SIVAGIRI: Swami Satchidananda, president of Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust, called for timely reforms to temples in the state.
Swami Satchidananda:
“The Travancore Devaswom Board should be prepared to implement reservation by giving equal importance to all communities and not monopolize the power of upper castes. The government should take immediate action for this. Desirable reforms and transformations should be centred around temples. The practice of removing shirts among male devotees in temples should be stopped. Although the changes are visible in many temples, these are yet to be implemented in temples under the Devaswom Board.
The decision to wear shirts was implemented in Cherai Temple, Kottayam Kumaramangalam Temple and Kozhikode Sreekandeshwara Temple, which follow Gurudeva tradition. Reforms have also come to the Chakkulathukavu temple, supervised by upper castes.
There must be reform in the Devaswom Board temples as well. Hindus irrespective of caste should be allowed to perform all kinds of rituals in temples including in Guruvayur. Caste discrimination should end for the appointment of priests
Sree Narayana Gurudeva's oeuvre includes phenomenal works on par with gurus like Ved Vyasa, Vasishtha, Valmiki and Shankaracharya. However, Gurudeva's works still remain alien to Devaswom Board temples. The ‘Daiva Dasakam’ prayer, translated into 110 languages, was introduced in temples for recitals but was stopped after a brief period. These practices need to change.”
Swami was speaking at a media conference in Sivagiri in connection with the Acharana Parirakshana Yatra (Ritual Reform Yatra) to the Devaswom Board headquarters. This will be held on Friday under the auspices of the Gurudharma Pracharanasabha and Sivagiri Mutt.