Sorry state of Hinduism.

My mom has a school friend who belonged to the lower caste community, thou they were devout ayyappa bhakts, and were poor. She was not financially well off. Yesterday she called my mom to catch up with her after 27 years. She was settled in Toronto and her kids were well settled and both of them are doctors. She had changed her name and had converted to Christianity.

Apparently, after the school, her financial condition weakened and her father fell ill, who was a sole bread earner in the family. While the Hindu community couldn't do much for them, the church helped them financially and the father converted right before dying.

The church rebuilt their home, funded her Bsc and her sister's btech, her mom was a chronic patient so took care of her medication, sent the kids abroad for further studies, found them a job in Canada, found a groom for both the sisters, married them off. The church father visits every house every now and then, settles family disputes, marital disputes, looks after the wellbeing of the family.

She's very grateful to the church and is a devout christian now, coming to India every now and then to help and convert the needy ones like her.

Had our temples been free, our hindu community would have had enough money to help such needy people, create a proper educational, health and business ecosystem around the temples. Meanwhile Amrita, Satya Sai, Isha and many other foundations are doing such things in a micro level, we need a consolidated effort and resource to pull off an efficient system like what others have.

It's sad to see others converting our poor helpless people by bits and pieces and us watching helplessly even though we have the richest resources... But the legal and administrative system of this country has binded us in shackles. Sad and shameful.