Shankaracharya raises concern over temple security:Says officials treat temples as tourist destinations; demands Sanatan Board after Ram Temple theft

When an alternative system is prepared, similar results come to the fore. Whoever’s job it is and whoever is worthy of it, that task should be assigned to them. The officials who oversee the temple, in their eyes, the temple is nothing more than a tourist destination, therefore, there is now a demand for the formation of a Sanatan Board. This is the statement of Dwarka Peeth’s Shankaracharya Swami Sadanand Saraswati. He has also expressed concern over the theft of offerings worth 200 crores from the donation boxes of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, in which about 50 employees involved in counting notes are under suspicion. He said this incident in Ayodhya is a mockery of faith. Shankaracharya, who stopped for a while in Jabalpur before going to Paramhansi Ganga Ashram, said that this work is not for those who were doing it. Our objection is that all the temples of Sanatan Dharma followers, Hindus, across the country are under government control. The officers and employees change they get transferred. They do not have experience of religiosity, knowledge of scriptures, knowledge of injunctions and prohibitions, knowledge of sin and merit. They all view temples from the perspective of a tourist destination, whereas we, the Sanatan Dharma followers, Hindu pilgrims, go there for darshan. Our perspective is that of a place of penance (Tapo-bhumi). Shankaracharya Swami Sadanand Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth said that it is our belief that temples and religious places, where the power of religion and Brahman exists, possess positive energy and spiritual power. People go there to attain it, offering their hard-earned money. It should be put to good use in the temple, and honest individuals should be appointed. Those who have committed this theft-like crime in Ayodhya should be severely punished, so that such a tendency does not occur again there or in other temples, and it can be stopped. Shankaracharya said that this news is not good among the people of the country and abroad. The joy that people were experiencing after the construction of the Ram Temple until yesterday has been hurt after this incident. He said that we want the formation of a Sanatan Dharma Protection Committee or a Sanatan Dharma Board, and all religious matters, all religious sites, should be handed over to them, because only those who have knowledge of a particular subject can solve that problem. Swami Sadanand Saraswati also said that temple operations should be managed by those who have experience. He said that people commit corruption because they have no fear of sin and virtue. They have no knowledge of dharma (righteousness) and adharma (unrighteousness). After the country’s independence, people had thought that they would be able to follow their ideology, culture, heritage, and Indian education system, but this did not happen. The income from temples should be used for the construction of cowsheds, schools, yagyashalas (places for rituals), dharmashalas (rest houses), and dispensaries. Development should take place wherever temples are located. Governments should not have any right to spend the wealth of temples. It is the duty of the government to protect ancient heritage.