The Disunity amongst the Hindus cannot be the pretext for not replying to any of the controversies relating to the Hindu Shrines. If the Nastikas are exploiting our mere weaknesses then the Government or Hindu Religious Body comprising of the heads of various communities, castes, sects, clans, societies, regions and Peethas come together on a common platform, forget their existing differences, vow to protect the Shashvata Sanatana Hindu Dharma and decide how to counter-act to such problems and situations. They must give staunch answers to such questions put forth by the Nastikas. Awareness must implanted in the Hindu community regarding the encroachment of the Nastika Dharma on our society, culture, tradition, heritage and civilisation through books, pamphlets, discussions, social media etc.
The Hindus follow and will continue to adhere to our Samskaras even if the Pundits discriminate about the Vedic & Puranokta Mantras to be used for different strata of the society. They fear the Almighty and will continue to battle the harmful Nastika Influences if they are made aware of the Reality of the Situation.
As for the answers to the Jain allegations, I have come up with realistic and logical answers after discussion with my relatives who have paid visit to the holy Shrine of Lord Venkatesh Balaji as well as information available on the internet. They are as follows to nullify the baseless, stupid and hatred-oriented claims of these Nastika Shramana Jains-
Claim Number 01) Complete idol is covered to hide its original identity. Balaji has been photographed on many occassions without Jewellary and it is found to be Standing thirthankara.
Answer to Claim Number 01 - The idol of Shri Tirupathi Lord Venkatesh Balaji is said by the Jains to be originally of Tirthankara Neminath which the Hindus modified after Shri Aadi Shankaracharya's efforts to revive Hinduism. Neminath's symbol is Conch (Shankha) which is depicted nearby the idol . Any Tirthankar idol has 2 hands only but Lord Venkatesh Balaji has 4 hands. So there is a difference of 2 hands.
Sitting Tirthankar idols have hands joined in yogic posture of dhyan, while standing tirthankar idols have hands spread towards the earth in a free and natural manner. None of this match with the present Lord Venkatesh Balaji idol. Lord Venkatesh Balaji idol has 4 arms in which 2 arms at the back hold chakra and shankh (conch). The front hands do not show any form of resemblance to any kind of Jain tirthankar idol. If it (Lord Venkatesh Balaji) was a Jain idol, then the conch should have been below the two feet on the raised platform over which Jain idols are built, not in any of the hands.Shwetambar idols have open eyes and Digambar idols have halfclosed or fully closed eyes.
Shramanic (Jain & Bauddha) Idols were never multi-armed only Hindu idols (big or small) are multi-armed to show particular qualities and different functions. The idol making in the old days used to be of two types- one with attires, vastra, chinnha, aayudhas etc. and other without attires, vastra, chinnha, aayudhas etc.. This was to dedicate the Vigraha for the members of the society who were Samsaris and Sanyasis. Generally Sanyasis do not prefer to go to the Kshetras where vigrahas suit the Samsaris, but Samsaris can go to the shrines wherein the Vigraha is of the Sanyasi type as after completing duties in samsara, one can take sanyasa. So there is no question of covering the complete identity of Lord Venkatesh Balaji with jewellery or any kind of Sahitya to hide any of its original South Indian Aagamic features. Even the photographs of the Lord are enough to prove the above explanations.
If Hindus carved out Venkatesha from Neminath by modifications, why is not so that Jains carved out Neminath from pre-existing Lord Venkatesh Balaji before Shri Aadi Shankaracharya during Shramanic Rule of about 1000 years on Bharat Desha.
Claim Number 02) Archaelogical scientists, honest historians have proved this to be a Jain temple.
Answer to Claim Number 02 - The Nastikas try to propogate that beneath every Hindu temple , there are remains of Jain or Buddhist foundations. But the real archeaology and history cannot prove this in any way. Jain temples do not have idols of Hindu Deities in the near proximity. Here in Tiruapthi Tirumala, a lot of temples of different Hindu Deities are found in the vicinity. How did the so-called honest archeologists, scientists and historians prove the non-deserted, non-inactive Lord Venkatesh Balaji temple at Tirupathy to be a Jain if the administration of the temple is so cunning and shrewd to not let any of the so-called faked original facts from escaping to the common public and did not provide any clues of its faked history? Also what is the criteria for any temple to be Jain apart from the idol of the presiding deity. Jainism has developed from the Hindu Aagamas which is still evident from their religious texts. There is a prefix of Jain to every major thing say Jain Temple. Even there are surnames such as Jain. Hindus do not practice such Plagiarism. Its just like creating a city in America or South Africa after London (England) and naming it New London and East London It’s a huge mystery as also a Conspiracy Theory to demoralize the devotees of Lord Venkatesh Balaji , claim the rights of the existing temple and capture the wealthiest shrine of India to loot its massive rich treasury.
Claim Number 03) Let us ask those brahmins to perform all pooja, abhisekham openly, not to hide with curtains or by closing doors. There is absolutely no need to keep God in private if this is real.
Answer to Claim Number 03 - There are some Rules to be followed to do Archana , Abhisheka, Havana to any Deity in Hinduism. Since there are generally no idols of deities in Hinduism whose vulgar nudity is depicted or described, the regulation of Poojan has to be done as per the Hindu Aagamas and Dharma Shastras. In every Hindu Temple, after the pooja is done by the Purohits in the early morning, the garbha griha is opened to the public for the darshan of the vigraha.
The pooja at Tirupathi is not done behind the closed doors by raising curtains , only the public is not able to see this as it takes lot of time as all the Upachaaras have to be done without any omission. There are the video-shootings of the poojan being done since 60 years back. If the poojan was always conducted very secretly, then such recordings wouldn’t be possible in any way. So Lord Venkatesh Balaji is not kept in private in any way.
Claim Number 04) This is one of reason only 2 % of complete structure is visible to devotees, which doesn't happen with Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Lord Hanuman, Lord Ganesha in other parts of India.
Answer to Claim Number 04 - The Abhisheka is not done on the Jain idols but on the symbols connected to the Jain idols like the Mirror or Yantra. Here the Abhisheka is done on the Lord Venkatesh Balaji
idol. Lord Venkatesh Balaji Vigraha
is not kept hidden in private if it were so then the masses would not have been allowed to be near the outside of its inner vault. Major Hindu Shrines restrict the devotees at a considerable distance from the main Vigraha to prevent any haphazard to the Vigraha, the purohitas and the people for the purpose of security and well-being. The Pujaris perform the poojan for the ardent devotees who give the pooja sahitya to them. There is a general restriction in Hindu temples of Sanatana Pilgrimage Centres to prevent the devotees from performing the poojan with their own hands for the management of the huge crowds of coming people. The Major temples of all the Hindu Deities like Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Lord Hanuman, Lord Ganesh & Lord Venkatesh Balaji follow this same rule.
Claim Number 05) Why the face of Lord Venkateshwara is covered with big tilak which includes hidden eyes, hidden nose?
Answer to Claim Number 05 - The features on the face of the idol of Lord Venkatesh Balaji are similar to the facial features of idols of many South Indian deities and not to the faces of Jain idols. The Jain Tirthankara idols look like the Buddha idols not like Hindu idols or idols of Shri Ramanujacharya.
The big Tilak is the glorious tradition of Iyengars of Tamil Nadu and other parts. Even the Acharyas, Geeyars and normal Shri Vaishnavas have such Huge Tilaks applied on their faces in daily life. So no question of hidden eyes and hidden nose persists.
Claim Number 06) Why chin is covered with big dot? It is done to hide the originality of Tirthankara face.
Answer to Claim Number 06 - The dot on the chin is to indicate the dimple on the chin of the idol. Jain tirthankar idols do not have dimple on the chin which characterizes the richness, sufficiency, excess, plenty, surplus, abundance of wealth, luxury and fortune of the Lord. the starting of the trident whose upper part is generally not understood but depicted through the three horizontal lines of the tilak on the forehead. It is a part of symbolism. Jain idols do not have a dot on the chin for applying sandalwood paste or other dravya as Jainism did not promote Idol worship in its beginning.
Claim Number 07) There is no history of any kind of Lord Venkateshwara.
Answer to Claim Number 07 - All the great dynasties of rulers of the Southern Peninsula have paid homage to Lord Sri Venkatesh Balaji in this ancient shrine at the same place. The Pallavas of Kancheepuram (9th century AD), the Cholas of Thanjavur (10th century), the Pandyas of Madurai, and the kings and chieftains of Vijayanagar (14th - 15th century AD) were devotees of the Lord and they competed with one another in endowing the temple with rich offerings and contributions. If there was no history of Hindu originality, why would Hindu Rulers have visited the Jain Tirthankara Temple. It is Jains who visit Hindu Temples not the vice versa as the Jains know the flaws of their own religion and Hindu Deities do not discriminate the devotees on religious and philosophical backgrounds. Lord Hayagriva aaradhana is done by Shaktas, Shaivas and Vaishnavas, with benefits and blessins come to the upasakas irrespective of their diffferences of perception of Dharma Tatwas. The Shramans (Jains & Bauddhas) share the history of the violent take-over of Hindu temples and mutilating the original evidences during the Shramana rule.
Claim Number 08) Why the main Sikhar (Gopuram) differs from the newly created Sikhar. (This Sikhar differs from any of Hindu Temples of Tamil Nadu) Infact gold covered main Sikhar of Tirupati resembles most of the Unknown Jain Temples of Tamil nadu which are totalling 500.
Answer to Claim Number 08 - The Shikhar of the Lord Venkatesh Balaji temple may be different from the existing Hindu South Indian style but is not identical to any of the UNKNOWN JAIN TEMPLES of Tamil Nadu. The Shikhar of every the Hindu temples may bear close resemblances to each other but are not identical in any way. They differ in the carvings, columns, height, length etc. This contradicts the very foundation of this universe that everything is unique. But Jains do not know this as all of the Jain Tirthankars look alike.
Claim Number 09) Trishul and Chakra are artificially planted on the idol, and original hands of Tirthankar are hidden and new projected hands are created.
Answer to Claim Number 09 - The back hands of the Lord Venkatesh Balaji have Shankha (Conch) and Chakra (Disc) so no question of Trishul planted on the back hands. Trishul can be placed in the left front hand. If Trishul and Chakra are planted afterwards on the idol of the Lord with original hands hidden and new projected hands created on the surface of the real hands , then the stability and grace of the idol is affected and this can damage the balance of the Idol. Also no efficient adhesive like the Pidilite, Araldite or any advanced glue were available in the past when such divine forgery was taking place.
Claim Number 10) Idol is fully covered with clothes, jewellery, flowers which cannot show even 5% of the idol, apart from face face fully covered with Tilak and dot on the chin.
Answer to Claim Number 10 - The Vigraha of the Lord is shown more than 5% which can be seen from the pictures with or without coveringavailable for public. Jains cannot and should not demand to see the Lord without any clothing, jewellery, flowers to fulfill their erotic urge to see every God or Goddess in the form of the nude Tirthankaras.
Claim Number 11) Why original shape of idol is being hidden from Public. After all God is for his devotees. More to know YET.
Answer to Claim Number 11 - The original shape of the Idol of Lord Venkatesh Balaji is not hidden but made available for all to be seen and revered. The Devotees can see the idol to be in stnading mode. No cover-ups are done to show that the idol is either sor sleeping. Jains have a tradition to expose all of the body of tirthankars in idol to the public, even his genitals are shown freely to everyone and not covered. Jain Digambars still maintain and exercise this practice till today which is evident from the following video -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6WgrstANsQ . Hindu Naga Babas cover the front and back private parts with thin clothing as it is Guhya Pradesh not Drishya Pradesh.
Thanking You,
Yours Faithfully,
Tarang Deshpande.
