Source: TW
That’s what happens when Temples are deprived of land & economic independence. From interest-free compassionate creditors for poor farmers (loan to be paid through share of crop yield, which is repurposed for feeding of the devotees, travelers, orphans, etc) and sponsors of hospitals, pharmacies & schools (as Cōzha inscriptions show us), they have evolved to becoming dependent on crowds & relying on a massive retail of individual “arcana, abhiṣeka & darśana” tickets.
Kāmyārcana/Kāmyahoma is there for special individual needs but that is not the crass ticketing system we have today in many temples. “Special arcana” is unscriptural bullshit. “Special darśana” is concocted garbage.
This may hurt some but not those who love Gods & scriptures more than made-up “traditions”. Much of this current setup is nonsense.
No, you don’t need close-up Darśana of the domain deity to receive His/Her blessings. That was always a bonus.
What temples need to do is to maintain śauca & the Deities’ sānnidhya by adhering to nityārcana, duly performed prāyaścittas, individual priests’ fulfilment of nityakarma & sādhana.
Temples in the olden days were in fact places for visiting Sādhakas to come & accelerate the potency of their Japa.+++(5)+++
It is the presence of the few ritually & spiritually qualified
that the temple desperately needs in order to benefit the rest of us,
whose presence is more of a burden to the temple than anything.+++(5)+++
These are the things which will make the temple a continuous giver of blessings to even a passerby.
Not your direct presence in front of the deity for 3 seconds,
when the temple’s ritual and spiritual quality is falling apart.+++(5)+++
If temple priests are of impeccable quality
& temples are financially supported by devotees without having to flood its insides,
temples will be able to do so much more for Hindus
& a visit once every few or several years will be more than enough to produce genuine spiritual results for you.+++(5)+++
Otherwise, a hundred close-up Darśanas are useless if the temple is otherwise spiritually deficient.