Tridandi Jeer to step up campaign against conversion

Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: Sify.com
Date: March 13, 2004
URL: http://www.hindunet.com/onps/showarticle.php?pb=12&ag=1&a=13304

Tridandi Sriman Narayana Ramanuja China Jeer has said he will step up his 'Gita Dyoti' campaign to protect the Hindu dharma and prevent the gullible from falling prey to the "conversion spree" of the missionaries. He, nonetheless, appreciated the role of the Church in ensuring the overall well-being of the Christian community. At a press conference here last evening, he opined that temples, particularly high revenue-earning ones like the Sri Venkateswara temple near Tirupati, had a responsibility to step up "dharma prachar". It was only in that context that he had approached the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), administering the Lord Venkateswara temple, for a Rs five-crore collaborative programme to purchase 'dharma prachar' raths and copies of Bhagwad Gita for distribution in every remote village, he noted. "If not the TTD, who will take up the task of Hindu dharma prachar at a time when the missionaries have stepped up their campaign even in remote villages by offering food, education and medicare facilities," he asked. His programme, called 'Vikasa Tarangini', had been spreading Lord Krishna's message for the last two years among the people of all religion and caste, even atheists. Expressing concern over human beings destroying the fragile eco-system, he said the campaign was also to educate the masses about Lord Krishna's teaching that "service to all beings, including animals is only service to God". It was because of the wrong presumption of "service to mankind is service to God", that human beings, out of greed, had upset the delicate balance of the eco- system by overdrawing the natural wealth and destroying the diverse flora and fauna in the country, he explained. He also made it clear that there should "not be any compromise" on the performance of rituals at the Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala on the pretext of providing quick darshan to the pilgrims. The rituals were being rushed through and not peformed as per the "Vaikanasa Agama" on the "pretext" of ensuring darshan for the increasing number of pilgrims visiting the hillshrine, he lamented. The poojas had to be performed as laid out in the "Vaikanasa Agama", with sufficient intervals in between. "The rushing of the rituals is like over-crowding with 100 people a boat with a capacity of only 50," he said. On the controversy over the rebuilding of 1000- pillared mandap in the Venkateswara temple, the swamiji noted that a three-member committee, including the official sculptor (sthapati), had been constituted to study various Vaishnavite temple architecture and decide on the appropriate place for relocation.
 

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