AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
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1996 (3) TMI 580
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....se saint Annamacharya spent his life in singing devotional songs - a practice devolved by custom and usage from over a century. According to the petitioner, the office of archaka is succeeded from forefathers in accordance with the Vaikhanasa Agama Shastra rules which govern the temple on the principles of "heirs in line of succession" among four families, viz., Paidapally family, Gollapalli family, Pethainti family and Thirupahanna Garu family. The petitioner belongs to the Paidapally family. According to the petitioner, being Hindu vaishnavas, they render Archaktwam service in the holy temple of Lord Venkateswara situated on the top of seven hills or Saptagiri, Thirumalai. The temple is presided over by Lord Venkateswaraswamy known by different names. 3. Religion is inspired by ceaseless quest for truth which has many facets to release and free the soul from ceaseless cycle of birth and death to attain salvation. Hindus believe that worship consists of four forms of which idol worship is one such form. Mode of worship varies among persons of different faiths. It is an assimilation of the individual soul with the infinite. For its attainment diverse views and theories have been....
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....as descended in the Deity's images and if efficacy and power of the Lord are transmitted into the Deity, the image of the Deity becomes fit to be worshiped. Rules have been provided to conduct periodical or daily worship for securing continuance of the divine spirit in the image. According to Marishi Maharishi in his discourse to his disciple on need for worship for salvation had ordained that worship of Deity in the temple will bring all the benefits. The purpose of the temple is to provide opportunity for public worship of the Deity. When congregation of worshippers participate in the worship, a particular attitude of aspiration of devotion gets developed and confers great spiritual benefit. 7. The priest preserves the image from pollution, defilement or desecration. By performing rituals, rites and reciting hymns he makes Lord present in definable and describable way and Vishnu manifests in the hearts of the devotees. It is the religious belief of Hindu worshippers that when the image is polluted or defiled, the divine spirit in the image is diminished or even vanished. According to the Agamas, an image becomes, defiled if there is any departure or violation of any of the....
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....gement of the temple prior to the statutory intervention was in the hands of Dharmakartas (Padda Jeengar). Equally other classes of persons like Chinna Jeengar, Acharya, Purrushas and Gamekars were in charge of making prasadams, like Laddu and doing other forms of services like maintenance of the temple by shepherd community and other local communities, are part of the hereditary system. 12. All of them are given certain rights known as "Mirasidars rights". They earn their livelihood through these mirasidars rights which include lands given by the temple for performance of services. Besides, archkas have shares out of the offerings made to the temple, while persons in charge of preparing prasadams will get percentage of share out of the sale of parasadams. All persons in charge of various activities of the temple succeed hereditarily. The right of management was acquired by birth and every person born in the respective classes is entitled to a share in the perquisites incidental to management. The temple is managed by these persons by turns among them. Dharamkarthas and archakas had framed rules for management of the temple, Even after the statutory take-over of the management b....
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....s by archaka etc. in charitable or religious institutions and endowments is an interference with religious and customs which are part of religion. The Act should not look at archakas or other office-holders in isolation; they should be considered in its pragmatic whole whose impact would be to destroy the concept and content of Hindu religious belief itself. The scheme of the Act as such is an unwarranted and outrageous interference with the religion, that is to say, it aims to abolish all existing religious office, religious usages and practices and confers on the secular State power to decide as to who should be appointed as archaka, measured and other office-holders destroying the existing customs, usage and traditions which are integral part of religion. Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution deal with guarantee not only of matters of doctrine and beliefs but also the practices of it, to be ascertained with reference to the tenets and doctrine of the religion itself as is evidenced by custom and usage. Where the religious affairs and ceremonies are carried on in accordance with a particular Agama Shastra, deviation therefrom is impermissible. The archaka is part of the temple wo....
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....ship as per Agama. The Commissioner cannot regulate by law nor has he competence to test his qualification or suitability for appointment. Therefore, though being secular act, hereditary right of an archaka may be abolished since qualification for appointment flows from the Agamic rule, only descendants of particular family are competent to conduct worship and they alone have the right to appointment and they cannot be tested nor can their competence be determined by the Commissioner. 18. Public interest requires that rites or rituals must be performed by an archaka and public duty towards the general worshippers demands that archaka who is interested in ritual form of worship would alone be appointed as priest. They would be available only in the families of archakas from generation to generation. Payment of share in the offerings is part of religious practice and usage. No question of money consideration or emoluments in that behalf for the performance of his duties, would arise. Archaka is entitled to the share in Parsadams, laddus and collections in the prescribed manner as part of religious customs and usages. The scheme under the Act and rules are wholly misconceived and r....
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.... 25(2) permits regulation of any secular activity associated with the religious practice. Appointment of an archaka is a secular activity. Archakas, Jeengars and Ors. are employees of TTD. Though the Pedda Jeengars and Chinna Jeengars have the status of Mathadhipathi in relation to their Math, in relation to TTD, their status is only that of employees. The Commission had gone into these aspects and recommended for their abolition. There had been compromise with the TTD by hereditary archakas and mirasidars on May 30, 1979 to receive emoluments at certain rates which would establish that sharing of food offerings and laddus etc. is not part of religious practice. The archakas and gamekars have not been rendering any service personally but only through their deputies working for and on behalf of head priests for consideration. The hereditary nature of the right, therefore, became irrelevant. Vaikhanasa Agama nowhere mandates that the members of the families referred to in the writ petition alone are entitled to perform the service, though they belong to Vaikhanasa sect and are Srivaishnavites. Hereditary right which governs the appointment of archaka is a secular usage which could be....
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.... defines "charitable endowment", Section 2(4) "charitable institution" and "charitable purpose" has been defined under Section 2(5). Section 2(15) defines "hereditary office- holders". "Religious institution" has been defined under Section 2(23), "Temple" under Section 2(27) and "Thirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams" under Section 2(28). Section 34 abolishes hereditary rights in mirasidars, archakas and other office holders and servants and reads thus : 34. (1)(a) Abolition of hereditary rights in Mirasidars, archakas, and other office-holders and servants : (1)(a). Notwithstanding anything in any compromise or agreement entered into or scheme framed or sanad or grant made or judgment, decree or order passed by any Court, Tribunal or other authorities prior to the commencement of this Act and in force on such commencement, all rights, whether, hereditary, contractual or otherwise of a person holding any office of the Pedda Jeeyanagar, Chinna Jeeyangar, a Mirasidar or an archaka or Pujari or any other office or service or post by whatever name it is called in any religious institution or endowment shall on the commencement of this Act stand abolished. (b). Any....
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....nd other expenses connected with the service or management of the temple, shall stand abolished with effect on and from the commencement of this Act. 27. Chapter XIV deals with application of the Act to Thirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams, constitution of Board, powers and functions of the Board of Trustees etc., making the Act a complete code as regards the management and maintenance of the institutions or endowments belonging to Deity. 28. The concept of Hindu religious faith and practice referred to in the judgments in the narration of the facts needs preface with inner depth of religion as revealed by (1) Swami Vivekananda's scholastic concepts in his "The Complete Works", Vol. I, at page 124; and (2) broad spectrum of self-realisation by Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda had stated that : Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy-by one, or more, or all of these- and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details. Religi....
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.... human spirit to reject its control over the varied activities of life. There are two aspects of religion, true religion and religionism. True religion is spiritual religion, that which seeks to live in the spirit, in what is beyond the intellect, beyond the aesthetic and ethical and practical being of man, and to inform and govern these members of our being by the higher light and law of the spirit, Religionism, on the contrary, entrenches itself in some narrow pietistic exaltation of the lower members or lays exclusive stress on intellectual dogmas, forms and ceremonies, on some fixed and rigid moral code, on some religion-political or religio-social system. Not that these things are altogether negligible or that they must be unworthy or unnecessary or that a spiritual religion need disdain the aid of forms, ceremonies, creeds or systems. On the contrary, they are needed by man because the lower members have to be exalted and raised before they can be fully spiritualised, before they can directly feel the spirit and obey its law. (Emphasis supplied) At pages 168-69 he added that : Only by the light and power of the highest can the lower be perfectly guided, uplifte....
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....ly progress, while the orthodox religions looked with eyes of pious sorrow and gloom on the earthly life of man and were very ready to bid him bear peacefully and contendedly, even to welcome its crudities, cruelties, oppressions, tribulations as a means for learning to appreciate and for earning the better life. At pages 546-47, he concluded his thoughts on brotherhood thus : Yet is brotherhood the real key to the triple gospel of the idea of humanity. The union of liberty and equality can only be achieved by the power of human brotherhood and it cannot be founded on anything else. But brotherhood exists only in the soul and by the soul; it can exist by nothing else. For this brotherhood is not a matter either of physical kinship or of vital association or of intellectual agreement. When the soul claims freedom, it is the freedom of its self-development, the self-development of the divine in man in all his being. When it claims equality, what it is claiming is that freedom equally for all and the recognition of the same soul, the same godhead in all human beings. When it strives for brother-hood, it is founding that equal freedom of self- development on a common aim, a....
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....ith individuals of communities and it is not necessarily theistic. 31. Taittiriya Upanishad says in Brahmananda Valli, Serial No. 7, that in the beginning all this Universe was Non-Existent and Un-manifest, from which this Manifest Existence was born itself, none other created it. Therefore, they say that it was well and beautifully made, Shri Aurobindo says in his magnum opus Life Divine : World- existence is the ecstatic dance of Shiva which multiplies the body of the God numberless to the view; it leaves that while existence precisely where and what was, ever is and ever will be; its sole absolute subject is the joy of the dancing. In Rig Veda, the Hymns of Bharadwaja, spoke about universal Force that "The heights of heaven were measured into form by the eye of this universal Force they were shaped by the institution of the Immortal." 32. The world is the creation of the braht conscientious energy of the Supreme Spirit "apraketam salilam sarvam idam tapasas tan mahina ajayata ekam". (Out of all the ocean of in conscience it is that one spiritual Existent who is born by the greatness of his own energy). Braht Vedic thinkers, like ancient Greeks in their search for the first....
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....heir thought. Encyclopedia of Religion by Mircea Eliasde (Vol. 12) states that religion is the organization of life around the deep dimensions of experience - varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture. If religiousness is a depth-awareness coming to distinctive expression in the forms we call religion, how is religiousness distinguished from various other types of awareness such as the aesthetic and ecstatic - what Abraham Maslow (1964) calls "peak experiences" and Marghanita Laski (1961) terms "non-religious ecstasy" and the states of "altered consciousness" produced by various psychosomatic techniques or drugs ? On Hindu religion, at page 290 it is stated that "yet deep within ritualism there is inherent the concern for accuracy and faithfulness. This is the essentially sacramental nature of ritual that arises from its nature as an ordered symbol system. Thus both symbol and ritual are perceived as intrinsic embodiments of the sacred essence, the supersensible and indescribable untimely of a religion. Thus ritual and symbol bring the real presence of the religious depth-dimension into the lives of its experiments and in so doing become in....
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....lieve...that man's destiny is to make possible greater fulfilment for more human beings and fuller achievements by human societies, utility in the customary sense become subordinate. Quantity of material production is, of course, necessary as the basis for the satisfaction on elementary human needs- but only up to certain degree. More than a certain number of calories of cocktails or T.V. sets or washing machines per person is not merely unnecessary, but bad Quantity of material production is a means to a further end, not an end in itself. 38. The Upanishads teach us that India has sought in religion not an absolute or finished dogma to believe in, but a method and means to pierce the veil that hides every present meaning and mystery of existence. Robert Ernest Hume in his "the Thirteen Principal Upanishads" at page 30 footnote states that "the earnestness of the search for truth is one of the delightful and commendable features of the Upanishads". 39. Swami Vivekananda in his lecture on "Religion and Science" incorporated in "The Complete Works" (Vol. VI, Sixth Edition) had stated at page 81 thus : Experience is the only source of knowledge. In the world, religi....
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.... sooner it goes the better. I am thoroughly convinced that its destruction would be the best thing that could happen. All that is dross will be taken off, no doubt, but the essential parts of religion will emerge triumphant out of this investigation. Not only will it be made scientific-as scientific, at least, as any of the conclusions of physics or chemistry-but will have greater strength, because physics or chemistry has not internal mandate to vouch for its truth, which religion has. 41. Swami Vivekananda in his "The Complete Works", Vol. VI, Sixth Edn. at page 81 said that : Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truth of the physical world. The book one must read to learn chemistry is the book of (external) nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. The sage is often ignorant of physical science because he reads the wrong book-the book within; and the scientist is too often ignorant of religion because he, too, reads the wrong book-the book without. 42. Again in his The Complete Works, (Vol. V, Eighth Edn.), pages 192-93, he says that: The bas....
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....o thirty nine forms which He takes from time to time. Area represents God in the form of idol, which He though formless, takes this finite form to show favour to His devotees. The form of Antaryamin is to remain within the self and control it by directing it to lead a virtuous way of life, in accordance with the residues of the deeds done by it. Temple, therefore, forms an integral part of Hindu religion and the idol installed therein forms the main symbol of religious worship manifesting the dignity of God. 45. The purpose of religious experience, as stated earlier, is to integrate human life, socially, materially and morally. It must, therefore, produce a share of material goods and bear a pinnacle for human experience. The dualism of Spirit and Matter, should be kept clear. John Macmurray has stated in this behalf thus : Worship is certainly specifically religious, and it is an attitude of mind which is not compatible, with science. Science does not worship, It enquires, and analyses, classifies and does sums. On the other hand, religion is not merely worship; and worship may be merely superstitious. If superstitious worship is religion, then astrology and palmistry ....
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....0;े प्राणो भवति निश्चलः चितस्य निश्चलत्वाय योगं सध्यानमभ्यसेत् ।। Chitte nishchaltan yate prano bhawati nishchallah Chittshya nishchaltwaya yogam sadhyamavyaset. The above 'shloka' says that the signs such as the control over the five elements and the siddhi are indicative of the progress in the path leading upto the various ways in which the bimbarupa, i.e., the parmesvarachaitanya appears. It is also useful to recollect the beautiful shloka in the Geeta where Lord Krishna says अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मा ये जनाः पर्युपासते। तेषां नित्य&....
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.... worship of God is of four kinds, viz., Japa-chanting Gayatri mantras (sloka) or Asthakshara; Homa - giving oblation into the fire; Archana - worship of God in the form of Idol in the temple; and Dhyana concentration on God alone. Of these four, Archana gained an established form of worship in temple. 49. The reason for form adorning a Deity image in a temple, therefore, is to produce chitta suddhi generating and ensuring the necessary emotion for the sustenance as 'tatparata', the Supreme Devotion, parabhakti, which is the 'abhedhavana,' culminating in the attainment of 'sarvatmatva,' thus in itself becoming. 50. How does this great splendid religious experience transform the life of a man from a mere temporal pursuit of limited vision into an expansive pursuit of equality, seeing one's own self in the others and ultimately losing one's ego and dissolving it into the subaudited symphonic testament of love, joy and peace ? The ascent from an empirical experience of personal life which is the first assertion of a religious experience is to be followed right up to the stage of mutual communion, i.e., of the individual self with relationship outsi....
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....ssentially social, since society may take any of these forms. What makes the society real is that the relations between the persons concerned are essentially religious, that is to say, grounded in mutual communion, and the equality which this implies. For without equality, there can be no mutuality. I do not mean, of course, that in a true society organic and material relationships between persons are non-existent, but only that they are dependent relations falling within and grounded in the relation of friendship. The material and the organic are unreal in independence. Their reality lies in their dependence upon the personal and their inclusion within it. 52. The author very beautifully describes the experience of God thus : The dualism of mind and matter reflects itself all too easily in the dualism between secular and sacred, natural and supernatural, the human and the divine. The result is that we think of God as isolated from the world and, therefore, that the religious life involves a turning away from man to God, from this world to another world, so that religion becomes something apart, instead of the fundamental activity of human life. But now, having made tha....
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....as the categories. The Ideas of pure reasons are not 'constitutive'. But the reason has a natural drive towards unifying the conditions of experience, and this it does by proceeding to the unconditioned, in the three forms already mentioned. In doing this it obviously passes beyond experience. Hence the Ideas of the pure reason are called by Kant 'transcendental Ideas', though he later goes on to speak of the third Idea, that of God, as the 'transcendental Ideal'. For God is conceived as supreme and absolute perfection. 54. Johnson said rightly that sublimity is produced by aggregation and not by dispersion. In that lies a great truth. It must not be forgotten that all rituals ultimately are only means to the state of knowledge. Thus seers and thinkers have in fact reduced rituals to the bare minimum and some-times even decried them because a non-essential adherence to them is only bound to be an obstacle or impediment in the attainment of true knowledge. It would be very useful to note that if religious experience is an internal experience, rituals beyond evoking the necessary environment and atmosphere and as it were painting seascape of purity must yie....
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....; न घटते यथा तिमिस्ते जसोः । निमषोन्मेषयोर्वापि तथैव ज्ञानकर्मणो ।। प्रतीचीपश्यतः पुंसः कुतः प्राचिविलोकनम् । प्रत्यक प्रषण कुतः कर्मणि योग्यता ।। Gyan nistha tatparasya nait karmopyujyate Karmano Gyan nishthatahaya na sahsthiteh Paraspar Birudhyatwat Tayor Bhinna Swabhhbaiyoh Kartitwa Bhawana Purbam karm gyanam vilakshanam Dehatma-bvudherbichhitye gyanam karm Bibridhaye A....
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....losed at the same time. It is equally impossible to combine knowledge and rituals. Can one who is looking westward look eastward ? How is one whose mind is directed towards the innermost Atman fit to take part in external activities? 57. In the celebrated Gitabhashya (XVIII-55) Sri Acharyapada says : न हि पूर्वसमुद्रं जिगमिषाः प्रातिलोम्येन प्रत्यक्समुद्रं जिगमिषुणा समान भगत्व संभवति । प्रत्यगात्म विषयप्रत्यथसन्तानकरणभिनिवेशश्चज्ञान&#....
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....s, just as physics, which means study of simple things, yet appears to be a complicated subject. A beautiful illustration finds place in Richard Dawkins's passionate (Dar-wanian) book named "The Blind Watchmaker" : I said that physics is the study of simple things, and this too, may seem strange at first. Physics appears to be a complicated subject, because the ideas of physics are difficult for us to understand. Our brains were designed to understand hunting and gathering, mating and child-rearing; a world of medium sized objects moving in three dimensions at moderate speeds. We are ill-equipped to comprehend the very small and the very large things whose duration is measured in picoseconds or gigayears, particles that don't have position, forces and fields that we cannot see or touch, which we know of only because they affect things that can see or touch. We think that physics is complicated because it is hard for us to understand, and because physics books are full of difficult mathematics. But the objects that physicists study are still basically simple objects. They are clouds of gas or tiny particles, or lumps of uniform matter like crystals, with almost endl....
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.... स्तदेकोऽवशिष्टः शिवः केवलोऽहम् ॥ - Aibam Samanyatoahan Pratyayasidhe Chidatmani vadivipratipattebhih samdidhe, aham pratyayasalambam Visheshnirnayayah Vagwanacharyah : Na Bhumirna Toyam Na Vayur na Kham Nendriyam Na Tesham Samuhah. Anekantikatwatsushuptyek Sidhah Stadekkobashishtah Shivah Kewaloham. I am neither the earth, nor the water, nor the fire, nor the air, nor the space, nor any organ, nor their aggregate, because they are variable by nature, while Atman is that whose existence is proved by the unique experience of deep sleep. I am that One, Auspicious and Pure which alone remains over. 60. The concept of 'dharma' has been explained by Justice M. Rama Jois in his Legal and Constitutional History of India (Vol. I) at pages 1 to 4 thus : Mahabharata contains a discussion of this topic. On being questioned by Yudhistira about the meaning and scope of Dharma, Bhishma stated: तादृशो&....
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....्रतिष्ठा । लोके धर्मिष्ठं प्रजा उपर्सपन्ति । धर्मेण पापमदनुदति । धर्मे सर्व प्रतिष्ठितम्। तस्माद्दर्ग परम वदन्ति ।। Dharma Vishwasya Jagatah Pratistha Loke Dharmistham Praja upsarpanti Dharman Papamapnudati Dharme Sarban Pratisthitam Jasmad Dharman Param Badanti. Dharma constitutes the foundation of all affairs in the world. People respect one who adheres to Dharma. Dharma insulates (man) against sinful thoughts and actions. Everything in this world is founded on Dharma. Dharma, therefore, is considered supreme. ....
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....the interest of other individuals, i.e., the society and at the same time making it obligatory for the society to safeguard and protect the individual in all respects through its social and political institutions. Shortly put, Dharma regulates the mutual obligations of individual and the society. Therefore, it was stressed that protection of Dharma was in the interest of both the individual and the society. A ' State of Dharma' was required to be always maintained for peaceful co-existence and prosperity of all. 62. Though Dharma is a word of wide meaning as to cover the rules concerning all matters such as spiritual, moral and personal as also civil, criminal and constitutional law, it gives the precise meaning depending upon the context in which it is used. When Dharma is used in the context of duties of the individual and powers of the King (the State), it means constitutional law (Rajadharma). Likewise when it is said that Dharmarajya is necessary for the peace and prosperity of the people and for establishing an egalitarian society, the word Dharma in the context of the word Rajya only means law, and Dharmarajya means Rule of Law and not rule of religion or a theocr....
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....ekananda in the Parliament of Religions, he emphasised "time-honoured philosophy of oneness and harmony within pluralism, the recognition of, respect for, and acceptance of different paths of logical and intuitive access to Absolute Truth". He reiterated what Swami Vivekananda had said one century ago at Chicago : "We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true" and concluded that "if India is to grow to her full potential as a strong, united, prosperous nation, a nation attuned to the highest moral and ethical values, true to the genius of her cultural and spiritual heritage, we shall all have to strive each day to build harmony, justice and creative endeavour. Indeed, in a very real way, it is our duty so to strive". He exhorted the youth of the country to be the vanguard of that mission. 65. In his Dr. Zakir Hussain Memorial Lecture delivered at Visva Bharati Shanti Niketan on 29th April, 1989, Dr. S.D. Sharma stated thus : We in India, however, understand Secularism to denote 'Sarva Dharma Samabhava': an approach of tolerance and understanding of the equality of all religions". x x x x x x x x x x The Bhagw....
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....tam Deva Bhagam Yatha Purve Samajanna Upasate. (Reg. Veda 10.191.2) Behave with others as you would with yourself. Look upon all the living beings as your friends, for in all of them there resides one soul. All are but a part of that universal soul. A person who believes that all are his soulmates and loves them all alike never feels lonely. Divine qualities of such a person such as forgiveness, compassion and service, will make him lovable in the eyes of his associates. He will experience intense joy throughout his life. The Yajurveda states : मित्रस्य मा चक्षुषा सर्वाणि भूतानि समीक्षान्ताम् । मित्रस्याहं चक्षुषा सर्वाणि भूतानि समीक्षे म&#....
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....ंव्य वदन्तमाहुधर्म वदतीती धर्मं वा वदन्त सत्यं वदतो त्येतद्ध्येवैतमदमय भवति । Sa naib Vyabhawatchhreyo Rupamatyasrijat Dharmam Jadetatkshtrasya Kshatram Yaddharmastasmad Dharmat Param Nasti Atho Abaliyan Samashaste Dharmen Yatha Ragya. Aidam yo bai sa Dharmah Satyam bai tat tasmat Saryam. Badantmahur Dharmam wa badntnam. Satyam badutityetadhyai bai tadubhayam bhawati. (There is nothing higher than dharma. Even a very weak man hopes to prevail over a very strong man oh the strength of dharma, just as (he prevails over a wrong-does) with the help of the King. So what is called Dharma is really Truth. Therefore, people say about a man who declares the truth that he is declaring dharma and about one who....
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.... (The Sruti, the Smriti, the approved usages, that which is agreeable to one's in most self or good conscience, and has sprung from due deliberation, are ordained as the foundation of Dharma.) The Markandeya Purana expresses the purpose of Dharma as : सर्वलोकप्रियो नित्यमुवाचैदह निशंस। नन्दन्तु सर्व भूतानि स्निद्यन्तु विजनेत्पवपि। स्वस्त्यस्तु संभूतेषु निरन्तकानिसन्तु चा मा व्याधिस्तु भूतान&#....
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....erstood, as employed by the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka, in his rock edict at Kalsi which proclaimed his achievement in terms of moral and ethical imperatives of Dharma, and exemplified the ancient dictum यता धमस्वता जय Yato Dharmastato Jayah (where there is Law, there is Victory). 71. In the midst of unity in diversity among Indians having different religious and cultural hues, for their assimilation as integrated citizens, all endowed with human rights, dignity of person, equality of status, liberty of faith and worship with fraternity, the religious spirituality fosters them as a strong unifying social entity with personal identity. Swamy Ran-ganathananda, a noted philosopher, in his lecture on 'Science' Democracy and Religion' delivered on August 28, 1954 in Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta, published under the title 'Eternal Values for a Changing Society' had stated at page 637 that "With the intensification of the pace of industrialisation, our centuries-old static feudal society is being profoundly disturbed; social mobility is fast breaking down caste and other....
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....his is the central message of religion. It is a message which requires to be specially emphasised. 72. Religion became identified with untested beliefs and dogmas and got shattered in the progress of scientific inquiry. But the mental make-up of Indians proceed from our long cultural experience; therefore, our spiritual religious experience is not hostile to scientific spirit but sympathetic and hospitable to it. Science will have no opposition from philosophy or religion in India. Human welfare partly depends upon the knowledge and control of human environment, natural and social. Vedantha has always given an honoured place to science as also to politics in this period of human welfare. Man is more than a political animal. He is also more than an intellectual being. He has depth and heights which cannot be compressed in a purely materialistic or positivistic philosopher. Swamy Ranganathanan-da further stated as under : ...democracy should have a content of universal value which is something more than the merely political, social, or national. It is obvious that value is the ethical and spiritual content. Without that content, our democracy will be nothing more than a m....
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....is sphere of human welfare. But Vedanta has also taught India that these two do not constitute the whole scope of human welfare. Man is more than a political animal; he is also more than an intellectual being. He has depths and heights which cannot be compassed in a purely materialistic or positivistic philosophy. Indian thought recognizes no compartments or divisions in the human personality leading to mutual exclusion and hostility in human aspirations and values, such as pleasure and profit, science and art, morality and religion. The unity of man emphasizes the synthesis of his interest. While accepting the great importance of science and politics for man, Vedanta evaluates them in terms of his total needs and aspirations. Man seeks things of utility for the sake of things without utility. Science through technology can give and has given man things of utility in abundance; politics can give him things of utility of another order, a stable social order, the venue of his life's experiments. But neither science nor politics can give man peace or happiness, joy or a sense of fulfilment. These non-utilitarian values proceeds from religion and morality. Science and poli....
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.... democratic ideas, deriving its sustenance from the divinity in man, marches on, without obstruction, to the realization of the universal. Swami Vivekananda desired India to uphold this ideal of the universal in her religion and politics, science, and literature. He desires India to strive for the evolution of a Vedantic civilization where science and politics would be utilized to lead man to higher and higher levels of self- expression; not merely desired it, but he also demonstrated that India, among all the nations, had the requisite historically acquired capacity to make that contribution to world civilization. 73. In "Chief Justice Gajendragadkar" - his life, ideas, papers and addresses - by V.D. Mahajan, in Chapter on "Secularism, its impact on law and life in India" it is stated that personal law is a secular institution and has to be based on rational and secular considerations. This position is consistent with the real, ancient, pristine view of Hindu law. Dharma, according to the old concept, is a purely secular institution. Dharma is that which sustains the society. Dharma is that by which people at large are held together. At page 234 the author quoted Dr. Gajendraga....
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....every manner of living. May be, we have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep". 75. The Preamble of the Constitution sets out secularism, equity, fraternity, liberty of worship and faith and dignity of persons as integral scheme of the Constitution in its march to establish an egalitarian social order. Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles seek to resuscitate them. In S.R. Bommai and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors.: [1994] 2 SCR 644, larger Bench of nine Judges has held that secularism is basic structure of the Constitution. Religious tolerance and equal treatment of all religious groups and protection of life, property and place of worship are essential parts of secularism. Profession, actions and conduct of persons should be consistent with secularism and they need to be measured in that perspective. 76. Religion in development is man in search of God. Throughout the history man endeavours in building into a fuller religious life from the experience of the past and also with the consciousness of life in God that he seeks for he is always eternally in him. It is the eternal aspect of religion which is expressed in the religious recognition in every human lif....
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....attention in those who believe in such an experience, the object of such a law cannot be described as unlawful but possibly somewhat visionary. 78. The word 'Dharma' or 'Hindu Dharma' denotes upholding, supporting, nourishing that which upholds, nourishes or supports the stability of the society, maintaining social order and general well-being and progress of man kind; whatever conduces to the fulfilment of these objects is Dharma, it is Hindu Dharma and ultimately 'Sarva Dharma Sambhava'. 79. In contra distinction, Dharma is that which approves oneself or good consciousness or springs from due deliberation for one's own happiness and also for welfare of all beings free from fear, desire, disease, cherishing good feelings and sense of brotherhood, unity and friendship for integration of Bharat. This is the core religion which the Constitution accords protection. 80. In Ganpat v. Returning Officer and Ors. : [1975] 2 SCR 923, this Court has held that religion is essentially a highly personal matter and Hinduism is so tolerant and Hindu religious practices so varied and eclectic that one would find it difficult to say whether a person is practisin....
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....urgah Committee, Ajmer and Anr. v. Syed Hussain Ali and Ors.: [1962] 1 SCR 383, another Constitution Bench of this Court explained the connotation of the above statement of law thus : While we are dealing with this point it may not be out of place incidentally to strike a note of caution and observe that in order that the practices in question should be treated as a part of religion they must be regarded by the said religion as its essential and integral part; otherwise even purely secular practices which are not an essential or an integral part of religion are apt to be clothed with a religious form and may make a claim for being treated as religious practices within the meaning of Article 26. Similarly, even practices though religious may have sprung from merely superstitious beliefs and may in that senise be extraneous and unessential accretions to religion itself. Unless such practices are found to constitute an essential and integral part of a religion their claim for the protection under Article 26 may have to be carefully scrutinised; in other words, the protection must be confined to such religious practices as are an essential and an integral part of it and no oth....
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....with and protect religious freedom. Religion as used in these Articles must be construed in its strict and etymological sense. Religion is that which binds a man with his Cosmos, his creator or super force. It is difficult and rather impossible to define or delimit the expressions "religion" or "matters of religion" used in Articles 25 and 26. Essentially, religion is a matter of personal faith and belief of personal relations of an individual with what he regards as Cosmos, his Maker or his Creator which he believes, regulates the existence of insentient beings and the forces of the universe. Religion is not necessarily theistic and in fact there are well-known religions in India itself like Budhism and Jainism which do not believe in the existence of God. In India, Muslims believe in Allah and have faith in Islam; Christians in Christ and Christianity; Parsis in Zorastianism; Sikhs in Gurugranth Sahib and teachings of Gurunanak Devji, its founder, which is a facet of Hinduism like Brahamo, Samaj Aryasamaj etc. 86. A religion undoubtedly has its basis in a system of beliefs and doctrine which are regarded by those who profess religion to be conducive to their spiritual well-....
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....e may constitute religion. Even to different persons professing the same religious faith some of the facets of religion may have varying significance. It may not be possible, therefore, to devise a precise definition of universal application as to what is religion and what are matters of religious belief or religious practice. That is far from saying that it is not possible to state with reasonable certainty the limits within which the Constitution conferred a right to profess religion. Therefore, the right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 and 26 is not an absolute or unfettered right to propagating religion which is subject to legislation by the State limiting or regulating any activity - economic, financial, political or secular which are associated with religious belief, faith, practice or custom. They are subject to reform on social welfare by appropriate legislation by the State. Though religious practices and performances of acts in pursuance of religious belief are as much a part of religion as faith or belief in a particular doctrine,' that by itself is not conclusive or decisive. What are essential parts of religion or religious belief or matters of religion and....
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....eir intrinsic restrictions in matters of religion, religious beliefs and religious practices and guaranteed freedom of conscience to commune with his Cosmos, Creator and realise his spiritual self. Sometimes, practices religious or secular, are instricably mixed up. This is more particularly so in regard to Hindu religion because under the provisions of ancient Samrity, human actions from birth to death and most of the individual actions from day to day are regarded as religious in character in one facet or the other. They sometimes claim the religious system or sanctuary and seek the cloak of constitutional protection guaranteed by Articles 25 and 26. One, hinges upon constitutional religious model and Anr. diametrically more on traditional point of view. The legitimacy of the true categories is required to be adjudged strictly within the parameters of the right of the individual and the legitimacy of the State for social progress, well-being and reforms, social intensification and national unity. Law is a social engineering and an instrument of social change evolved by a gradual and continuous process. As Banjamin Cardozo has put it in his "Judicial Process", life is not a logic ....
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.... Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable Trust, at page 1 observed : The popular Hindu religion of modern times is not the same as a religion of the Vedas though the latter are still held to be the ultimate source and authority of all those held sacred by Hindus. In course of its development, the Hindu religion did undergo several changes, which reacted on the social system and introduced corresponding changes in the social and religious institution. But whatever changes were brought about by time it cannot be disputed that they were sometimes of a revolutionary character the fundamental, moral and religious ideas of the Hindu which lie at the route of their religion and charitable institution remained substantially the same and the system that we see around us can be said to be a evolutionary product of the spirit and genus of the belief passing through different ways of their cultural development. 92. The basis of Hindu Dharma is two-fold. The first is the Vedas and the second are the Agamas. Vedas, in turn, consist of four texts, namely, Samhitas, Bramhanas, Aranyakas and Upnishads. 93. Samhitas are the collections of mantras. Bramhanas explain the practical aspects....
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....amhita' which contains the four parts namely the Vidya Pada, Kriya Pada, Charya Pada and Yoga Pada. Vidya Pada offers an elaborate enunciation of the philosophy, whereas Kriya Pada deals elaborately with the act of worship. Worship is viewed as Samurta Archana. In other words, the Gods are endowed with form and this form of worship culminates into Amurta or Nishkala Archana by which one worships and realises the formless. These are the steps to be treated upon one after another. 98. The temples are taken to be sanctified space where entire unfragmented Space and Time, in other words, the entire 'Universe' are deposited and the image of the Deity is worshipped symbolising the "Supreme". Although the Deities appear to be many, each and every Deity is again viewed as the Supreme One and, therefore, the Supreme Reality is one and non-dual. The multiplicity of the Gods has been effected in order to offer the paths which are required according to the entitlement and evolution of each and everyone. That is why the progress towards the ultimate evolutionary goal of man depends upon his level of comprehension and his capacity to learn. This is the whole concept of a Guru who ....
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.... to 'Shodhsaopchara' pooja. The offerings of articles is related to elements of nature identifying ourselves with the Cosmos. The entire basis of Agamas is to support the fundamental supposition of Hindu philosophy that there is the unity of external and internal as well as the Pinda and Bramhanda. Whatever appears as Darkness externally, is ignorance internally. Whatever is light externally, is knowledge internally. This is the reason why in the Agamic way of worship, there are practices identifying the limited self with the Cosmos, and internalising of the external image. This principle is reflected in : Devobhootva devam Yajet 103. In fact the devotee is first expected to transform himself into the Deity and then approach the Deity and the purificatory exercise is meant to prepare one for being one with the Deity. 104. 'Nyasa' means depositing the entire Cosmos into one's own body. The entire Cosmos is invited into one's body. The devotee is becoming one with the Cosmos. Likewise, there is Antaryaga and Bahiryaga. Antaryaga means worshipping of the image which is externally present before people. From external worship, people move to intern....
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....re, believe that religion is an essential and powerful factor in raising humanity to higher level of thought and being. The priest (archaka or by whatever name called) would conduct rituals to the Deity as per prescribed Agamas, forms, practices and sampradayams. 107. Shri Suniti Kumar Chatterji in his Preface to the Cultural Heritage of India, Institute of Culture, Vol. IV at page xv had stated thus : Men are equal on the basis of their common humanity, though no two individuals are the same in their intellectual and spiritual framework, as much as in their physical complexion. There are some people who are intellectually strong, and there are others who are easy to move emotionally. And there is a larger group which reacts to impulses and instincts more than to anything else. To people of these three main types of outlook, and those of other types also, religion, both as an individual experience and practice and as a social vehicle carrying the individual members of a particular society in their progress in life, must ipso facto present a bewildering series of diversities. The scriptural religions like Islam and Christianity theoretically insist on dogmas and a unifor....
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....lf-surrender (Prapatti) to His will are together the master keys to open the gates of divine grace. Vaikhanasa's chief contribution to spiritual life is the emphasis on the worship, service, and adoration of the Lord in the area (image) form in which He 'descends with a non-material body', and in which He is present ever since as the surest means of liberation. Vaikhanasas place greater emphasis on area worship. 109. Brighu Kriyaadhikaare states that according to Vaikhanasa Sastra. The Priest (Acharya) must be one who is well-versed in Vedic lore, of dharmic persuasion, thirsting for Jnana (wisdom), gentle having control over senses, pure and attached with total dedication to the worship of Lord alone. The priest shall carry on daily rituals of worship and all rites according to sastric injunctions. In Vaikhanasa Prakirnadhikara at page 443, it is stated that an Acharya (fully qualified man) alone should be appointed as the priest. It also indicates dismissal of a priest if he was found having deflected from his duty and appointment of another person in his place. At page 269 it states that the priest must be provided with Dakshina (money for officiating priest) for ....
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....nthly salary to the archaka, failure thereof leads to ruination of the owner's life. The owner should not feel jealous of the earnings of the archaka and his prosperity. It does not specify that archaka should belong to the specific denomination or group of which the temple service is done traditionally according to Agamas. According to Brighu Kriyaadhikara (302-304) Viriti Kalpapnam, a permanent settlement has to be made for their maintenance and the worship of Deities is done properly by qualified priest. 111. In 'Sri Panchratraparamyam' by Dr. V. Vardacharyamaharshya at page 21, he has stated that the Sanskaras like Niseha must be performed according to one's own sutra or by the method of Pancharatra as might have been followed by one's own family hierarchy. At page 70 he has further stated that in Lakshmitantra in Telugu manuscript all priests do not have the right to perform worship in temples. Only panchratra followers who know the kunna and madhyandina sahta are entitled to perform the worship in Vishnu temples; only such great Munis (Rishis) in the line of succession have right to perform rituals. In Jayakhasamhita of Pancaratra Agma by Krishnamachary....
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....n account of ignorance, there will be much fall of the kings and the country. Therefore, through all efforts one who is born in Kashayapa family duly initiated, though illiterate, should be appointed as priest by the Bhagavatars. He who cultivates pure behavior is the most deserving to perform worship. 112. The Agamas, thus, are a stream of traditions which have grown along with the tradition of the Vedas. Many earlier works of Agama literature are fairly ancient in times. They are not and-Vedic but advocate the worship of God in the form of Idol. In the Vedic tradition, a very limited number of Brahmins were conversant with the ritualistic lore but under Agama they performed rituals visualising the Deity whom they invoked by Mantras. Vedas deprived others including women and Sudras of the opportunity to participate in the rituals. But Agamas provided opportunity to all to perform worship of the God. Purity, good conduct, devotion and dedication is insisted upon. In Mahabharatha, it is ordained thus : Na Jatir na Kulam Tat na Swadhyayo Na cha Shrutam Karnane Dwijatwasya Brittameb he Karnam. Not by caste, not by ancestry nor by scholarship nor by study ....
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....he lifetime of the priest is open to his successors. In some instances, priests from same Gotra were inducted and in their absence, even the disciples of the Guru and Ors. were initiated. The property dedicated to the temple or income derived from the offerings of devotees was enjoyed by the priest for himself and his family maintenance and the temple. The object, thereby, appears to be to keep the priest above want and free from family worries to enable him to dedicate himself totally to perform daily rituals to the Deity. Generally, the person acquainted with same Agama rules and Sampradaya, practising and professing same religious faith the hailing from the same sect remained in the same temple or similar temples elsewhere. 116. The protection of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution is not limited to matters of doctrine. They extend also to acts done in furtherance of religion and, therefore, they contain a guarantee for rituals and observances, ceremonies and modes of worships which are integral parts of the religion. In Seshammal's case (supra) on which great reliance was placed and stress was laid by the counsel on either side this Court while reiterating the importa....
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....nt the legislature cannot intervene to regulate it. But the service of the priest (archaka) is a secular part. As seen earlier the right to perform religious service has appointment by the owner of the temple or king as its source. The legislature is competent to enact the law taking away the hereditary right to succeed to an office in the temple and equally to the office of the priest (archaka). The hereditary right as such is not integral part of the religious practice but a source to secure the services of a priest independent of it. Though performance of the ritual ceremonies is an integral part of the religion, the person who performs it or associates himself with performance of ritual ceremonies, is not. Therefore, when the hereditary right to perform service in the temple is terminable by an owner for bad conduct, its abolition by sovereign legislature is equally valid and legal. Regulation of his service conditions is sequenced to the abolition of hereditary right of succession to the office of an archaka. Though an archaka integrally associates himself with the performance of ceremonial rituals and daily pooja to the Deity, he is an holder of the office of priest (archaka)....
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....ority prescribed in the regulations or rule or the Act. He owes his existence to an order of appointment - be it in writing or otherwise. He is subject to the discipline at par with other members of the establishment. Though after appointment, as an integral part of the daily rituals, he performs worship in accordance with Agamas Sastras, it is no ground to hold that this appointment is either a religious practice or a matter of religion. It is not an essential part of religion or matter of religion or religious practice. Therefore abolition of the hereditary right to appointment under Section 34 is not violative of either Article 25(1) or 26(b) of the Constitution. 120. It is true that the position of the office of Pedda Jeeyanagar or Chinna Jeeyanagar as a religious head in the context of matadhipathi of Ramanuja sect was upheld by the Privy Council, yet as regards his right in the Lord Venkataramana temple, he performs the office as a nominee and, therefore, he also owes his existence to the nomination which is antithesis to hereditary succession. Every Mirasidar or Gamekar equally cannot claim hereditary right to continue to perform the duties from generation to generation. ....
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....ted under the Act. As an object in that behalf the hereditary right or custom or usage, prevalent in that behalf, was statutorily abolished. 122. In Gazula Dasaratha Rama Rao v. State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors.: [1961] 2 SCR 931 the question arose : whether the hereditary right to hold office of village Munsiff under the Madras Hereditary Village Offices Act, 1985 was constitutionally valid? A Constitution Bench of this Court held that the appointment on grounds of 'descent' violates the fundamental right under Articles 14 15 and 16(1) of the Constitution. In that context, after elaborate consideration, the Court had held that what goes with the office is its emoluments - whether in the shape of land, assignment of revenue, agricultural produce, money, salary or any other kind of remuneration. They are granted or continued in respect of or annexed to the office by the State. Apart from the office, there is no right to the emoluments. In other words, when a person is appointed as Village Munsiff, it is an appointment to the office by the State to be remunerated either by use of land or by money or salary etc. When the emoluments consisted of land, the land did not become ....
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....eserves the existing customs, performances, religious worships, ceremonies and poojas according to Sampradayams and Agamas followed in such institutions. Section 142 issues an injunction against officer from interfering with such observances. Yet it would not, by operation thereof, amount to revival of what has been expressly abolished under Section 34(1)(b) of the Act. Abolition of hereditary principle on the basis of custom or usage to a holder of an office for continuance in that office is one facet, and performance of ceremonies, practices, customs or usages in another. Both cannot be mingled in the same water. Both are distinct and separate from each other. It would, therefore, be incongruous to accept the contention of petitioners that the right to continuance in office on the basis of custom and usage independently survives. The further contention is that interference with matters based on custom or usage relating to religious institution' as defined in Section 2(23) amounts to interference with the freedom of conscience and free practice of religion. Therefore, it is violative of Article 25(1) and is untenable in law. As held earlier, being secular actions they are not ....
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....gible to be considered and appointed to the office of archaka or other similar offices. The regulation of this secular activity, therefore, does not offend any faith or belief in the performance of those duties by a person other than one hailing from the family, sect/sub-sect or denomination hitherto performing the same. Earlier, the field of choice to appoint a particular archaka was confined and limited to that family, sect/sub-sect or denomination, but after the statutory regulation the field of choice is widened and all eligible candidates including those available from the family etc. will be considered; competency is tested and when one is found qualified, appointment is made to the office of archaka according to the prescribed procedure. We, therefore, hold that abolition of hereditary principle under Section 34 is not violative of either Article 25(1) or 26(b) of the Constitution. 126. It is next contended that there are no proper guidelines in the Act to exercise the power and wide discretion has been conferred on secular authority, i.e., the Commissioner to decide as to who should be appointed to the offices abolished under Section 34. The State has no jurisdiction eit....
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....he Madras High Court in Tirumalai Tiripati Devasthanam Committee, by its Commissioner v. Archakam Seshachalam Dikshithulu and Ors. (1990) 1 LW 34 - Journal Section, Shri Rao resisted the contention and pointed out that the archaka and other mirasidars and under a contract certain percentage of shares in the offering to the Lord Venkteshwaraswamy. The statute has nullified the contract and introduced principle of payment of salary for services rendered. Prasadam is actually offered to the Lord at the time of worship and a part thereof is given for personal consumption. The archaka or other service holders have no right to a share in other collections. The decision of the Madras High Court has no application to the facts of this case. 128. Having given our anxious consideration to the respective contentions, we find that there is no force in the contentions of Sri Parasaran, Lord Venkteswaraswamy Temple of TTD has its centuries old history. It had its glory with the patronage of Cholla Kings, Pallava Kings, Vijayanagara Kings who donated large tracks of lands for its maintenance and upkeep. Equally, it supported the plunder by the French invaders and British empire who used its in....
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....g Laddus) are species of mirasidars doing service to Lord Deity on hereditary principle. Though they perform the duty of preparing food etc. according to Agama prescription, usages and practices obtaining in each temple, their right being founded on hereditary principle stood abolished. This abolition, in respect of archaka and other service holders having already been upheld, the case of gamekars cannot independently stand on any higher footing. Therefore, abolition of their rights under Sections 34 and 144 is equally valid in law. 130. It was next contended that prescription of the qualifications to the archaka is arbitrary, unjust and unfair. We find no force in the contention. It is true that prior to the Act came into force, the succession to the office was based on hereditary principles. But Section 37 of the predecessor Act 17 of 1966 prescribes qualifications of archaka which are in pari materia with those prescribed in Section 36 of the Act. It is common knowledge that many an archaka are not highly educated but have working knowledge in the performance of ritual and daily pooja to the presiding Deity of the temple and other Deities installed in the temple. To obviate d....
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....onsidered and dealt with accordingly. It cannot be expected that the Commissioner would act in violation thereof and would act in a way inconsistent with Sections 13 and 142. Each case would be considered on its own merits and correctness of such transfer would be tested in an appropriate proceedings. Therefore, on that score alone, Section 39 cannot be declared arbitrary or ultra vires or unjust. 132. In Andhra Pradesh there are as many as 32, 201 temples out of which 7761 temples are assessible institutions; the remaining 24, 440 temples have income of less than Rs. 1,000 per annum, only 582 out of them have income of more than Rs. 10,000 per annum. Only around 8 temples have income of more than Rs. 20,00,000 per annum. All the archakas or employees in these categories of 24, 440 small temples would be deprived of their livelihood by abolition of their hereditary rights and introduction of graded scales of pay. This information has been furnished in the written arguments submitted by Shri Markandeya but we did not have the occasion to have them verified during the course of hearing. It would be seen that the principles in fixing the scales of pay and method of payment of salar....
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....e rent, group insurance scheme, unforeseen contingencies like accident, death etc., rehabilitation of the widow or educated unemployed youth or such other measures as may be incidental and part of economic welfare. The extent of the similar facilities already existing and provided for may be excluded from proposed scheme. For other items appropriate scheme should be formulated. 134. In that behalf the State Government is directed to constitute a Committee consisting of the Additional Commissioner, Endowments Department, a joint Secretary/Deputy Secretary (Endowment) Revenue Department; two representatives of the archakas to be nominated by their associations and one representative of other officer/servants of the temples. It would be open to the representatives of the archakas etc. to place their views and material before the Committee in the formulation of the scheme. The Committee will undertake an indepth study into the schemes and formulate the same. After the scheme is formulated, the Government would take a decision thereon and would place the duly approved scheme before this Court within six months from today for further action thereon. 135. We are of the view that to ....
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....sed to be taken by them immediately before the commencement of the Act and submit the same to the Executive Officer or to the Commissioner of Religious Endowments, as the case may, every month by the 15th day of the next succeeding month. The first of such accounts shall be submitted by 15th July, 1987 for the month of June, 1987". On October 13, 1987, the said order was modified to the extent of archakas receiving more then Rs. 10,000 as monthly emoluments. Direction was given to furnish security either by way of bank guarantee or immovable property security as ordered for archakas and gamekars in the main case. By further order dated August 25, 1987, an order was made to protect the interests of the TTD and two working groups, viz., archakas and gamekars thus : Therefore, as an interim arrangement we direct that archakas shall furnish a consolidated security of Rs. 20,00,000 (Rupees twenty lakhs) either by way of bank guarantee or by way of property security to the satisfaction of the Additional District Judge, Tirupati within four weeks hence. Similarly, the other group who is incharge of preparing prasadams will furnish either bank guarantee or property security to the....
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....9;s New Collegiate Dictionary which has defined it to mean : "Dharma : n. (Skt. fr. dharayati be holds;) akin to L firmus firm : custom or law regarded as duty : the basic principles of cosmic or individual existence : nature : conformity to one's duty and nature." The Oxford Dictionary defines dharma as : "Right behavior, virtue; the Law (Skt = a decree, custom)". 142. The difference between religion and dharma is eloquently manifested when it is remembered that this Court's precept is. It is apparent that the word dharma in this canon or, for that matter, in our saying : does not mean religion, but the same has been used in the sense defined in the aforesaid two dictionaries. This is how the President of India, Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma, understood the word dharma in his address at the First Convocation of the National Law School of India University delivered on 25th September, 1993 at Bangalore. 143. Our dharma is said to be 'Sanatana' i.e. one which has eternal values; one which is neither time-bound nor space-bound. It is because of this that Rg. Veda has referred to the existence 'Sanatan Dharmani'. The concept of 'dharma', therefore....
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....ld at Chicago in September 19, 1893, when he explained many salient features of the Vedic and Vedantic body of thought and defined the characteristics of a religion "whose whole, scope, whole force, will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its own true...nature." The President further quoted another thought of Swami Vivekananda where he had said : "Religion is neither word nor doctrine.... It is deed. It is to be and become. It is the whole soul changed into that which is believed " 151. Aforesaid was the Indian concept of religion of which the framers of the Constitution were aware and it is because of this that the word "religion", as used in Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution cannot be confined, cabined and crabbed, according to me, to what is generally thought to be religion. 152. Swami Rama in his book 'A Call to Humanity', published by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A. in 1988 has taken pains to demonstrate the difference between religion and dharma. It would be profitable to note what this great saint has said in this regard. The word religion, as presently understood, is comprised of rituals, customs, a....