The recent postings highlighting the wrongs in the Lord's temples are
motivated by a deep love for the Lord, and the pain all good people
feel when things are not as they should be. But i fear that in
angrily and publicly criticising particular individuals/ groups, our
crusaders are doing the wrong thing. Allow me to use my own errors to
elaborate.

1) When we get angry, the focus remains on the other
person's 'mistake' rather than hearing what God is trying to teach us
at that moment in time. Speaking from experience: out of kindness,
the Archakas would sometimes allow me to have darsan of the Lord via
the 'special-entrance'. One festival day, as i skipped towards the
special entrance, i was coarsely rebutted and told to join the que. I
felt humiliated- and that too by a peon, in front of all those
people. But as i stood in the que, my anger subsided and i could hear
the Lord teaching me a lesson:" I, the great Lord of Arangam, love
each and every black-robbed, smelly, paan-chewing-red-eyed Ayappa
worshiper every bit as much as i love you. Go and wait along with
them, my dear but egotectic rangapriya". Similarly, let our anger
subside as we ask ourselves: what lesson is the Lord trying to teach
me when I feel offended by the 'greed' of the Archakas demanding MY
money. . . ?

2) In the face of 'obvious' mis-conduct, it is easy to forget that
the wisdom of God transcends that of men. Whilst waiting for darsan
of the Lord at a jungle Divyadesa, i found myself next to a chap
puffing away on his Ganesh beedies. I looked down my nose at him,
oblivious to my padham and smelling only his sin. But to no effect.
Even when the doors opened and the Lord blessed us with His darshan,
the idiot kept puffing away. Then the Lord taught me an unforgettable
lesson. When it was time for the arti (mangalasasanam), the Archaka
had run out of matches. 'Any one have a match' the Archaka
inquired. No one; except my beedie smoking aparaadhi. The wisdom of
God transcends that of men.

3) In recent posts, we have been reminded:

"Here the incident of sri kUrath AzhwAn is recalled wherein SrE
kurath AzhwAn is initially refused entry into the temple of Lord nam
perumAL as he is seen as an associate of Sri RAmAnujA. However, on
realising that he is a very learned scholar they permit him inside on
the grounds that he is not harmful. SwAmi kUrath AzhwAn returns
without entering the temple as he feels that he cannot reach the Lord
without dissociating himself with sri RAmAnujA. He prefers
srEvaishnavic sambandham rather than the Lord's sambandham.

We should also see the seriousness of the words "
bhagwadhvishayathOdu -dhEvadhAnthrathOdu vAsiyillai" in the
commentary. If we indeed prefer the Lord overlooking srEvaishNavites,
worshipping the Lord is deemed equal to that of other deities. The
Lord is way above incomparable to other deities. When the same scale
is applied, the srEvaishNavites are kept in a very high pedestal
above the Lord. The essence is that the Lord should be worshipped
only alongwith srEvaishNavites [Thirupavai 15, posting by Swamy V.
Padmanabhan]".

Too true. Let us remember that even a 'corrupt' Archaka is still a
Srivaisnava, and so (by his very presence), is saving us from the sin
of 'demigod' worship.

4) Finally, i believe it is no accident that one of the atrocities
mentioned in a recent Sholingur post occurred at the Anjaneyar
sannidhih.

"In the chinna malai ( Anjaneyar Sanithi) There is one
senior archaka who is continuing to have some value
system but I heard the junior archakas literrally
abusing him and calling him by names in front of all
the pilgrims".

There is a precedent for such abuse. When Swamy Anjaneyar saw the
atrocities done by Ravana's ogresses towards Piratti, he too was
tempted to 'Give them a piece of his mind'/ 'Let them have it'. But
let us remember we are not just Vaisnavas, we are SRI Vaisnavas.
Should not Her counsel to Anjaneya be followed by us? Consider:

"The cruel atrocities perpetrated by the Rakshasis of Lanka on Sita
during her captivity are too well known. And yet did not she plead
with Hanuman, on their behalf, even justifying the atrocious conduct,
as a matter of mere compliance wih the orders of Ravana , and holding
that the Rakshashis who according to Hanuman were sinners (papanam)
were, according to her, meritorious (subhanam) and further asserting
that there is none above mistakes "na kaschin, na aparaadhyati?" If
the mother saw good in evil (dhosha) there is no need to make special
mention of her attitude towards the lack of goodness, as such."
[Srivachanbhusanam, commentary by Sri Manavalamamunighal, trans. Sri
Satyamurthi Gwalior].

We have far less justification than Swamy Anjaneya to be angry. The
Archakas are abusing either ourselves, or the Lord. Their abuse fades
into utter insignificance (in both quality and quantity) aside the
ogresses' abuse of Piratti.

Everything said and done, let us pause and think how dear these
Archakas must be to the Lord. Despite all their apacharas, the Lord
continues to keep them close to Him; closer than even nitya-suris
could ever dream. The ogresses were forgiven on account of their
being bound by Ravana; cannot our Archakas be handled tenderly on
account of their being bound by the Lord?

Your servant, S. Ramanujadasan.

Footnote: if none of the above is convincing, i beg the reader to
consider the following:

a) By publicly criticising the Archakas, we say to the general
public "its o.k. to commit bhaagavad apachara- you too go right
ahead".
b) If devotees of your high calibre remind the Lord of the mistakes
of His caretakers, His anger on them may be more than you bargained
for. Is that what you want?
c) Has an angry word ever made you change your ways? Or rather has it
made you all the more defensive and entrenched in your folly. So too
it is with others. Anger is counter productive and only hardens the
heart of both giver and taker.
d) The Archakas too are human beings, with all the difficulties in
life faced by you or me. Who knows what sort of day they've had just
before we showed up for darsan? Most Archakas are sincere, devoted
and above all- they havent left their Lord (like many of us) to make
our fortunes abroad.
d) The points about the wrong doings and goings-on in the Lord's
temples are valid. But please make your points with love, tenderness,
and a concern for the upliftment of all concerned. These Archakas
are not outsiders, but our own family members.

Respected Devotee,

My sincere compliments and thanks for putting things back in proper
perspective. I too have experienced similar situations, where, at one
stage, I have been given the "keys to the temple", and in the next, I am
simply another visitor in the crowd.

To me, it is a reflection of Sriman Narayana's svatantrIyam. It is He who is
the deciding factor in our temple experience, the archakas and other devotees
being simply instruments in His Good Actions. I believe that each devotee
learns a lesson from such experiences, and with it, is humbled into letting
go to the Wonder that He is.

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mohan