Sri Vilakkoli Perumal Thoopul Vedanta Desikan Charitable Trust
Organization background

In 1995, Vilakkoli Perumal Thoopul Vedanta Desikan (VPTVD) Charitable Trust, a Hindu religious organization, was setup in order to keep knowledge of the Agama sastras alive and to maintain the traditions in temples in Tamil Nadu. The organization supports pundits doing VedapArAyana in temples and ensures maintenance of temple traditions as per the Agama sastras.

Project background

‘ Among the seven sacred spots that provide Mukti, Kanchi is pre-eminent.’ These were the words with which Sri. VedAnta desikA celebrated the divya desam of Kanchipuram, location of the famous Lord Varadaraja temple. The divinity in such places is sustained by the daily chanting of sacred Vedic mantras. It is said that the world is the possession of the Divine, the Divine the possession of the sacred mantras, and the sacred mantras the possession of the pious and learned Brahmanas who chant the Vedic mantras every day. The sacred recitation of the Vedas on a regular basis thus ensures the well-being of the whole world.

In addition to the famous Kanchi Sri Varadaraja temple, there are also many other Divya Desams in and around Kanchipuram. The Sri Vilakkoli Perumal temple at Srithoopul (near Kanchipuram) is one such Divya Desam .

In the past, support for sustenance of such dharmic activities was through the large heartedness of royal families. History tells us that Vedic scholars used to be given gifts of land and cattle for their sustenance through royal patronage. In recent decades, such means have dwindled considerably, leading many aspiring Vedic scholars to forsake their traditional dharma and pursue other vocations purely for earning a livelihood and mitigate their difficulties. Thus, the number of Vedic scholars who chant the Vedas in sacred places such as the Kanchi temple has dwindled. The chanting of Veda mantras in the temple of Lord Varada is being done by a few (8 at present) deeply devout and traditional scholars, but they do not receive any sustenance or remuneration from the temple now. The VPTV Trust provides some remuneration to the pundits and other aspiring scholars using its corpus, but is limited by the size of its corpus.

GKF contributions to VPTV