Temple scams one should know about. Please contribute.

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raksrules

raksrules

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Taking cue from a reddit thread, I am opening this one. We have like numerous temples in this country and however believer in God you or me may be, we also know these religious places are a great place for scammers to prey on religious beliefs of the devotees. So if you are aware about any such shrines in any part of the country where you believe some sort of scam is running, please enlist here.
One from my side...

There is a place called shani shingnapur near Shirdi in Maharashtra. It is said that here theft or robbery never happens. But you have scammer vendors doing day light robbery.
As soon as you go park your vehicle or taxi (I believe taxi drivers are also involved), the vendors will come running to you and ask the men to wear dhoti compulsory if they want to enter the temple. This is a complete lie. Only if you want to offer oil to the shani deity then you need to wear dhoti else you can very well enter the temple with jeans tshirt and such clothes. I have been to this place couple of times and always the scenario is same. They will say irrespective of whether you want to offer oil or not, dhoti is compulsory. Do not fall for this scam.
 
Tirupati VIP dharshan Scam. Those will be temple workers, taking the innocents through the normal 300 dharshan or either promise them take advance and disappear.

Also Shani Shingnapur they forcefully give some yantra and stuff when you just want to buy Oil and those beggars there trouble you from the moment you put your feet. Is that petrol bunk owner loot story also authentic?

Shirdi visit on a gurupournami. Dude promises entry through VIP dharshan gate when you buy pooja stuff worth 500 because there is huge line. What he does is he push in to the same huge line saying its the easiest one.
 
damm i had been scammed @Shani mandir as well as @tirupati , in same manner as you had told :( , will surely visit them again with intention to reverse-scam them :D

However i would like to tell one incident, while passing through WB on way to gangtok, on route to Dalkhola, we faced extreme heavy truck jam which is approx 4-5km long, when went to the near petrol bunk, he after checking us as outsiders, suggested a bypass which according to him will be traffic-free as well as is well paved road to silguri, when we are just about to leave another truckers which also came there to fill his tank, warned as not to take that route since its full of dacoits, and every-other day loot does happen on that road on tourist as well as loaded-truckers, according to him police is too involved in that scam, we just scolded that petrol bunk person, thought of filling FIR, but since its 2am in night, we left without creating any scene :D
 
avi said:
Religion and love are two biggest scams..
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^^ absolutely right! one doesn't need brain for love. :D
and lust is love raised to the power of 3 :p

raksrules would be annoyed that the discussion is going astray. here's something from my end to keep the discussion around temples only. :D

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Nothing against anyone but its more pre-dominant in South Indian temples. I have been to Tirunvelli/Tirupathi/Madurai/Padmnabhan/Rameshwaram and everyone asks for money. My Dad paid like 500 bucks for 2 garlands. This is not the case in North - Indian temples. I remember the priest in Tirupathi gave 1 ladoo to me/my sis - dad and mom. He then asked 100 bucks/head for prasad and we yielded it. Later we learned that one could purchase,yes PURCHASE prasad from their selling shop.
 
Fenix said:
... This is not the case in North - Indian temples...
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here, govt, authorised temple bodies, local communities etc take care of the funds and functioning of religious places. priests are on payroll. things used to be too bad 2 decades ago.
 
I remember when i went to Kerala for the first time with friends to Trivandrum. We visited Padmabhan temple and were shocked when we were asked to pay for everything. Moreover there was a tour-guide with us all along the way. We felt good about the temple but bad about this experience. I felt it was like money laundering service. I hope this improves in the future but i know for sure that it wont .
 
Fenix said:
I remember when i went to Kerala for the first time with friends to Trivandrum. We visited Padmabhan temple and were shocked when we were asked to pay for everything. Moreover there was a tour-guide with us all along the way. We felt good about the temple but bad about this experience. I felt it was like money laundering service. I hope this improves in the future but i know for sure that it wont .
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When I visited Padmanabhan with my family, I stayed outside since I was not too keen on wearing a dhoti. My dad, mom and another family went inside though. I do not remember if they paid any money.

One thing that I find bad about temples is that they do not allow people of other faith to enter. The Jagannath temple at Puri has this mentioned near the front gate. Do not know if all temples follow this. But those who visit temples to see the architechtural work are being deprived due to this.
 
I try not to buy that Pooja thali anymore. Their price is over the top and I believe the nariyal comes back to the shop in many cases.
 
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There's a temple in Bangalore - by RMV foundation. If you look it on the internet it has been panned for its money spinning schemes. Best part is they charge 20 rs for phone camera and 50 for normal camera ;)
 
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