Kundapur: Venu Srinivasan, chairperson of TVS Motors in Chennai, on Friday arrived at Shri Mookambika temple in Kollur.
He offered pujas and took part in Chandiyaga of the temple. He dedicated a diamond-studded waistband to the idol of the deity. Its valued is said to be Rs 50 lakh. The temple executive officer, T R Uma offered him the prasad after the pujas.
Faith is a matter of personal discretion and choice. Yet, many devotees who were present said that the same amount of money which would lie idle in adornment form could have been offered to the temple to build a yatri nivas for the devotees to provide accommodation to poorer devotees.
Another said a couple of houses could have been built in Kollur to provide housing to needy persons and the deity would have been much happier. Yet another devotee picked up an issue and said the devotee in question used his money and it was up to him to decide in what way to spend it.
The comment that came from another visitor appeared to be more pertinent. He said that the higher the value of offerings like gold and expensive metals, the higher would be the security perceptions.
Venu Srinivasan is the grandson of Thirukkurungudi Vengaram Sundaram Iyengar, the founder of TVS group.
An educated person like him should use his wisdom whatever his faith may have influenced his emotions. Fifty lacs would should have been used for the poor, the ones who deserve charity. Not a stone statue. May wisdom prevail.
His personal decision to donate Rs. 50 lakh worth of diamond studded waistband to the Kollur deity is his personal choice; but I do agree with the middle two paragraphs. While the founder of the Kingfisher Airlines was behind six months in paying the salary to his employees, and one pilot committed suicide, but Mallaya donated two golden doors to a Temple in Karnataka worth Rs. 80 lkh. One of the Reddy brothers, former Ministers under the BJP Government made crores of Rs in the coal deals, and donated some very pricy items to the Tirupathi Temple. Some other rich… Read more »
Mr. A.S. Mathew, When I was abroad, there was strong rumours about a priest who, while building a big church, had siphoned off or squirrelled away money to build a house each in India and Canada to spend his days in retirement. When certain parishoners had the pluck to question him, he would say that before becoming a priest he was in employment and had used his own savings to buy these properties. The explanation offered by him was a mere hog wash, because when one has money and wants to buy property or properities, buys it immediately rather than… Read more »
Guilty conscience pricks the most. Money did not grow on trees but came out of someone else buying high price Automobile. Could have given to disabled Person’s family.
okay – here comes the same old ‘spend-money-on-poor’ brigade!!!! LOL It’s his money and who cares. Yes – I wouldn’t spend any money on imaginary god. Same way, I wouldn’t spend any time at any houses of worship either. We have hundreds of millions of people wasting their time everyday, every week at temples, churches and mosques praying to imaginary god. Going by the same logic, they could have spent time helping poor or cleaning local streets for a better society, right? This ‘mosaralli kallu hugukuva’ mindset is hilarious!! LOL
Mr. Original R. Pai, I agree with your comments, but I would differ with you on one point. I believe in Almighty God, our Supreme Creator. All said and done, you are privileged to have your views and I do not wish to argue on the same and indulge in a mud-slinging match. It is all a matter of having a live-and-let-live attitude and being permissive. The TVS Boss has donated Rs 50 lakhs diamond-studded waist-band to the Kollur deity for pubicity sake and to hog limelight. As simple as that. When one’s earnings per day are mindboggling compared to… Read more »
It is not surprising that with such stupid people who splurge their monies in this fashion, many of the priests are multi-millionaires.
Dear Nelson,
We clearly disagree. I am either for all stupidity in the name of religion or no stupidity at all. Honestly, I don’t find any reason to visit places of worship while the same time can be spent on something more productive and useful to society. Offering material things or visiting temples to pray when God is omnipresent (right??) – both are equally hilarious.
That’s alright – we agree to disagree.