Tirumala Tirupati Devasthansms
TIRUMALA TIRUPATI DEVASTHANAMS 1
Pandit Sitaraman was confused. As head priest of the famed [and revered] Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams [TTD], a post that he had held for long, for the first time he was up against a question of morality. The night before, a visiting Sikh priest had looked at the different lines that were formed for the darshan and had remarked, "At the Golden Temple, people who come, come with devotion in their hearts. Everybody's devQ.tjQI}jS equal, be they rich or poor. At Amritsar, we don't have separate queues for the rich and
-poo. All come equally, all are treated equally",
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, is reputed as the most ancient temple in lncfi. The old religious texts all declare that in the age of Kal Yuga, one can attain mukti only through the worshipping of Lord Venkateshwara. Tirupati, in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, is situated at the foot of the Tirumala h The two townshiPs and their temples are under the religious trust of_T!Q.
The TTD today is one of the richest temple trusts in India. Its revenue comes from two sources. First, from donations. The rich and the poor, on fulfillment of their wishes, donate their chosen amount in £ash_g_r __g_Qid, to the temple coffers. This is purely voluntary, the amount being determined solely by the persons wishes. On any given day, an average of30,000 devotees, visit the temple. In addition, TTD has also set up branches all over India-where the donation can be deposited, the prayer performedat each
requested time and the "prasadam" sent b.Y post. This was very popular with the elderly devote !LWho could not-undertake the journ-ey- A second source of income comes from fhe-11dar ljg,n" .The "darshans" are timed throughout the day and the entry fee can vary from Rs 200 toRs QO [for special functions]. In addition there are also weekly sevas at
Pandit Sitaraman was confused. As head priest of the famed [and revered] Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams [TTD], a post that he had held for long, for the first time he was up against a question of morality. The night before, a visiting Sikh priest had looked at the different lines that were formed for the darshan and had remarked, "At the Golden Temple, people who come, come with devotion in their hearts. Everybody's devQ.tjQI}jS equal, be they rich or poor. At Amritsar, we don't have separate queues for the rich and
-poo. All come equally, all are treated equally",
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, is reputed as the most ancient temple in lncfi. The old religious texts all declare that in the age of Kal Yuga, one can attain mukti only through the worshipping of Lord Venkateshwara. Tirupati, in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, is situated at the foot of the Tirumala h The two townshiPs and their temples are under the religious trust of_T!Q.
The TTD today is one of the richest temple trusts in India. Its revenue comes from two sources. First, from donations. The rich and the poor, on fulfillment of their wishes, donate their chosen amount in £ash_g_r __g_Qid, to the temple coffers. This is purely voluntary, the amount being determined solely by the persons wishes. On any given day, an average of30,000 devotees, visit the temple. In addition, TTD has also set up branches all over India-where the donation can be deposited, the prayer performedat each
requested time and the "prasadam" sent b.Y post. This was very popular with the elderly devote !LWho could not-undertake the journ-ey- A second source of income comes from fhe-11dar ljg,n" .The "darshans" are timed throughout the day and the entry fee can vary from Rs 200 toRs QO [for special functions]. In addition there are also weekly sevas at