Puri seer warns June fiasco will lead to 'catastrophe'

BHUBANESWAR: Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peetha in Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, on Friday expressed deep anguish over the mismanagement in Nabakalebara rituals.
The Shankaracharya claimed he had predicted the Uttarakhand flood and the Nepal quake in the wake of similar mismanagement at the Kedarnath temple and Pashupatinath temple respectively.The seer warned that the state too would face similar catastrophic consequences due to the Nabakalebara ritual fiasco.
Addressing a news conference for the first time after the Brahma Paribartan (soul transfer) fiasco here, the Puri seer said the temple administration had no right to interfere in religious matters of the temple.
"The rituals of the 12th century shrine were not followed properly. The temple administration has no right to interfere in religious matters. It should only be a facilitator," he said, barely a week ahead of the annual Rath Yatra.
For smooth management of the temple affairs, the Shankaracharya also pitched for a complete overhaul of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration's (SJTA) laws.
When asked whether he blames chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the mess in the temple affairs, the seer said the chief minister was kept in the dark on temple matters. "The officers who were advising the chief minister on temple matters were directionless," he said.
He slammed SJTA chief administrator Suresh Mohapatra for patronizing some influential servitors.
He said that to address the ineffective management of the temple, there should be a transparent approach in the appointment of members for the temple managing committee.
He further said that in accordance with the verdicts pronounced by different courts on the Jagannath temple matter, the state government should define boundaries for the officers appointed by it to oversee the temple affairs.
Condemning the preliminary inquiry report by the temple administration over the Brahma Paribartan (soul transfer) debacle on June 16, the seer questioned how the SJTA administrator could conduct a probe into the mismanagement when he was one of the main culprits responsible for the mismanagement. "There should be a high court monitored inquiry into the matter," he said.
When asked about the solution to end the logjam over ritual mismanagement, the Shankaracharya said the temple administration should seek an apology from him for their faults over the past one year.
The Puri seer has been venting his ire on the SJTA after it imposed a restriction on the number of disciples who could accompany him on to the chariots during Rath Yatra last year.