VIP Protocol

Famous Durga temple, morning 5 am, the thousands in the snail pace moving lines were getting exhausted from legs tiring. Yet the lines were not moving, they were going so slow. Police were trying to make the lines move faster yet the speed was not increasing. The tired exhausted devotees were watching scores of VIP Protocol vehicles moving up the hill.  It took them 2:30 to 3:30 hrs to get Darshan standing in lines a kilometer away. They moved slowly from there in the lines all the way to the top. There would be just a few steps in a half hour. 

The VIP protocol vehicles were allowed up the hill on VijayaDasami day along with the VIP Pass cars. According to the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987, there is no provision for VIP/break darshan in Hindu Temples nor is there any Protocol. So how can there be Protocol introduced in the temple on Festival days. Sri Sarada Sri Swamy Swaroopanandendra had said that GOD recognizes no VIPs & there should not be any special treatment for VIPs at temple yet it persists as a tradition for all 3 organs of government to utilize it for their benefit.  Many have been stressing that the  VIP culture damages the temple culture.What justification can the authorities give to allowing so many under VIP protocol on VijayaDasami when there were thousands standing in lines. Why cannot the families of the three organs of government get darshan along with the common man. It is a holiday for all. Why cannot they behave like a common man for one day? The Constitution has no definition for a VIP.

It is still fine if these so-called VIP protocol members are paying for their darshan. They are not even paying members. They walk into the temple free of cost. Unlike many famous temples which offer Sheegra Darshan if one can pay the tickets, the people who walked up the hill on VijayaDasami day did not have any tickets but the hundreds who walked up the hill were just VIPs because their family members belonged to one of the three organs of government.  Some temples offer sheegra darshan for upward of 200 rs ticket. Even Shirdi temple has this VIP passes these days. Siddhi Vinayak temple has Bollywood celebrities rushing for Darshan regularly along with the top Mumbai industrialists.  Here as well, VIP darshan for a fee can be arranged.  In Madhya Pradesh, the minister for Tourism and Culture Usha Thakur has requested Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to bring laws for ending the VIP Darshan practice at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain. Usha Thakur visited the temple like normal devotee and said that nobody is a VIP inside the famous abode of Lord Shiva.

So one would assume that VIP means someone senior from the three organs of government- bureaucracy, legislature and judiciary. But what shocked the people stuck in the lines were the scores of ordinary people being sent up the hill as VIP protocol people. Staff brought in their families. Police force brought in their families, Temp.staff working there brought their families, vendors brought their families. Police were trying to stop them but some official would interfere, let them go please. So all these people freely walked past the ones in the queues and directly entered the VIP queue at the top of the hill. To reach that point, it took the normal person in the line 2:30 hrs. So why were these people spared these sufferings?

In a house of GOD, no one is above the GOD. All are below GOD. Look at Kerala King. He gave up his kingdom to the lord. He holds $1Tr Gold as Swami's treasure, not his.  The Thirunal family serves the Lord as Padmanabha Dasas since 1749.   In a Hindu temple, the Hindu Tradition Gurus are the only VIPs and noone else. When last did Temples call and honor Seers of the Society. For them, their families are VIPs alone and getting them to do darshan alone matters. So many coming in VIP cars and returning back in jiffy while the millions still wait in lines. Things never change in Indian Temples. Everyone is a VIP. Everytime the public protests but things remain the same.