zeenews.india.com/andhra-pradesh/tirumala-chief-priest-accuses-andhra-cm-chandrababu-naidu-of-misusing-temple-funds-removed-2110149.html
TIRUPATI, INDIA, May 21, 2018 (Zee News): A controversy has broken out over the removal of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chief priest AV Ramana Deekshitulu. The move came days after he alleged that the administrators of the temple were swindling money. The decision to remove Ramana was taken after the TTD Trust Board passed a resolution on Wednesday to state that all mirasi archakas (hereditary priests) must be retired on reaching the age of 65. In his place, Venugopala Deekshitulu has been hired as head priest at the Lord Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala.
Ramana has alleged that the Tirupati temple administration misuses the offerings, as per Zee Media reports. He has also leveled allegations against Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister, saying that that the he chooses the board members and has diverted approximately US$14.7 million of temple funds for his political use. TTD is an independent trust which manages the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh. It also manages many other temples in Tirupati and all around the world.
INDIA, May 22, 2018 (The News Minute): BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has waded into the issue of the sacking of Tirumala chief priest Dr. A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu, saying that he has decided to approach the Supreme Court to quash the dismissal by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD). ”I have decided after seeing the grossly illegal exercise of power of TTD in sacking the Head Priest Ramana Dikshitalu. Hence I will move the SC for quashing the sacking and seek also a Court monitored CBI investigation into the financial misappropriation of Temple funds by TTD,” Swamy tweeted.
This comes after Deekshitulu addressed the media last week in Chennai where he disclosed that the priests have filed a petition against the administrators demanding transparency pertaining to donations and jewelery. A few Hindu organisations have also held protests and staged a demonstration against the TTD on Saturday, questioning its decision to remove Deekshitulu after he made serious allegations against the governing board of the temple.
INDIA, May 19, 2018 (New Indian Express by Michel Danino): A retired computer scientist who regularly visits an Indian institution of higher education recently told me how, in the course of his schooling in erstwhile Yugoslavia, he had studied the outline of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. He was shocked when I answered that Indian schools can do no such thing: anyone attempting to do so would immediately be branded ”communal” and accused of undermining the ”secular” principles of Indian education.
Who determined these principles? Why should there be such a total neglect of ancient India’s genuine, well-researched and well-documented knowledge systems in the first place? Why should an Indian student be allowed to learn nothing of ancient Indian mathematics, astronomy, medicine, water management, town planning, construction techniques, agriculture, environmental conservation, martial arts or board games? Nothing of Indian systems of philosophy, of psychology based on methods of self-exploration and self-fulfilment that go by the name of yoga? Nothing of systems of governance, polity, education, business, management, trade practices, ethics?
More of this essay at ”source” above.
Those from a religious background who believe that ”There is only one life and when it’s over, it’s over ” generally cry and have a very unhappy time over the departure of a loved one. This is very disturbing to the loved one from where they are in the inner world wondering, ”Why the grief?” Because they are fine. They are happy, and they are free of a lot of karmas, a lot of worries, a lot of conflict, ready to start a new life. Those with a pure Asian religious background, who understand reincarnation, dharma, karma and the existence of God everywhere, will smile contentedly and say to themselves, ”What a wonderful life the departed had!” and be joyous in the new world that the departed loved one is now experiencing.
— Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today
