Currently, Padmanabhaswamy temple situated in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is the wealthiest temple in the world. Singapore based GCF has proposed to make the temple as a global pilgrim destination.
T
he inspection and opening of the secret vaults of the sacred Padmanabhaswamy temple in 2011, after a long judicial trail about transparency in temple management, not only startled the small state of Kerala, but left the world gazing. Identified as one of the largest collection of precious stones and metals such as gold, diamond etc, the temple has become another major reason behind increase in tourism in Kerala.
Seeing the growing popularity of the temple and increasing footfall of historians and tourists from across the world, Singapore-based Global Citizen Forum (GCF), founded by Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi, an eminent Social entrepreneur and business tycoon, has come forward supporting the idea of transforming Padmanabhaswamy temple as a global pilgrim destination. GCF in its recent press statement in Thiruvananthapuram announced its campaign to popularise the temple with initiating plans for development of temple which includes re-integration and display of temple wealth within its premises and on the shrines to the public. The highly sacred shrine of Sree Padmanabha Swamy is of immense spiritual, cultural and religious significance to the Hindu community.
“In keeping with the tradition of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, GCF believes that the deity has the first and exclusive right to the temple wealth. It is our conviction to ensure that the wealth of the temple is used in the service of the deity and to this effect it should be displayed within the temple premises and on the shrines.” Dr B K Modi, Founder, GCF
In addition, GCF also supports the creation of ‘Advaita Centre’ outside the temple premises that will pay homage to the values espoused by the deity Sree Padmanabhaswamy. The Advaita centre, will go beyond gender, religion, nationality and boundaries and will espouse the values of Advaita, to become a learning centre for Hindus and non-Hindus, globally and in India. In order to help the centre realise its full potential, the development of Thiruvananthapuram as a global city is crucial. The support of the government will be instrumental to make this happen whilst celebrating natural scenic beauty of the city.
Considering the risks involved in public display of temple treasure, fool proof safeguards to secure the temple wealth as well as people have an uninterrupted darshan of Sree Padmanabhaswamy are some of the plans put forward by GCF in their campaign for Padmanabhaswamy temple.
“It is estimated that the new, bejeweled look of the Sree Padmanabha deity will generate a revenue of up to USD one billion each year and growing, as devotees throng to see the deity in all its glory. This sum will go a long way in developing the temple complex and providing world class facilities to the millions of devotees coming to the temple. A blueprint by the devotees will also be developed for an upcoming Advaita knowledge centre where the Indian values of One World (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) will be advocated,” Dr B K Modi added.
The GCF campaign aims to represent the aspirations of global Hindu community who want to witness the development of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple as a global pilgrimage centre for Hindus, like Mecca is for Muslims and Vatican City for Christians. As centres of spirituality and religion, both Mecca and Vatican City generate their own revenues which are used for development and progress. In 2017 alone, the revenue generated from the Hajj and Umrah was over USD12 billion.
Dr B K Modi and GCF campaign plans all these above mentioned initiatives as a subject to the approval of the Supreme Court of India and the concurrence of the Royal Family of Tranvancore.
