
(Originally published on Nov. 09, 2011)
What is the use of a temple if its spiritual vibrancy is not enhanced day after day through rituals? Have you ever heard someone say about his or her experience, while inside a temple, on positive vibrations?
The act of consecration of Deities in a temple is only the first step towards building a place of worship which will become divine and sanctified over a period of time. This can be compared to giving birth to a baby. Does the responsibility end there? No, it just begins!
How soon a temple becomes a powerful source of spiritual energy depends on the quality of rituals that are performed from time to time. An idol which is not consecrated can be compared to a non-reflective medium with no spiritual energy. Through the process of consecration based on the Science of Tantra, we infuse life and we change its property to become a spiritually reflective medium. Thereafter, it begins embedding spiritual energy directed through rituals as well as through devotee’s prayers with true devotion or bhaavana.
A positively vibrant temple brings in the masses on its own. As the number of devotees increases, the various rituals through devotee-sponsorship also increase thereby making the Deity capable of accommodating this increase in spiritual energy and give it back to the community. This also makes the entire locality or city prosper in terms of peace, harmony and wealth.
A temple with high levels of positive vibrancy absorbs negative vibrancy in devotees and makes them capable of building positive vibrancy within themselves. Devotees who keep building positive vibrancy through prayers and meditation connect with the Deities. The spiritual benefits the devotees gain through this phenomenon are multifold which, in turn, get directed towards making everything they do successful.
On the other hand, a temple with high levels of negative vibrancy connects with devotees having negative vibrancy and shares the agony of its Deities. Such devotees, direct this agony to all their actions towards family, career, business, society and so on. Devotees with positive energy get drained off and get tired within minutes of entering the temple. A few of such devotees, who are capable of measuring the level of vibrancy inside a temple, never return to such temples.
Internal clashes among the Board or Committee members and lack of devotee participation in rituals are just a few signs of such negative vibrancy build-up.
A negatively vibrant temple should never attempt at expansion or consecration of new Deities. Attempts in this direction usually meet with several obstacles. It is seen that such actions bring in serious repercussions to those connected in the following order: the Board, the Working Committee, Priests, Volunteers, Devotees and the Locality or Region. Priests will lead this list if such an expansion takes part on their advice! A true and devoted priest will be able to measure the vibrancy on a daily basis and keep devising rituals to maintain or enhance its positive nature.
When a temple reaches very high levels of negative vibrancy, it calls for a high-level astrological scrutiny. This would call for a Deva Prasna or an Ashtamangala Deva Prasna as it is known in astrological circles. Based on the findings of this scrutiny by eminent Vedic Astrologers (who qualify as per the guidelines outlined in scriptures such as Prasna Marga to take part in such a scrutiny), special rituals are conducted, sometimes for days together, to nullify the negative vibrancy and re-establish a platform for building positive vibrancy again. I have personally witnessed in a few temples that any attempt towards building the positive vibrancy, without such an astrological scrutiny, gets no results.
Every ritual has a specific muhurta or timing associated with it. It is the auspiciousness of this muhurta that makes the ritual fruitful in augmenting the Deity’s chaitanya which in turn bless the devotees. When this muhurta falls on a specific day and time, the ritual must be conducted at that time without any compromise. When you look at temples in India, the authorities dare not change the muhurta of such rituals. Those who attend, get benefitted; others who cannot attend, also get equally benefitted when they offer their prayers later because the chaitanya is already augmented.
Today, most temples are built for a wrong purpose – that of bringing the community together and/or raising wealth through exploitation of religious beliefs. Well, if that was the objective of building a temple, the administrative body’s efforts will also continue to be in those directions. And, they think they could easily achieve it by nicely decorating the Deities and rescheduling most of the holy rituals to weekends to meet people’s convenience. This is nothing less than abusing the Vedas which the science of temples are derived from. It can be seen that most people who start such ventures have no concept of maintaining a temple and its sanctity. Just because they put in their money to begin the venture, they treat the temple like a personal property and indulge in abuse. A temple typically becomes a museum-like venue in the hands of such people.
Annual & Life Memberships! Did I say bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond memberships? Discount on rituals for members? License to misconduct & abuse for Trustees who put in more money?
What are we talking about? Do you want to raise funds so the temple can function as envisioned? Then, raise the spiritual vibrancy through quality rituals. The vibrancy or chaitanya alone acts as a super magnet to bring in the masses. All other efforts may appear to win temporarily but never sustains in fulfilling the objective.
Though the sanctity of a temple rests mainly on its Priests, the administrative body must take the blame entirely since it is the responsibility of the administration to conduct every ritual through the priests, without compromises. The administrative body or the working committee, elected by a board of trustees for a specific term, deals with day to day affairs of the temple. While the committee is guided by the board, it should ensure that the temple priests perform the rituals as prescribed in the texts in their appropriate muhurtas. The committee and the board should also consider recommendations made by the priests, from time to time, to conduct more naimithika rituals which are not aimed at bringing in the masses but to enhance the chaitanya of each Deity.
Improper temple administration is not conducive to growing its spiritual energy. A spiritually well-maintained temple grows vibrant day after day and protects every member of the community.