The below news-item published yesterday leaves millions of devotees of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati/Tirumala all across the country in a state of utter pain, shock, consternation and outrage.
What is real meaning of “Prasaadam”?
That which has been actually offered to the Deity as sacred victual is Prasadam.
There used to be a time long long ago when at Tirumala temple , the laddoo and Vada prepared in the Madapalli used to be ceremonially taken into the sanctum and offered as naivedyam to Perumal . That practice was discontinued long ago when it became practically impossible to cater to the needs of the burgeoning demand for such genuine Prasadam .
Now what one buys from the TTD Devasthanam laddoo counters is only “crypto-Prasadam” since it cannot qualify to be called Prasadam in the true sense. It has not been offered to the Almighty as holy offering.
Over the years because of consumer demand the Tirupati laddoo has gained enormous brand image as Prasadam thanks to pilgrim gullibility and slick marketing by TTD. The Prasadam sells countrywide and worldwide only because it carries the brand-name association with Sri Venkateshwara Perumal . In that sense , the sale of Tirupati Laddoo is a cynical exploitation of the Great Deity of Tirumala for purely commercial purposes .
This laddoo business is a huge money spinner and employment generator. It’s a wonderful magic goose (even if not a cash-cow or piggery farm! ) that lays the golden eggs ….This religious sub-ecosystem in Tirumala is really too big to fail . Its many stakeholders therefore will somehow try, by hook or crook, to ensure it survives and thrives as ever before.
In my opinion , the entire Kovil Madapalli system needs to be revised and rebooted by the temple Agama experts and religious Acharyas and Jeeyars.
Here is my humble suggestion to them… I’m a native of Tirupati myself and hence I offer it.
At Tirumala temple , there is another massive non-religuous free food dispensing machinery called “Yaathri Annadaanam” where ordinary non-sanctified but nutritious meals are offered free to one and all. The famous Tirupati laddoo can be served to all pilgrims as a special dish in those meals but for a charge equal to what today it costs at the laddoo-counters. And those pilgrims who want to buy bulk quantities of laddoos to take home to family and friends can pay for it from the special counters again but it must be made clear publicly that what they carry with them is not “bhagavath prasaadam” but mere “Annadaana viniyogam”.
Will the Government of AP now under Sri Chandrababu Naidu show honesty of purpose and courage of conviction? If yes, then it must at once pass administrative orders to effect a total re-branding of the Tirupati Ladoo product to change its character from Prasadam to Annadaanam.
The Kovil Madapalli department too has to be rejigged so as to serve only religious purposes. It must cater to only truly sanctified “bhagavath naivedyam” victuals offered to Bhagavan during Thomaalaseva.
It is high time this shady, exploitative consumerist business-model of Tirumala laddoo is rid of its hypocrisy and venality.
Sudarshan Madabushi
PS: There’s another question I wish to pose to the AP Government: Right adjacent to the Tirumala Temple, The TTD has built a huge factory-complex with ugly smokestacks, gen-sets and other industrial structures. This factory is a 24/7/365 laddoo-manufacturing machine. Will this factory be removed since it despoils and desecrates the sanctity and serenity of the Temple surroundings and ambience ? It should be forthwith relocated elsewhere on the hills , out of the sight of all pilgrims.
Sudarshan
Well written.
God bless you.
Thank you 🙏