotion alive. In the hot sweltering heat and milieu of people, by the time one reaches the sanctorum, most of the divinity diminishes and one just wants to get it all over and done with. This is precisely how things were at Tirupati, where one had to sometime wait for days to get the darshan but things changed dramatically when it came with a unique ‘token’ queue system, building a huge complex to house the queues and multi-level car parking.

A similar queue complex is being planned by the managing committee members of Guruvayur Devaswom, to come up in 24 months. Some eight companies have presented their plans, giving their ‘Expression of Interest’. The outlay for the projects will be Rs.50 crore. The committee has also decided to implement a comprehensive master plan for the temple.

There are some ‘devotee organisations’ there like Prathikarana Vedi, who have voiced their concern. Their duty is to ensure comfort for the devotees who come for the darshan and they feel that the devotees should ideally have been consulted before making this ‘queue’ plan. It wants devotees also to be involved so that they could have their say about the facilities they expect in a queue complex.

This temple in Kerala is dedicated to Lord Krishna and sometimes it is interesting to see how we in India constantly jostle between the modern westernized way of life while straddling centuries old traditions. This temple at Guravayoor is stated to be some 5000 years old though there is no historic record to prove the same. The central shrine in the temple was stated to have been built in 1638 AD. The worshipping rituals are still carried on as per rules laid down the revered saint, Adi Shankaracharya, sometime in the 1400’s.  The fact that so many people throng to such temples even today, despite being so modern, does mean that the faith and religion in India remains intact; if only it could be freed from shackles of casteism and rigorous rituals.