Dear All,
I have been visiting the Palani hill temple once every year, for so many years. I am fortunate that I have not faced any of the problems as exaggerated in the below mails. Yes, shopkeepers and touts always approach you with promises. You ignore them and simply proceed to temple by climbing the steps or go to the winch station and follow the queue. Majority of the people visiting the temple do like that only. Once you reach the hill top also please follow the queue. There is queue for free darshan and another shorter queue were you have to pay Rs.50/-. Sometimes when there is no rush, the free queue is faster. And there is also special darshan, where you have to pay Rs.1500/- (don't remember correctly) where you will be allowed to sit in front of the lord and pooja will be performed. Ignore the persons who try to tell you that they will take you to temple for darshan and go on your own.
And there are good and comfortable hotels also at Palani.
With best wishes
Murali Mohan.
From: "Narayanaswamy Subramanian s_narayanaswamy@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com>
To: worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 28 September 2016 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: [World Malayali Club] SCAMS AND CHEATINGS IN PALANI MURUGAN TEMPLE
Dear fellow-MalayalisI think seriously that loudmouth Raj, i.e.CA Rajkumar Jayanth Partner RAJ BABU & ASSOCIATES, Chartered Accountants # 188/3, 13th 'B' Main Road, Gokula 1st Stage, 1st Phase, Mathikere, Bengaluru - 560 054. PH:23571078is himself spreading false messages, instead visiting Palani personally, preferably with family in tow, and experiencing the horrors himself. His blatant cock-crow-from-the-coop assertion"I am sure none of these guys visited Palani Temple"is classic in falsity, and absurdity.He does not even need to visit Palani during festivals and get crushed underfoot by the rushing mobs. He can go on "off-peak" days and try to follow the non-existing "system".The shopkeepers cheat, the roadside vendors cheat, the itinerant hawkers cheat, the guides cheat, the touts are masters at cheating, the ever-present "agents" cheat, even the priests cheat. The hotels cheat by promising hot water for early-morning baths and supplying none, and by charging for fans and air-conditioning that do not work.In short, the visiting honest pilgrim, expecting honesty in return, is fair game for everyone.By way of illustration, if you "follow the system" at famous Thirupathi Venkitaachalapathi Hill Temple, you will wait 12 hours standing in a non-moving or slow-moving queue before catching a fleeting 2-second glimpse of the dark deity far within the interior of the main sanctum, and be roughly hustled off by the temple guards who grab your shoulder and push. Even of you pay IRs 500 for "priority" viewing at the sanctum, you will be laughed at by clients of rascally taxi-drivers who paid only IRs 200 for the same privilege.S NarayanaswamyOn Wednesday, September 28, 2016 7:43 AM, "Rajkumar raj_intouch@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
I think seriously people are spreading false messages. I am sure none of these guys visited Palani Temple. More than that Hindu temples. I visit these temples regularly but I've not faced any kind of harassment or cheating everything there is a system in place. Just need to follow the system. Those who wants to bypass the system are the one facing problems. Instead of commenting on the temples I advice look around and analyse whats happening in other so called PLACE OF WORSHIPS or PRAYER HALLS! Anybody who doesnt believe and follow the system will have to learn lessons by paying extra.CA Rajkumar Jayanth Partner RAJ BABU & ASSOCIATES, Chartered Accountants # 188/3, 13th 'B' Main Road, Gokula 1st Stage, 1st Phase, Mathikere, Bengaluru - 560 054. PH:23571078, Email: raj_intouch@yahoo.comOn Tuesday, 27 September 2016, 5:35, "Raju chettiar tkraju_chettiar@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Beggers & looters sorrounded all around these temples which has made devotees loose faith on GOD. the concern officers are also cheating & looting. There is no ordinance or law to control these activities. i think these kind of looting happens only in India.MAY GOD BLESS OUR COUNTRY.On Monday, 26 September 2016, 6:11, "Narayanaswamy Subramanian s_narayanaswamy@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
The Palani devasthaanam office is either closed or unmanned whenever you go there. No one knows when they will open or the staff return to work. Don't depend on their help. Speak to people who have been to Palani recently to avoid pitfalls lurking everywhere in the dreadful place. And keep your wits about you if you really and truly want to go there. Thiruchendur our family found to be a much more congenial place. Murugan is everywhere, after all.S NarayanaswamyOn Saturday, September 24, 2016 7:59 AM, "devendran p devendran_p2001@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Please Contact directly the Devasthanam Office on the foot hill and top before the entrance. You can go up by winch or cradle train or steps or elephant paths. Don't trust any cross brokers or inter persons. Very nice hotels are there and you can approch for ASSITANCE AND GUIDES.PALANIAPPAN DEVENDRANOn Friday, 23 September 2016 5:33 AM, "'Jean P. Wizard' jpwizard@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
An old Hindu legend says that, there was a time when every man was equal to God.But man abused his divinity so much that Brahma, the Master of Gods, decided towithdraw man's divine power and hide it in a place where it will be impossiblefor him to find. The big problem: where was the right place to hide it?Then the young Gods convened a meeting to resolve this problem. They proposed"to bury the divinity of the human in the earth." But, Brahma answered, "No, thatwould not be sufficient, because man will dig and find it."Then the young Gods answered, "if that is the case, let us sink the divinity of thehuman, in the depth of the oceans."But, Brahma answered again, "No, because sooner or later, man will explore the depthof the oceans, and one day he will sure find it and bring it to the surface."Then the young Gods concluded that, "they do not know where to hide human divinitybecause there does not seem to be a place on earth or in the ocean, which man couldnot reach one day.Then Brahma said: "We are going to hide the divinity of man in the deepest of himself,because that is the only place where he will never look."Since then, the legend concludes; man traveled around the earth, explored,climbed,dived and dug, in search of divinity, which happens to be within himself !!WHY GET CHEATED IN THE NAME OF GOD, DEITIES, THIRUPATHI ETC. WHERE THEY TRY TO PINCHPENNIES USING GOD'S NAME IN VAIN (STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL INSTINCTS).On Wednesday, September 21, 2016 7:45 PM, "Narayanaswamy Subramanian s_narayanaswamy@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Dear fellow-MalayalisSrimathi Kaliammah G C Pallikondan's traumatic experience at the Palani temple is about par for that place.Readers might be interested in the vicissitudes encountered by me and family during my last visit to renowned Palani Subrahmanya-svaami hill temple for paal-kudam abhishegam some years ago:-Immediately after the marriage in Chennai of my my second son (my family is settled overseas), my new daughter-in-law, my son, a very elderly and highly-respected relative settled in Thiruppoor), and I, set out by hired car from Thiruchirappalli for a long-planned pilgrimmage to the unique hill-top Aaru-padai Veedu of Sri Palani-Aandavar Dhandayutha-paani Bala-cubramanya-swaami, and to fulfil solemn vows taken earlier.
We arrived at the Adivaaram in good time, engaged what all of us innocently believed was a (saffron-clad) trustworthy agent of the temple, to assemble all the requisite items for pooja/archanai/abhishegam, including in particular a very large kalasham filled with fresh pure cows' milk. (We specified no dilutants or pollutants.)Since we had spent overnight at a good hotel, we were dressed in appropriate new yagnopaveetham, navarathna pavithram, pancha-gaccham, utthareeya-vasthram, lalaada-alangaaram of vibhoothi, rudraksha-maalai, kosava-podavai, and so on, and were all bare-footed.The "agent" duly appeared with the supplies, including vibhoothi packets, chandanam packets, powdered incense packets, etc. plus a very large kudam of white liquid which we were assured was fresh pure cows milk, squeezed out only an hour or so before from contented cows.We paid all dues at the ticket office, including fees for archana and abhishegam tickets, and slowly mounted the hill on foot. The crowd was immense -- men, women, children, male and female, the very old, the lame and the armless, the half-blind, the deaf, the sick and groaning, the coughers and sneezers, the complainants, the sooth-sayers, representatives of every slice of society. Including jeans-and-t-shirt clad youngsters shouting to one another how to disrupt and "jump" the queues.By the time we inched up the bare sunbaked redhot granite steps, we were hopping from foot to foot. I took out my utthareeyam to bind the aged feet of the "Maama" our guide, my son did so for his bride. We moved up at a snail's pace. Syndicated touts were everywhere, intimidating us to offer poojas at tiny shrines we had never heard of before, bringing thirunooru, or flowers, or talismans, and demanding payment. And abusing us loudly when we refused.To cut short a long story, when we reached the summit and were about to enter the temple proper, a couple of youths demanded an "admission fee". I refused, and produced the tickets which showed that we had already made all requisite payments to the officials. The thugs tried to snatch the tickets, and I had nimbly to evade their tricks. We forced our way in.On reaching the innermost sanctum, a shock awaited us. No Brahmins were to be seen anywhere. There was only a black (Parayan?) youth in there, wearing no poonal but just a dirty mundu double-folded up to his waist. "Kondaange, ootharen!" he shouted. Seeing no one else around, I handed over the heavy full kalasam carrying which on my head I had laboriously toiled up the hill on bare feet (which by now felt cooked like appalaam). He yanked it suddenly from my hands, tilted it over a short iron spear stuck into the floor in front of the bimbam of Bala-subrahmanya-swaami, and with a quarter of the contents still left, handed it back, demanding "Noothi-irupathu roopai kodunge!"This was pure extortion. In order not to create a scene, I asked my daughter-in-law to pass over to me a Rs 20 note, which I extended to him. He rejected it out of hand. "Aimbathi-oru roopaya kodunge, illatti undiyalil podunge" was his last offer. We turned away and I put the RS 20 note into the undial outside the shrine. Immediately, the Parayan boy came rushing up, "Appadiyaanaal enkitte kodunge, paravaa-illai." We ignored him.On descending and reaching the Adivaaram yet again, all of us wanted to sip from the remainder of the milk which had been poured up in the shrine at the top. Guess our shock, when we found that the rascally "agent" had mixed finely-ground RICE POWDER with water. This was what the Parayan boy had poured on the iron spear. What a farce! And enacted right before my own two eyes.Fellow-bhakthaas. Do not let your blind faith and over-enthusiasm get the better of you. Whether the Brahmins have been allowed back into temples now, I do not know. And do not care. On my last few trips to South India, I have avoided Palani. After all, I have one huge framed Tanjavoor gold and bejewelled painting of the deity, to whom I pray daily. I also have A-4 size framed black on chandanam-paper ink-sketch pictures of the same Palani-Aandavar. I am content with praying in my own house, in my own way, at my own times, to my own deities. And, on sacred occasions like Thaippoosam, Skanda-Shashti, and Panguni-utthiram, preparing my kavadis in my own home, and walking to the temples, accompanied by my immediate family members. No more rascally saffron-clad "agents", no more Parayan boys who have turfed out the Brahmin priests from the shrines.Remember, it is we Veda-Brahmanas who are qualifed to perform the prathishtai of every single deity in every single shrine in every single temple -- in India as well as outside India. If the sancum sanctorum is polluted by the entrance of a non-dwija, the deity's divinity has decamped. As one Tamil poet said: "Kaduval enraal athu kadavul; chilai enraal athu chilai thaan." Only a crafted stone is left. In Palani, when I last visited, even the vigraham, crafted from Nava-Paashaanam, was just a naked statue in a public museum.S NarayanaswamyOn Wednesday, September 21, 2016 7:14 AM, "'KALIAMMAH G.C. PALLIKONDAN' kaliammah@yahoo.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Dear Friends,Greetings.I am a Malaysian, who visits Tamil Nadu once every year and basically it will be a temple tour only.Starting from Tirupati for tonsure and Lord Balaji darshan. Followed by Tamil Nadu temple visit.On the 13/9/2016 - I went to Palani for prayer and my daughter wanted to carry Paal Kudam.Upon arrival, we went to a shop selling all prayer items by the road side. I told them I need milk for Paal kudam and the guy quickly write down a list containing items like milk, camphor, agarbathi, vibuthi, coconut 2 and 4 bananas - ALL IN FOR Rupees 2145/setThen I was referred to two ladies that will help me to visit the temple via special entrance ticket.Uphill I was charged - Rupees 1120/person ( Rs 750 for Milk abishegam + Rs 200 special entrance ticket for 2 pax + Rs 170 for archanai). Palani Temple website called Rs 25 for Milk Abishegam.Then, the lady asked for Rs 200 as priest payment, which I paid Rs170 due to no small change.Finally for the ladies, they requested Rs 500 each for being a "GRO" for the whole scam.I had blister on my foot path due to walking on hot surface in Palani, as such I couldn't walk down the hill, the lady offered to take me via winch without ticket and that cost us Rs 500 (4 pax)All in we spent Rupees - 8200 ( for 2 Paal Kudam).Rupees 8200/16 - MYR512.50Back in Malaysia, I need to spend less than MYR 50 per head to perform the Paal Kudam.I was very frustrated and angered by the incident. Every trip to Tamil Nadu, we get cheated byshop owners, drivers and hotel owners. Including double standard treatment.To drive a Ford Figo the driver charged us Betta - Rupees 500/day. We even bought all 3 meals for the driver through out our journey of 8 days. From Chennai to Tirupathi until Kodaikanal and return back to Chennai - he calculated 2094 KM. We paid Rs 26,000 for the whole trip.I wrote to Palani admin email regarding this issue. Yet to receive any feedback from them.ANY ONE HAS ANY COMMENTS THAT CAN MAKE ME FEEL COMFORTABLE AFTEr THIS INCIDENT???Deeply frustrated.ThanksMrs P. Kaliammah
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Posted by: Murali Mohan ONGC <electrical_section2000@yahoo.com>
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