Gold crown for Lord Venkateswara: Gali Janardhan Reddy did no sin by adorning the Deity

By Syed Akbar

Faith in God comes from inside the heart. And when the heart opens up, it does nothing but right. Actions guided by true faith in the Almighty cannot be questioned, as far as they do not cause harm to others.

Such actions may sound strange for some and are often subjected to criticism, but the devotee and the Deity only know what true faith is.

It is this unbridled faith in the Almighty that has driven Karnataka Tourism Minister and mines baron Gali Janardhan Reddy to donate something innovative, which only the devout kings of yore did to express their love to the Creator.

Four centuries after the noble kings of Vijayanagara adorned the presiding deity of
Tirumala with a diamond-studded gold crown, Janardhan Reddy created a record of sorts in devotion by offering a 34-kg crown to Lord Sri Venkateswara. Like the Vijayanagara crown, it is cast in 32 kgs of gold, studded with diamonds weight 4,000 plus carats. The golden donation is worth Rs 35 crore (not Rs 42 crore as reported in the media).

Several people, particularly politicians like Telugu Desam politburo member Nagam
Janardhan Reddy and Praja Rajyam political affairs committee member T Devendar Goud, took serious objection to the Minister's religious gesture. Their grouse is that Janardhan Reddy had not donated the money for a public cause.

But what these critics, guided more by politics, do not know is that though Janardhan Reddy is a member of the Karnataka Cabinet and public figure, he is an individual and businessman too.

Moreover, he has donated the crown from his hard earned money, and not from the public exchequer. After all an individual has every right to do whatever he wants with his money.

Also it's an individual's choice how he or she looks at devotion and service to God. Some see service to God in service to man. Others believe in direct service to God. It's not that Janardhan Reddy does not believe in service to man. He has his own philanthropic projects.

What is offered to God purely out of love cannot be questioned. If those critical of
Janardhan Reddy are really interested in serving the public, let them open hospitals and schools and perform the marriage of the poor girls. Neither the Telugu Desam nor the Congress leaders, who have criticised Janardhan Reddy, are morally obliged to do so, until they take up public service in real earnest. Not through politics, through MLAship or ministership.

The Karnataka Minister is right as far as his devotion is concerned. No one has a right to point fingers at him.

600th birthday fete: Annamayya has all in a spell

May 19, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, May 18: The sleepy village of Tallapaka, 100 km from the temple town of Tirupati, came to life on Sunday with devotional musicians, singers, poets, writers and artistes descending there from all over the world. The village has no economic activity worth mentioning. And yet the name Tallapaka spells magic and weaves images of a saint-poet, who was born there 600 years ago to the day.
The saint-poet, Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya, had left a lasting imprint on devotional music with his 32,000 devotional songs or sankeertanas composed in the praise of Venkateswara, the presiding deity of the Tirumala Hills in Tirupati.
Come Monday and composers, poets, musicians and the devout will celebrate the 600th birth anniversary of Annamacharya or Annamayya in his village. The government has spruced up the dusty village in Rajampet mandal of Kadapa district as mark of respect and devotion to Annamayya.
“The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is busy obtaining technical recognition from Sri Venkateswara University to streamline research activities with a techno-academic outlook,” says TTD chairman B Karunakar Reddy. “ As of now, more than 50 dissertations have been produced by different universities.” A contemporary of saint Kabir, Annamayya devoted his life to singing the praises of Venkateswara, who is regarded as encompassing the power of Vishnu, Shiva and Aadi Shakthi. Not many know that Annamayya had also rendered the Ramayana in dwipada (rhyming couplets). Until Annamayya composed hymns in Telugu, the presiding deity was worshipped and praised in Sanskrit and Tamil.
The TTD executive officer, Mr K.V. Ramanachari, told this correspondent that the board would hold year-long celebrations to mark the birth anniversary. “This is Annamayya year. We are implementing an ambitious programme to perpetuate his memory and to popularise his compositions in India and abroad,” Mr Ramanachari said.
The idea behind celebrating the anniversary is to show the present generation the greatness of Telugu culture. “Young people should know about Annamayya and his compositions. This will inculcate in them a sense of devotion and hard work,” Mr Karunakar Reddy said. Annamayya was the first composer (vaggeyakara) in Telugu and created a system of music which was adopted by saint composers like Tyagaraja and Kshetraiah. The Annamayya tradition is still followed all over the world.
His compositions in Telugu are of high literary value and he is often regarded as the Shakespeare of Telugu devotional literature. The saint-composer preached the oneness of God and propagated the tatwa and mahatwa of Venkateswara. As the birthday celebrations begin on Monday, the village will go back to the days of Annamayya who rendered Telugu hymns in an altogether different note for more than eight decades. He lived for 95 years.