Varanasi-based famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple management will distribute lakhs of litres of milk offered to Lord Shiva among patients and other needy people.
A temple official said the offered milk, which goes waste, will be distributed among women, patients at mental hospital and prisoners.
Down the drain
“Lakhs of litres of milk is offered to Lord Shiva during Shravana month, when people hold rudrabhisheka (a special puja during which milk is offered to the Shivalingam). This milk goes down the drain,” the official told Deccan Herald from Varanasi on Wednesday.
The milk also gets spilled on to the ghats on the banks of the Ganges and poses a lot of difficulties for the devotees who go there to take dip in the holy waters.
He said the plan is to store the offered milk.
Extra care
“Care will be taken to make sure that no impurities get mixed with the milk,” the official said.
“It will be stored in hygienic conditions so that the needy people can get clean and pure milk,” he added.
A proposal to this effect will be tabled at the next meeting of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust in the next few days, the official said.
“The milk offered to Lord Shiva is considered to be sacred,” he said.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple, which stands on the western bank of the Ganges, is the centre of faith for millions of Hindus, who throng it from across the world.
The ‘Jyotirlinga’ of Shiva, ‘Vishweshwara’ or Vishwanatha, enshrined in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is considered as one of the holiest temples in the country.
In Hindu religion it is believed that a simple glimpse of the Jyotirlinga is a soul-cleansing experience that transforms life and puts it on the path of knowledge and bhakti (devotion).