Recently I read an article about a plan for the construction of a huge Vedik temple by ISKON at Mayapur in India. This temple is supposed to cost around 75 million USD, this is a huge amount of money as far as a country like India is concerned. Spending such a huge amount of money just for the construction of a temple is like a cruel joke on all who could benefit from all this money if it's spent for some relevant social cause. I also see a lot of photos of many temples, churches, or other religious centers which are constructed using very expensive materials, and decorated with precious metals like gold and silver. A lot of material and money is wasted to build and decorate them, they really look like grand and lavish displays of wealth, very often thought comes to my mind why can't this money be used to build other things that can be more useful to people? After I started writing this post there was huge controversy in the media when Mr. Modi said, "Pehle shouchalaya phir Devalay" (build toilets first then temples), a similar statement was made by Mr. Jairam Ramesh a few years back and then also it generated a lot of controversy for some different reason. So the question is, do we need any more lavish temples (I am using the temple as a general term for all religious centers like Mosque, Church, etc.) when people don't have access to some basic facility like a school, hospital, or a toilet?
I personally believe that we have enough religious monuments for all religions all over the world. One can find a temple, mosque, synagogue, church, or something equivalent in almost all major cities of the world, we don't need to build any more of these. Many people visit these places and some of them are big tourist attractions which attract millions of visitors every year. All the money from tourism is not reinvested in the community but it stays with that temple or private entities. The question is, in a country like India where many are living without home, proper medical care, food or education should any organization spend such an enormous amount of money to build a religious monument that will be just a tourist attraction? Can't they use this money to do something better, more useful thing, something like a hospital or a free school or college for the underprivileged or even toilets? On one side we all say that God is everywhere but then keep on building huge, expensive, and lavish structures just to host their images or for social gatherings (like prayers, etc.). Many religious institutions spend enormous amounts of money to build and maintain these buildings instead of helping people who are struggling for their basic needs. I am sure their God would love them more, and bless them more if they used this money for people's welfare instead of building another temple, Church, or any other religious monument.
Religion is a personal as well as social need for many and there are already many centers that can satisfy this need. If a temple serves as a place for social gatherings, to give shelter to the homeless, or to provide food and education for the underprivileged then it's a good thing. Some religious institutes do these things but to do such work I don't think we need any fancy structures with expensive decorations. One can build a simple structure and use all that extra money for some better social activity. A country like India needs more toilets than temples or churches, even though this thought was expressed by major political leaders from two big national parties of India, there are very few takers for this idea. Still, the construction of a temple or Mosque is considered more important than the construction of basic facilities like toilets. Isn't it ironic that in a country that hosts one of the richest temples in the world, many people still don't have access to basic facilities like toilets? Some of these religious institutes are so rich that if they want they can do wonders for society with all the money they have, but they behave just like big corporates, exclusively protecting their own interest without any real real social agenda. I think with all the problems our society is facing these institutes should put all their plans for the construction of Mosque, Church, or temples on hold, rather they should spend all that money on some social causes like building more medical care facilities, distributing medicines to poor, offer free education to needy, sanitation facilities (like toilets, especially for women), etc. There is a tremendous need for funds in all these areas and these institutes can play a very big role in funding such infrastructure projects. I hope they all think about this idea and give it serious consideration. One more temple, mosque, or church may not change anyone's life but one more school or hospital might change and save the lives of millions of people. Even a public toilet can make life easy for many and I believe doing this is no less than offering prayer to any god.
I personally believe that we have enough religious monuments for all religions all over the world. One can find a temple, mosque, synagogue, church, or something equivalent in almost all major cities of the world, we don't need to build any more of these. Many people visit these places and some of them are big tourist attractions which attract millions of visitors every year. All the money from tourism is not reinvested in the community but it stays with that temple or private entities. The question is, in a country like India where many are living without home, proper medical care, food or education should any organization spend such an enormous amount of money to build a religious monument that will be just a tourist attraction? Can't they use this money to do something better, more useful thing, something like a hospital or a free school or college for the underprivileged or even toilets? On one side we all say that God is everywhere but then keep on building huge, expensive, and lavish structures just to host their images or for social gatherings (like prayers, etc.). Many religious institutions spend enormous amounts of money to build and maintain these buildings instead of helping people who are struggling for their basic needs. I am sure their God would love them more, and bless them more if they used this money for people's welfare instead of building another temple, Church, or any other religious monument.
Religion is a personal as well as social need for many and there are already many centers that can satisfy this need. If a temple serves as a place for social gatherings, to give shelter to the homeless, or to provide food and education for the underprivileged then it's a good thing. Some religious institutes do these things but to do such work I don't think we need any fancy structures with expensive decorations. One can build a simple structure and use all that extra money for some better social activity. A country like India needs more toilets than temples or churches, even though this thought was expressed by major political leaders from two big national parties of India, there are very few takers for this idea. Still, the construction of a temple or Mosque is considered more important than the construction of basic facilities like toilets. Isn't it ironic that in a country that hosts one of the richest temples in the world, many people still don't have access to basic facilities like toilets? Some of these religious institutes are so rich that if they want they can do wonders for society with all the money they have, but they behave just like big corporates, exclusively protecting their own interest without any real real social agenda. I think with all the problems our society is facing these institutes should put all their plans for the construction of Mosque, Church, or temples on hold, rather they should spend all that money on some social causes like building more medical care facilities, distributing medicines to poor, offer free education to needy, sanitation facilities (like toilets, especially for women), etc. There is a tremendous need for funds in all these areas and these institutes can play a very big role in funding such infrastructure projects. I hope they all think about this idea and give it serious consideration. One more temple, mosque, or church may not change anyone's life but one more school or hospital might change and save the lives of millions of people. Even a public toilet can make life easy for many and I believe doing this is no less than offering prayer to any god.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
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You are right to point out that the focus should shift on to providing more basic facilities of which there is a glaringly sharp dearth. If a developing country like ours has USD 75 million to spare then it ought rather to be spent on the primary needs of the villages: roads, water supply, sanitation, electric supply, schools, hospitals. The money could also aid the impoverished, the blind, the handicapped. The list can go on an on. But spending it all on constructing just another temple - of which we already have more than we can afford - is utter folly. We lack the money to maintain even the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. So much of our rich heritage lies in an utter state of neglect, without any repair or maintenance for years together. In such a case, building another temple is, in a way, a gross misuse of money.
ReplyDeleteYour point about maintenance of world heritage sites is very important, thanks for mentioning it. Even situation of our own heritage sites like many forts, buildings of historical importance, rivers, lakes is not very good, they either very poorly maintained or even not maintained at all, govt can generate lot of revinue by developing them in tourist sites but they lack vision. We don't have public library system in India which I think can be very helpful to kids, it can help to spread awareness and literacy...as you said list can go on and on..
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