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There is this question on whether saints and sages can be worshiped in Hinduism and why Sai Baba is worshipped in Hindu temples.
Why Saibaba is worshipped as a deity in Hindu temples?

I gave examples of saints that are enshrined and worshipped as deities. I also provided commentary on why Sai Baba is worshipped in Hindu temples. This commentary is extra and the answer is complete even without it. However, the answer was deleted, because it didn't have sources. Someone please enlighten me on sources I can provide for the guru-god temple examples. Should I provide links to the temple websites or a Google map of its location?

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – Ankit Sharma
    May 26, 2016 at 17:03
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    The question itself about worshipping modern saints is off-topic on this site because it is clearly not related to Hinduism.
    – Mr_Green
    May 26, 2016 at 17:09
  • @AnkitSharma The question is what source should be provided for something that is a physical entity in the material world. What source should be given for a temple? Leaving comments asking for sources for items those that do not need sources and deleting the answer for not deferring to the mod even when it is not necessary (which seems to be the reaction you expect from users) is not desirable nor expected moderation. You still have not answered the question of what sou rces to cite for the answer.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:25
  • @AnkitSharma You probably feel happy about punishing the person who did not defer to a mod, but you are also punishing the user who asked the question. You are depriving them of an answer - one that they are happy with. Clearly , we do not have people with enough maturity in the role of moderator.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:28
  • @moonstar2001 have you checked the answer from old question. And why didn't you pointed your side in answer comments?
    – Ankit Sharma
    May 26, 2016 at 17:33
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    @moonstar2001 answers which are related to hinduism will definitely have sources like Hindu scriptures which I don't need to mention to you. Since the question itself is not related to hinduism, giving answer is not recommended. Keshav knows that everything we answer here is definitely mentioned in Hindu scriptures. If the expert didn't provide sources then it is assumed he/she is sharing his/her opinion which is not allowed on this site. Hope you understood. Let's talk in chatroom if necessary.
    – Mr_Green
    May 26, 2016 at 17:34
  • @AnkitSharma Is your reaction because you somehow feel a user did not respect a mod? I should not have to argue my case about this particular answer in comments or wherever because the answer is self-explanatory and self-evident. But if answer is deleted by mods, the mods are obliged to justify and offer indisputable solutions as to what is an acceptable answer.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:42
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    @Mr_Green I disagree that it is unrelated to Hinduism. The answer is Raghavendra Swami's temple at Mantralaya. Again what citation should be given to this? A picture of the temple? A link to the website? Google map? I also strongly disagree that Keshav knows it all. Such dependency on one individual is detrimental. According to you, if there is no URL in the site or a blockquote, it is automatically an opinion and should be deleted. Again, I disagree. I am not challenging the need for citations. Just superfluous citations when none is necessary.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:44
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    Intentionally ignoring mod msg and then complaining later on and even targeting specific mod does seems disrespectful
    – Ankit Sharma
    May 26, 2016 at 17:45
  • Let's just try to build this site on what Hindu scriptures say but not on rumors or ones opinions. I agree we should not depend on single person but I wasn't saying to depend on one guy. My statement was to say that it is known that the knowledge we share here is from Hindu scriptures which is known to Keshav as a Mod and hopefully most of users here. I request everyone not to lose the context of sharing knowledge from the scriptures. If one don't know from scripture, opt for silence.
    – Mr_Green
    May 26, 2016 at 17:47
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    @AnkitSharma So the deletion was indeed "punishment" for hurt feelings? I do not have a response to the moderator in question who asked for citations where none is necessary. As to your other point, I have issue with moderation across the board and all the moderators. Not just one. However, one moderator's actions in particular have been for all perceptions, targeted and biased. It is disrespectful of moderators to target, be biased, take unreasonable actions and then expect users to defer to their authority in spite of all this.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:52
  • Again @Mr_Green what scripture can I cite for an answer that is a list of temples? Hinduism includes janachara also.
    – user1195
    May 26, 2016 at 17:54
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    @moonstar2001 i don't think you have any interest in understanding anything, so i am not going to drag it.
    – Ankit Sharma
    May 26, 2016 at 18:05
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    Cool. I don't know whether I solved your concern or not by your last confusing statement. In positive, I hope it did solve your concern. Good night. Peace :)
    – Mr_Green
    May 26, 2016 at 18:11
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    @Pandya. Thanks but the citations you provided have no relevance to the question or the answer.
    – user1195
    Mar 4, 2017 at 13:26

2 Answers 2

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Someone please enlighten me on sources I can provide for the guru-god temple examples.

Worshipping happens with devotees' choice. There cannot be sources for it, like whom to worship & whom to not. Your answer satisfies the criteria to be a good answer.

Should I provide links to the temple websites or a Google map of its location?

LOL. Sarcasm noted.
For others, here is the deleted answer. enter image description here

Why the answers are deleted?

The deletion of this answer is not justified, but since we are in Hinduism, let's call it part of your own Karma. Which has time and again showed up to you. ;-)

On the serious note, I would say that you 'might be' on the "bad book" of the moderator. There are many answers in the site, where the mods leave comments for "citing sources", but they remain as it is and are not deleted.
Well, I got caught too once in the "bad book" of the main moderator in philosophy.SE. Not only my all Q&A got deleted, but my meta.philosophy.SE & main meta.SE Q&A for complaining him also got deleted. There are many high rep users who have left SE sites due to bad moderation. Unfortunately, the SE sites work like that. It's not a drawback, but a limitation.

What to do?

With reputation increase in a given SE site, we (general users) start getting a sense of "helping others". Let's get over that. Hinduism.SE can grow on its own. No saviors are needed.

Without any disrespect, this site effectively runs on 1 moderator's ideology. However, the amount of work & involvement is put by that mod is commendable & not easily replaceable. So being in its bad books does matter.

For example, My answer with proper sources was also deleted: Moderators should give time & scope of discussion before deleting a post for active users. Before delving into cycles of asking for "justice" (like this), I choose to made peace with it and limited/withdrawn myself from the site.

Quite frankly, I feel much better "not helping" than "helping". Not because of any frustration, but whenever I periodically check, I always find that there are always smart users who do nice & well received Q&A only to increase the quality of this site. This helps me strengthen my learning from the movie Jurassic Park: "Life finds its way"!

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    Your answer satisfies the criteria to be a good answer I don't agree. It was an interesting read but not valid for this site.
    – Mr_Green
    May 27, 2016 at 12:20
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    the sentence 1 is "idle" and 1 is a "stooge" (lacks independent thinking). So effectively it runs on 1 moderator's ideology. is exactly true. +1 for that, but wait you will be targeted for saying that by downvotes. Brace for it.
    – B ї t
    May 27, 2016 at 12:32
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    @Bїt stop provoking other users against the Mods. if this continues like this, our site will never come out of beta version ever. @ iammillind It is not mandatory that Moderators should have knowledge on Hinduism to Mod. If a mod does mistake (because they are also humans), you can post a meta discussion but you can't say negative words against them. They are not gods, they are humans just like us who are moderating this site. Lets not argue among ourselves and move forward in evolving this site.
    – Mr_Green
    May 27, 2016 at 12:48
  • @Mr_Green Milind dint said anywhere 'It is mandatory that Moderators should have knowledge on Hinduism to Mod*' at least he should think before doing something not after , i also want this site to develop in a good site and graduate, (but i don't want this site to graduate with this amount of politics, negativity, greed etc, its my personal wish).
    – B ї t
    May 27, 2016 at 12:57
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    @Mr_Green, For "good answer" at least 5 people agree. On your 2nd comment, What's negative here? I just mentioned the traits without taking names. If you relate each trait with each mod, then you know it's true! No one expects them to be "gods"; let them be "mods". It's about being fair. If no source cited, then delete all posts; don't be selective (moon's deleted answer). If sources are cited, then don't delete it (my deleted answer). One mod apparently brings personal liking, 2nd one agrees with "1" always, 3rd is hardly visible. Anyways, I took your advice already a while back and moved on.
    – iammilind
    May 27, 2016 at 12:57
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    @Bїt calling stooge explains that. @ iammilind, agreeing by 5 people doesn't make it good answer. I know many interesting things about our Mythology from my elders which make others say wow and upvote. People upvote because they heard the same somewhere maybe from a popular television series (where story can change for T.R.P). You can't assume that they are upvoting as a verification that it is mentioned same in scriptures. Btw, I am happy that you agreed with my post. I don't know about mods targeting specific users though.
    – Mr_Green
    May 27, 2016 at 13:12
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    :-) Yep. I am in the bad books. The moderator has essentially justified his stance on targeting me and does not bat an eyelid about being lax with other users. Participation on this site is not worth one's time.
    – user1195
    May 27, 2016 at 16:58
  • And Milind, I am not against citing sources. But Hinduism includes janacAra and those customs that are followed by great souls (according to Mahabharata). When the answer is clearly in conformance to Hinduism, and no obvious sources are handy, still insisting on sources and deleting proper answers can only be a result of ego. @AnkitSharma basically admitted to deleting in retaliation because the mods feelings were hurt.
    – user1195
    May 27, 2016 at 17:02
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    @moonstar2001 There is no retaliation going on. And I did not "justify targeting" you at all. On the contrary, I have made it clear that there is no targeting of any kind.
    – Keshav Srinivasan Mod
    May 27, 2016 at 17:16
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    @moonstar2001 you are torturing others by your assumptions. If your answer got deleted request for justification (which you did, that is fine) but don't blame a person that he is holding grudge on you.
    – Mr_Green
    May 27, 2016 at 17:21
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    @moonstar2001 Participation on this site is not worth one's time. Do not reduce your participation. We need exp. and high rep. users to actively participate and improve the site. Once this site graduate out of Beta, we all will get our chance of voting the mods and we can select the mods who we believe to be non-biased. Till then, lets appreciate the hardwork put in by existing 3 people and continue raising mods issues (if any,) the way you did here. Reducing the participation is not the option, IMHO.
    – AADHinduism
    May 29, 2016 at 7:31
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I don't know to what extent I am right. Here I will try to share my opinion on how a user should answer on this site.

Goal of Hinduism.SE:

The Hinduism is formed through the scriptures like vedas, puranas and smritis. The Hinduism.SE is a platform where an "Expert" is suppose to answer a post according to the scriptures. Here the definition of "Expert" is a Scholar in Hindu scriptures but not just a Hindu. So, an expert should cite relevant scripture sources always.

Exception:

What if I know the answer from a scripture but couldn't able to find the source online?

If an expert knows the answer from a scripture but couldn't able to find the source online then he/she can just say "As mentioned in xyz purana" and continue the answer. But don't mis-use it to state as As said by my Grand father etc.. :)

What if the question is related to Temples where scriptures aren't present?

Most of the popular temples have Sthala purana. If you know that Sthala purana, then you should answer the question otherwise you should not.

Don'ts:

  • If an Expert has answered without citation or reference to scriptures, then it is safe to assume that the user/expert is sharing his/her opinion or some rumor. I request other users to not to upvote such posts though you have same opinion or heard the same rumor. If you upvote such posts then you are encouraging the user/expert to post more posts without citation or reference.

Conclusion:

If we are strictly allowing only answers with citation or reference then this network might end up with only few answers. I agree this invokes a problem which need to be solved by inviting more scholars here but not adjusting to give answer with what we know. I am saying again, the problem is lack of experts on this site but not Moderators.

FAQs:

What should I do If I know the answer to a question but don't remember from where I had got that knowledge?

Just don't answer. If you think it could add value to help the other users to answer, then just leave a comment.

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  • If someone disagrees with my opinion please explain the reason instead of just downvoting. I will count just downvoting as hate downvoting.
    – Mr_Green
    May 27, 2016 at 12:52
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    "Hinduism.SE is a platform where an "Expert" is suppose to answer" - No, this is not a site where experts alone can answer. All the experts are busy writing their own books or translations and publishing them. Try inviting some of the real experts to participate on this forum and see how many of them will volunteer :)
    – Say No To Censorship
    May 27, 2016 at 22:40
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    "I am saying again, the problem is lack of experts on this site but not Moderators." - you need to stop saying that. It only makes other users look worthless and also that is totally unrelated to what is being discussed here.
    – Say No To Censorship
    May 27, 2016 at 22:41
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    "I don't know to what extent I am right." - Taking a leaf from your own answer, then "Just don't answer." here on meta :P
    – Say No To Censorship
    May 27, 2016 at 22:46
  • Mr_Green, at first I saw your answer with good intentions. However after @sv. comments, I read again and realize that though it's a good info, you are not answering the question at all. If you read the comments under Q between sv. & 1 mod, it's clear that former has asked multiple times about uniformity of the policy in deleting (i.e. deleting all answers without sources) while later is poorly justifying this (selective) deletion. On what criteria the answers without citation (moon's) or with citations (mine) are deleted? Either you may modify to address it or delete this wiki like answer. Thx
    – iammilind
    May 28, 2016 at 1:31
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    @sv. meta is open for discussion but not the main site. You can't say me here not to post any answer. I will say it again and again until you guys understand that moderation is not problem here but lack of active users. This site is for everyone. If you know the answer from scripture reference, you are the expert at that moment.
    – Mr_Green
    May 28, 2016 at 6:32
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    @iammilind reread by ignoring sv's comments above. I did address the issue :)
    – Mr_Green
    May 28, 2016 at 6:33
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    Those comments just made me revisit your answer again. I read it neutrally only. It doesn't address the issue that why all the answers without sources are not deleted? I found this DB query, from @sv.'s comment: data.stackexchange.com/hinduism/query/114513/…. At least 350 answers are yet to be deleted due to lack of sources. This link has been provided to both the mods. Let's see, how many of them are deleted.
    – iammilind
    May 30, 2016 at 9:42

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