Days before, I was reading about the furore the entry of Ravi Krishna into Guruvayur has caused. And I had been on Vayalar Ravi's side for wishing to take the matter up with the temple authorities.

After all, if he has brought his children up to be devout Hindus and if his wife Mercy, has been also a devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan, then there can be no greater hurt and humiliation than to have the temple premises cleansed of your presence. To say nothing of the jolt to your heart, for a niggling doubt will always lurk- was I wrong? Inspite of a 100 inner voices telling you that you are not wrong. And that the Lord always accepts with open arms and heart those with true faith in their hearts.

However I have just finished reading the interview with the chief Tantri of Guruvayur, Chennas Raman  Namboodiripad, and I started having doubts about my convictions. Which have till date been that the true devotee should always be allowed to enter any temple of his faith, irrespective of whether he be a Muslim,Christian, Jew.. whatever... so long as he is willing to abide by the regulations of the temple.
One thing the tantri said really made an impact on me.

He said that K.J. Yesudas could (and I assume that by the same rule book, Ravikrishna can too) tell the Arya Samaj that he was a devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan, and believed in idol worship, and that within 5 min  he would be in possession of a certificate which would enable him to enter the holy temple as many times as he wishes.Without any purifcation rituals.
Why did Vayalar Ravi not make use of this loophole? 7 yrs before when the temple authorities conducted the same punyaham when Ravi Krishna entered the temple to pray after his wedding, he would surely have delved into the matter...?

I honestly did not know this clause existed, till I read that interview by Prem Panicker. I was one of those who felt extremely sorry for Yesudas that he could not get to see the Lord he describes so beauteously in his amazingly lovely renditions. But anyway, Yesudas  refrained from going against the temple laws.

In the case of Ravi Krishna, when he knew that his entry had caused such a furore and upheaval of the temple's proceedings, surely he could have refrained from doing the same thing again? Was there a little bit of arrogance there? I do not know and I am not one to judge. I am just wondering aloud here....

IF all that is required is a certificate from the Arya Samaj , to enter peacefully into Guruvayur, why do people who really wish to see the Lord not take recourse to that? I do not know. Is it that they do not wish to have it on record that they prayed to a God foreign to their religion? Or is it that it is not at all easy to get such a certificate?

But then again, if Mercy Ravi is a follower of the Hindu faith, and has brought her children up to be staunch devotees, isn't it extremely unfair to her to shun her children from a place of worship? Isn't it a worst kind of criticism of the way she has brought up her children in line with Hindu tenets? Isn't it a ridiculing of her embracing of Hinduism all those years back? She fitted neither there nor here, and now her children don't either. Very very unfair to that lady, more than to anybody else, I would say.

I have come across some persons, Hindus, accompanied by family and all, who do not hesitate to let their bodies stay pressed against yours for that extra second or two (which time is all it takes to sift the lecher from the devotee) even right in front of the deity.  Prayer and the Lord, I would think is far from their minds, which all the purification rituals in the world couldn't cleanse.
All said and done, I feel that if you can ensure that the person comes with devotion in his/her heart, he/she should be allowed to pray, and that applies to all religious places, be it a temple, a church or a mosque! A law, if it comes,shouldn't be just for temples, but for all religious places.


PS. I was just discussing this with my husband and I found that the Arya Samaj thing means that you have to convert to a Hindu. Now that's a totally different thing from just getting a certificate that professes that you are a devotee and allows you to see a favourite deity. I have gone and would love to go again to Velankanni and pray in all devoutness, but if I had to convert to Christianity, I would rather not go, for I have no quarrel with my own Gods.

Now I understand why Yesudas continues to pray from outside. And sang that song of his-

Guruvayurambalanadayil
orudivasam njan pokum
gopuravathil thurakkum
njan gopakumarane kaanum

Roughly translated to
One day, I will go to Guruvayur,
the sanctum sanctorum will open to me
and I will see the Lord.

May Lord Guruvayurappan give His answer soon....

PPS. I have had one more clarification, from Prem Panicker, who informed me that the Arya Samaj certificate is a hassle free, 10 minute process, which costs you Rs. 100, but with which , either you can see the Lord any number of times or you can see Him just the one time and tear the certificate up.

The Lord has provided a way to His devotees- the ones with faith in their heart and obstacles in their way. The obstacles are surmountable ones, and whether the the old order needs to be changed is something that is yet to be seen...