Important Mottos - for change

Dear Colonelji Of course this is a very sensitive subject matter and one that will need careful and thoughtful study by souls much more qualified than myself. Having said that I do have some thoughts on the subject… First and foremost all donations given to a Deity are the property of that Deity, this must be clearly understood. Speaking from my Guru Śrīla Prabhupāda the Founder – Ācārya of ISKCON, all money that is given to the Deity should be used in the service of the Deity and he has given specific instructions on what to use that money for besides offerings of bhoga, puja, dressing, temple maintenance and expansion etc. Each Temple has a role to play in its community and so any excess donations not used as described above, should be used to glorify the Deity according to the instructions of the specific acarays / religious leaders etc of the organization, sect or temple, church Mosque etc. Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed, for example, that each temple must make sure, according to their means of course, that no one, rich or poor should go hungry within ten miles of the Deity. That spiritual instruction/education must be given to those who are interested and we must conduct festivities for the people in general to raise their consciousness of God. Schools should be opened to educate children according to śāstric / varna asrama dharma and to instill religious values into the students All of this should be free of charge. No money should go into the hands of those doing sevā at the temple or project as ‘services rendered’. Otherwise the Deity, Shrine, Church, Mosque or Synagogue etc turns away from the service of the Lord or Deity and becomes a Religious Institution’s or a family business. Education of the meaning of sevā must be there for all sevites of Temples and Shrines etc… Sevā mean service that is given from the heart and there no material or monetary transaction involved. Take for example the Catholic Church, their priests are celibate and do not take a salary or use the donations for their private use. The idea that donations are for the sevites personal use needs to be revised. Of course families were also taken into consideration by Śrīla Prabhupāda and he said that families are welcome to live in a Temple facility and give their services free of charge and if they needed more material facility then they should move out and get a job and give money to the Temple. The temples, Shrines, Churches, Mosques and so on should be able to disclose their financial status and demonstrate how any donation money is spent and if this is made public along with an education process for the prospective donors regarding the spiritual value of their donation and how their donation would be used, the question of miss-given and misspent donations can be partially answered. If the Temple or Religious organization cannot demonstrate that it has tenets of service to mankind and/or cannot demonstrate that it is undertaking such service then its credibility as a religious organization/sect / charitable trust status etc needs to be brought into question by the relevant authorities. We must remember that the people in general are in need of protection from so called holymen who take their money to line their pockets and give nothing in return except a show or a performance. Apart from that the best thing to do is for the Government to make revenue from the tourist trade. In this way they can educate people on the above matters and make recommendation on which Temple Church Shrine Mosque etc is actually bona-fide. Spiritual Tourism needs to be regulated by the Government so that the standards of the various religious organizations are kept to a high level. This is the best way to bring much needed revenue to the government to be dispersed to the society as a whole. If you check my website http://brajtours.com/ I have given a development plan that can be used where there can be a win/win situation for the region and the nation as a whole. But alas I have not even received one reply from the various Government Officials that I have emailed it to. So in summary, the hard earned money of the people in general that is given to the various religious organizations of India must be a consideration in any future development of the nation. We are after all a very religious people who are generous to a fault. So let the various organizations, temples Mosques Churches etc demonstrate how they use the money they collect from donations within their local communities, educate the people in general on what is a worthy cause to giving their hard earned money to, regulate the tourist industry to increase the standard of religious practice and to develop the region in general and let the Government obtain revenue from the tourist dollar and we have half the battle solved. Please forgive my ignorance and please forgive me if I have offended anyone as it is not my intention… Kṛṣṇacandra Dāsa more  

@ Krsnacandra Dasa (Temple President - Radha Shyamsundar Mandir) Can we have your valuable experiences and suggestions to put use the wealth in various religious shrines(all religions) towards sustainable economic growth of the society ? Here, we are only talking about the surplus funds and hoarded wealth in the form of real estate/gold,silver etc /Cash /recurring revenue after expenditure. The shrines like Ajmer, Tirupati, golden temple, Waqf etal and also lesser known places of worship , have huge wealth accumulated (as gold/silver/property/huge amount of cash) and have recurring running income on daily basis in terms of offering from the public. All these resources are opaque to public domain and scrutiny by the public though the input source is public contributions. Wealth and income from Some of these shrines/Temples like Ajmer etc are being utilised by certain family or Group with political blessings. These wealth what ever form it is , belongs to the masses. There is a rush by the politically influential groups to grab the Governance of these shrines. Can we have some valuable suggestions from you with your back ground and experience as how to constructively utilize these resources on a recurring basis for economic uplift of the needy masses including Poojaris -at least who live in the visinity of these shrines. ADDRESSING THE ABOVE ISSUE HAS TWO FOLD ADVANTAGE:- .1. Eradication of communal-ism by plugging wealth accumulation interests of the perpetrators. Why they have nothing to look forward to , they will stop their nefarious activities of creating communal tensions .2. Better utilization of peoples' resources for peoples' economic upliftment. more  

Let the psyche of the people change to "The safety, honour & welfare of your country comes first, always & every time. The honour, welfare & comfort of the people of the country , come next. Your own ease, comfort & safety come last, always & every time." more