One of my elderly family member felt that the wealth found in Kerala should be left alone. We are educated, emotionally intelligent, seen what happened to that wealth in Tamil Nadu. So if the atheist Kerala governors or the unpopular corrupt central government, took to this wealth - would they rob it or use it properly?
Two Views
Largely two groups of People on twitters, fb are the ones who make the view that it should be properly spent. But there are people on FB, Twitters say it should stay in temple are sayng it in name of faith. Both are emotional view.
The first group seems the downtrodden poor and feel they should be helped.
The second group sees Bakthi or fears that corrupt government rob and feel that the wealth should stay put.
Both those views raise from different viewpoints and culminate in two opposite feelings.
What is my feeling?
I am on the fence. What ever is used daily for Pooja should still be used. However I also think that they could set some trusts and use the wealth to help people. My sister runs a non-profit charity - Chiraag. She strongly feels that this should be put to use. She interacts day in day out with downtrodden people through Chiraag. When she sees them suffer, the humanity emotion flows and makes her think what is the use of wealth if you can't help a person next door?
I am a man with Bakthi at heart as well as the good heart to help the needy. I am sure India with its rich history and culture should show me light as well as to others. I sat there thinking and recounting history.
I hit on Shri Kurathazhwan "a clan head who turned into a Spirtual" story need to be recounted:
For full story - click here
"It was a turning point in the life of Kuresan. The same night husband and wife walked out of their homes with nothing but the clothes they wore. They set out for SriRangam by foot. Along the way, Kuresan and AndAlamma had to journey through jungle infested with wayside brigands.
AndAlamma was mortally afraid of nocturnal robbers and made no secret of her fears to her husband. WHen he heard of his wife's anxieties Kuresan quickly replied,"AndAl, watching your agitation I suspect that your fears are founded in something you have not fully disclosed to me. I asked you to renounce all our belongings back in our village of Kura. Have you renounced everything? I mean really EVERYTHING?".
When questioned so intensely by Kuresan, AndAlamma had no choice but to confess,"My Sire, I did renounce everything save for this little golden goblet which I secreted in the folds of my saree. I thought I would need it during the journey to serve you some beverage and relieve you of weariness".
Kuresan looked at the golden goblet that his wife pulled out from her saree-folds and then mildly chided her,"My dear woman, when I wanted you to renounce everything I meant this little goblet too!".
So saying Kuresan took the vessel from AndAlamma's hands and threw it away into the night and deep into the forest shrubbery. "There now!", he said turning to his wife, "There now, my dear wife, has been cast away the source of all your fears". Kuresan and AndAlamma were received into Srirangam with great joy and fanfare by SriRamanujAchArya."
The reason I recount the story, is the Travancore kings really were/are to become dasas, they should have thrown away the wealth, I mean don't care what happens if the wealth is thrown into gutter or robbed. However no offence to them, they wanted to govern but in the name of God. So let us accept that position.
However the key point of the story, if you have spiritual call and want to serve God, just do it and wealth should not matter. Reach God through whatever means, but hiding the wealth backyard doesn't make sense.
So:
If the Travancore King renounced it because of Bakthi and wished to be a dasa, going by the above Kuresan story, the wealth should not matter to that so called Royal family.
இயற்றலும் ஈட்டலும் காத்தலும் காத்த
வகுத்தலும் வல்லது அரசு.
A Good king's (Government) primary responsibility is to earn, protect, and govern the wealth. ages ago, for the fear of Dutch/British - the king may have hid it and that seems to be the only logical conclusion.Today what do we do?
Our fear is that the government might just rob the wealth back door if its put to use. Just for that reason, we should not shy away from voicing the idea of how to use wealth. After reminiscing Shri Kurathazhwan story, I strongly feel that the wealth should not matter to the King and the current Kerala (not Central) government should take control. (no Trusts please)
However given the trust in governments and the size of wealth, people will strongly feel against this. So an idea may be to bring in transparency. Appoint a separate ministry and make the entire wealth, expenditure transparent. Preserve all historically worth items (not for sale or any type of investments - just for future generations to see). Take the coins, rice trinklet type of articles and preserve it. Initially for the first term of government take 1% of whole wealth and let people decide on top 10 spending plans, schools, hospitals, agriculture etc and spend just 1% of the wealth. Yes just try and spend 1%, if this works out, increase the spend by 2-3 times i.e. when the money is fully spent draw 2-3 times and govern how this is spent.
To explain with an example: Oman Chandy's government has just formed, so they have an opportunity to spend 10 crores in their tenure of 5 years. Spending merely doesn't mean everything on expense account. a % of 10 crores should be invested and aim to get back some good portion by end of 5 years. The rest of the % should be spent on social cause with complete transparency. Appoint people (creation of jobs) to make this work. However if the government does not spend this 10 crore fully and for example 2 crores remain unspent, then the next government can only take 2-3 times of 8 Crores. Also the current government cannot withdraw more than 10 crores for the whole 5 years. if the government is dismissed or looses majority and goes back to poll, whatever is spent at the time of dismissal should be the starting point for next government. key to this is Transparency. In the internet world, this can be achieved. RTI can be applied. This is possible. Fellow people - believe on such a model, we can definitely up-lift our community.
Please be reminded of Rajini's movie - Arunachalam Spending 1 crore in 30 days is not that easy.
I am also reminded of another historical incident - Chithra Pournami. Tamilian history portrays that the Pandiyas created this festival of Chithra Pournami in their Capital City - Madurai. They found that the economy was dwindling and a good way to increase the cash-flow was to create a spending occasion - So they initiated a festival for newly weds - they go to the Vaigai River in Madurai for enjoying a full-moon lit river side dinner. Strictly for the newly weds. It is still followed in Tamil Nadu. The economy prospered.
A wealth well invested and spent comes back to you multiplied.
Please keep in mind that if the wealth is 'properly' distributed, people become rich and contribute back to economy. People miss this very important point. A wealth invested and properly governed multiplies and comes back to government.
Share your thoughts, if this model has got a loop hole.
