Vrindavan, 2018.01.18 (VT) The heads of Vrindavan’s temples are demanding a more democratic administration that respects the autonomy of Vrindavan and its temples. At a meeting on Wednesday in which more than 15 of Vrindavan’s main temples were represented, the attendees decided to petition the Government to ensure that Vrindavan’s temples and tirtha purohits are represented on governing bodies such as the BTVP.
The Braj Tirtha Vikas Parishad (BTVP) has recently irked heads of temples by interfering in temple management and proposing to use temple revenue for town development works. The meeting was chaired by Shri Gopinath Lal Dev Goswami, president of the Vrindavan Devalaya Sangh. Attendees demanded that the intervention in the operation of the temples and deity worship by the Government must end immediately and each temple must protect its autonomy and purity.
Shri Gopinath Lal Dev Goswami said that the land in Vrindavan should be worshiped. Vrindavan is a holy pilgrimage site and it is wrong to merge it with Mathura as has been done by the current Government.
Throughout history, Vrindavan has been separate from Mathura. Mughal Emporer Akbar, established Vrindavan as a town separate from Mathura and Vrindavan was given legal status as a nagar palika (municipality) in 1865, one year before Mathura got official recognition.
The temple heads who attended the meeting included: Shaligram Temple’s Sri Ram Bohre; Shrivatsa Goswami of Radha Raman temple, Srimati Krishna Goswami of Gopinath temple; Sri Vijay Kishore Goswami of Madan Mohan temple, Acharya Naresh Narayan from Sri Goda Hardev temple, Sri Pradumna Pratap Maharaj of Meera Bai temple , Tamal Krishna Das of Imli Tala, Deepak Goswami of Bade Daoji temple, Sri Shah Prasant of Shahji temple, Goda Bihar temple’s Sri Vrindavan Acharya, Vanshivat’s Sri Govind Mahant, Yamuna temple’s Shri Siddharth Shukla and Purnacharya Goswami from Radha Damodar temple.
Jagannath Poddar was unanimously appointed as the Chief Executive of the Vrindavan Devalaya Sangh. Other local leaders also attended the meeting to support the temple heads in their bid to ensure a future for Vrindavan that is free from the arbitrary interference of authorities.
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