Who Has Ownership And Swamitwa Of Religious Places? | Aakhir Kyon Eng (Translated From Hindi) Ep-7

Question: If the trustees are the “shayyatar” (stay providers to sadhus) then as per the point raised by Pandit Maharaj Ji, the Mahatmas (sadhus) cannot seek “Gochari” (bhiksha / food etc.) from the house of the trustees. Then wouldn’t a similar objection be applicable to the patrons/ contributors of upashray (monastery) construction? Then why don’t we see the tradition of Mahatma’s not seeking gochari from the house of such patrons?

Reply of Gacchadhipati Pujya Pandit Maharaja :
In almost all the “Samuday” (group of sadhus) of Tapagachch, such an inherent tradition comes from the elders, that one of the patron / contributors in the construction of the Upashray, is selected daily as the “Shayyatar” (stay providers to sadhus) and for that day his house is forbidden for Gochari etc. This tradition very well explains that, the trustee group is not recognized as the owner, but only all the gruhastha (householders) who contribute for the construction of the Upashray, are validated as the joint owners and that is why they are regarded as a “Shayyatar” and no one else.
If other Gruhastha (householders) wish to take benefit in the form of “shayyatar”, then there is also a tradition of becoming a daily “shayyatar” by paying a token donation (Nakara), etc. as a contribution to the upashray. Which almost all the “samuday” (group of sadhus) accept as the daily “Shayyatar”.

Here, all wise / learned persons will understand that, obviously the gruhastha (householders) have limited ownership rights, in the form of donors of the public religious places (shrine / upashray), the rest of the Rights of Ownership (Swamitva), etc., belong to the Shramana Pradhana Shree Sangh only i.e. Sangh under the leadership of Shramans (sadhus).