I had always wondered why devotees were not allowed to photograph inside temples. Most of the time we get to photograph the exterior of the temple. When Jnana Jyothi Amma went to Nattadreshwarar Temple in Erode recently she left behind her camera while looking for some stuff in her bag. She only realized it later. Jnana Jyothi Amma had sent me many recordings and photos of temples that she had visited, which were amazing and mind-boggling. But she 'left' behind her dedicated Sony camera this once. She was puzzled as to how she left it behind.
When I was at this temple earlier in October with Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal and Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyaar, I stopped my daughter from taking pictures for reasons that I could not comprehend till this day. My daughter had been taking photos of the journey to Erode. On arrival at the banks of the Kaveri river and while crossing the river in the coracle she was still happily snapping photos. Upon arriving at the temple she continued taking them until I asked her to stop. I am puzzled too.
When we were returning from the temple in the coracle, my daughter resumed taking pictures only to be stopped by the man rowing the coracle. My daughter stopped taking pictures immediately. We were surprised as we did, in fact, manage to interview the junior temple priests, Saravanan Gurukal while traveling in the coracle while heading for the temple just some hours ago.
When my family and I crossed Kaveri, we got into a coracle with Mataji, Saravanan Gurukul, and Deva while Tavayogi traveled with the Seth and others in another coracle. When returning, we all got into a bigger coracle and were ferried by both the boatmen. As usual, there was a lot of din and noise as we were chattering about so many things. Suddenly Tavayogi started singing the following verse aloud, ARUL GNANA JHOTIYE AGATHIN JHOTI, TANIPERUNG KARUNAIYE AGATHEESAR AVAAR, to everybody's surprise. We all joined in the chant until we reached the banks of the river. We are puzzled to this day as to why Tavayogi started us chanting that moment.
Today's English Daily, the Sun, carried an article on page 25 under the heading "MEMORIES LOST IN A CLICK - Amassing photos will not help us remember an event or moment" at http://www.thesun-epaper.com/mon/16122013/index.html#25/z
"TAKING a picture to help you remember something might end up having the opposite effect, according to research published in the United States."
"A new study just released showed that people who took photographs of items during a museum tour were less likely to remember details than those who merely looked at the objects. That is a lesson for a world growing accustomed to instant photo-sharing on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, said psychological scientist Linda Henkel of Fairfield University."
“People so often whip out their cameras almost mindlessly to capture a moment, to the point that they are missing what is happening right in front of them,” said Henkel, author of the study, which was published in the journal, Psychological Science. '
"Henkel set up an experiment in the university’s museum, in which students were led on a tour and were asked to take note of certain objects, either by photographing them or by simply observing them. The next day, their memory for the objects was tested – and participants were less accurate in recognising the items they had photographed compared to those they had only observed. Henkel called this the “photo taking impairment effect”. “When people rely on technology to remember for them– counting on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to attend to it fully themselves – it can have a negative impact on how well they remember their experiences,” she said in a statement."
"A second group offered a slight variation on the findings: those taking a photograph of a specific detail on the object by zooming in on it with the camera seemed to preserve memory for the object, not just for the part that was zoomed in on but also for the part that was out of frame."
“These results show how the mind’s eye and the camera’s eye are not the same,” Henkel said, adding that memory research indicates taking pictures can help people remember but only if they take time to observe and review. An over-abundance of pictures might make that harder. “Research has suggested that the sheer volume and lack of organisation of digital photos for personal memories discourages many people from accessing and reminiscing about them,” Henkel said. “To remember, we have to access and interact with the photos, rather than just amass them.” – Reuters"