Filching divine wealth is as old as organised religion
Gods have watched humans divert sacred funds towards earthly ends from the time organised religion struck gold, and the first place of worship was built, across faiths.
The dip & nip ‘tradition’, or devoted hustle, of keepers of faith is almost par for the course.
The devotee knows, temple kartas know, god, certainly, knows. Small amounts are skimmed, consistently.
Temple heists are mostly always inside jobs. So, no one is really surprised that administrators of Ayodhya temple smacked their lips as funds and valuables piled up.
No mean amount – donations made were reportedly to the tune of Rs 83cr in a mere 11 months, plus gold and silver ornaments, silver bricks (reportedly melted), on and on. Oh the torture, to turn away from moh-maya! As they say, more the moolah, more the maya.
Ornaments pilfered, donation boxes skimmed, funds for festivals rerouted – for not a few ‘devotees’, devotion to lining pockets has a stronger magnetic pull than devotion to any deity. Temptation and betrayal.
Or maybe, they’ll argue, all of this is just being one with the deity. After all, for those who have sacrificed so much to serve god, surely what is his or hers, is ours? Alas, laws of the land don’t agree.
Auditors and investigators always know the disappearing sum is never divine intervention, but internal diversion. Gods don’t care for gold.
But temple caretakers nearly always do. To seek god may be human, but to have the keys to the donation box promises heaven on earth.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
