Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (DV)
Mangalore, Dec 10: Dharmika Dathi Department of Karnataka and Dathi Parishad Dakishana Kannada recently organized a convention and workshop for the priests of Dathi Temple at the city Town Hall.
Kota Srinivas Poojary, minister for ports and muzrai, inaugurated the convention. “It is for the first time our department is holding such convention. The main intention of this convention is to motivate and improve the atmosphere of the temple. Temple priests have a major responsibility in framing the society”, he said.
“The manner in which puja is performed in Uttar Karnataka is very different compared to that in Dakshina Kannada. While in Bidar, Gulbarga and Raichur it is entirely different. In Uttar Karnataka, fishermen perform puja rituals as the priest who is unaware of Sandhyavandana Dharmic rituals but people in this region accept them because the people are emotionally attached with religion and accept the person as the priest” he added.
“In Yaddugiri Temple, priests perform puja by wearing Kurtha and Pajamas. There are 34,266 temples under the muzrai department. The temples are categorized as A, B, C class. There are 225 temples whose income is more than Rs 25 lac which comes under A category, 189 temples whose income is above Rs 5 lac which come under B category, 33,900 temples come under C category whose income is below Rs 5 lac. Earlier, the temple priests used to get a salary of Rs 6,000. When the BJP government came to power, VS Acharya increased their salary to Rs 12,000. Through priests the Temple’s sanctity can be taken to international level. In Karnataka, 25 temples have been selected as tourist destinations”, he said.
“We have even made agreements with the transport communication to bring the school children to these sites. In Kukke Subramanya and Kollur, we have planned to construct an orphanage. Bhagavadgeetha is the real boost to mankind. The condition of some priests’ are so bad that they don’t even have a proper house, so the government has planned to build homes for them worth Rs 5 lac near the Temple premises were it will also be the security to the Temples. Committee has also been setup, for the development of the Temples and four to five new projects are also planned to improve the condition of Temples and priests”, he further stated.
Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, convener of Shree Rama Vidyakendra said, “In the Indian context, religion is different. In India, religion means ‘Dharma’ which means universal law of nature. There is still a dilemma about Dharma in the people because of the British. The British came to India and compared their Semitic religion to Hindu dharma. There is some spiritual power behind us and we call it as God but till today, no one could find an answer about the existence of God. Only the belief on God and Dharma can bring the society to the right path. Everything has its own Dharma, fire has its own Dharma of burning, and it burns any one without segregation. The concept of Dharma should never mix up with God. When Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago for world religious conference he called the audience as brothers and sisters of America which means that he propagated the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is a single family). In Ireland, the religion came in profession of Dharma, where the poor girl Savitha Halapanavar lost her life. Priests should guide the society, they play major role in developing the society. Priests should provide solace to the families who come to tell about their sufferings.
On the occasion, nine priests from different places were felicitated.
Deputy speaker Yogish Bhat, Captain Ganesh Karnik, Ashok Kumar Bady, Monnappa Bhandary and endowment assistant commissioner Krishnappa were present on the occasion.