Checking wastage of milk

  • | Tuesday | 22nd July, 2014

For this, the temple urges its devotees to opt for symbolic offering of milk instead of the entire pledged quantity. The milk collected in early morning is used for making `kheer` which is distributed to devotees and the poor while that gathered during the afternoons is used to make tea for the `bhaktas`. Thus upto 5,000 litre of milk can be saved on a busy Monday in the month of `shrawan`.

LUCKNOW: Emphasizing that `bhaav` or feeling was the spirit of any ritual, the Mankameshwar Math Mandir of the city has initiated steps to check wastage of milk offered to the deity. For this, the temple urges its devotees to opt for symbolic offering of milk instead of the entire pledged quantity. The milk collected in early morning is used for making `kheer` which is distributed to devotees and the poor while that gathered during the afternoons is used to make tea for the `bhaktas`.

Thus upto 5,000 litre of milk can be saved on a busy Monday in the month of `shrawan`. Devyagiri, the shree mahant of the temple, said that the temple was always sensitive to the issue. "We tell people to make just a symbolic offering and donate the pledged quantity of milk as their feeling was more important than anything else," she said adding even on a normal day, the temple is able to get at least 40 litre of milk.

"The milk is not used by those living in the temple. For that, we have three cows," she claimed. The sevaks in the temple are instructed to catch hold of people who come with more than two litre of milk and convince them to donate it instead of offering it to the deity.

"To collect milk, we first remove floral and other things such as leaves, fruits and sweets from the `Shivaling` and then clean it. Thereafter, the `bhakta` is allowed to pour the milk on the deity which is collected at the other end," said one of the sevaks. The milk thus collected is then boiled and put to use.

The `sevaks` revealed that sometimes the milk ferments while boiling. "The residual `chhena` is used to feed the cows and monkeys in the temple," they said. Pandit Purshottam Gaur, an astrologer and crusader against wastage of milk and water in temples, says that symbolic offering brings equal benefit as pouring the pledged quantity.

"It is a myth that gods will be pleased with 20 litre of milk `abhishek`. Religious literature has not mentioned about the quantity of offering. It is upto the individual," he said adding, "if quantity mattered, no rich man would have been sad and no poor could ever be happy.

" Wastage of milk in temples has always been a religious irony. In March 2014, a division bench of the Madras high court also urged devotees to use milk judiciously. The petitioner had requested the court to spare a thought for millions who go hungry in the country and ask the devotees to think before making the offerings.

A Temple Soaked In History Mankameshwar Temple is one of the oldest Shiva temples in Lucknow. Anecdotal evidence says that Lord Ram`s brother Laxman took rest at this temple on his way back to Ayodhya after leaving Sita into the exile. It is known as `saraffa ka shivala` in history books on Lucknow.

Temple sevaks say that the name `Mankameshwar` is from a miracle witnessed by Mahant Ramgiri. It is said that once Ramgiri had a large number of guests and he had nothing to offer them. He went to the `Shivalingam` and told the deity, "If I am not able to offer food to the guests, they will curse you and me".

Even before the seer could see his wish granted, someone asked him to accept foodgrains and vegetables. "Since the desire of the seer was fulfilled, he renamed the temple to `Mankameshwar for Mahadev---mahadev who fulfills the desires of the heart," said Devyagiri.Other initiatives by the temple: -It has a tie-up with the Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) to reuse flowers offered to the deity for making incensed sticks.

-Other materials are given to Khatu Shyam Temple Trust which makes manure through vermi-compost. -Fruits and sweets offered to the deity are distributed as `prasad` to devotees. -The temple has proposed water harvesting project for offering clean water to the deity.

.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

NYOOOZ FRIEND

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.


Stay updated with all the Lucknow Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.

Related Articles