A feud has broken out between worshippers of a Central mandir and officials of a Hindu organisation.
Devotees of the Dow Village, California, mandir claim that officials of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) barged in and desecrated the temple during worship on Saturday. The face-off was over control of the temple.
Temple secretary Pamela Gokool said that on Friday, SDMS secretary general Sat Maharaj said he would be visiting the temple with other officials the following day.
She said: ’We prepared for them. It was the first time in a long while that SDMS officials would have been visiting us, so the villagers were happy. We catered for them. But the children did not even get a chance to garland the religious men. Everything went completely haywire.’’
She believed the problem started when the villagers decided to invite a non-SDMS pundit to perform a week-long prayer service sometime ago. But some SDMS pundits did not like that. ’They say we are mismanaging the temple, yet for 15 years we have been running the temple in peace,’ Gokool said.
In response, Maharaj stated that the mandir’s management committee failed to report to the SDMS on their activities including financial reports. He said the ’SDMS received many complaints from the residents of Dow Village that there has not been the required annual elections over a number of years and that the villagers have been essentially driven out of the mandir’ by individuals associated with the temple.
Another SDMS official claimed that it was a ’non-Hindu who was pushing the bacchanal. He is not a Hindu, what was he doing there that day? Why is he causing a rift in the temple? Can we go in their church and interfere in their internal business?’
Gokool, who chants and preaches the Holy Ramayana (Hindu religious text) and delivers lectures at satsanghs (religious services) believes a certain group of people want her silenced. ’You know, some Hindus believe that women should not preach. But I spread Hinduism not Brahmanism (caste).’
Gokool said Maharaj read out a list of names of people whom he claimed would run the affairs of the mandir.
’But I locked up the mandir and we returned on Sunday morning for service. Three of the people whom he said would be in charge came to the service and they left afterwards without any confrontation.’
