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Showing posts from November 27, 2007


Supreme Court of India Upholds Dress Code Change in Guruvayur Temple

The Supreme Court of India upheld the dress code change in the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple in Kerala initiated by the temple administration. Guruvayur Devaswom Board, the temple administration, had decided to allow churidar-clad women into the temple. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court by a devotee. The petitioner challenged the temple administration’s decision to change the dress code by stating that saris had been customarily worn for hundreds of years and that the Guruvayur Devaswom Board had no right to interfere in such matters and it was the prerogative of the Thantri (chief priest) to decide on dress code. The petitioner also stated that the sari is the only dress code which prevents exhibitionism in public. It is apprehended that the nod for the churidar is the first step towards loosening of rules and regulations at the temple. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan rejected the appeal stating that the dress code has to chan

Surdas: A poem from Sur Sagar

Until you wake up to what you really are you’ll be like the man who searches the whole jungle for a jewel that hangs at his throat. Oil, wick, fire: until they mingle in a cruse they scarcely produce any light, So how can you expect to dissipate the darkness simply by talking about lamps? You’re the sort of fool who sees your face in a mirror, befouled by inky filth, And proceeds to try to erase the blackness by cleaning the reflection to a shine. Surdas says, it is only now the mind can see – No that so countless many days are lost and gone – For who has ever recognized the brilliance of the sun But by seeing it through eyes gone blind? Surdas – (Sur Sagar or ‘ Ocean of Sur ’)