The hunger of Beauty

From rini's post.. The whole entrance was painted in gold... This brings to my mind one more aspect of life and living that I often ponder... Its been a part of the Indian tradition (I'm not very aware of other ones), to have the idols of gods to be embossed with gold and jewellery costing to a few good deal of rupees... I truely wonder what big significance they might be having... a decoration is needed and a costly decoration might also be.. But why can't some portion of these be channelled towards the needy... The idols do look awesome and do give a serene feeling for all the spiritual hearts.. but I would prefer bread for a person on the steet rather than personal serenity... A lot of temples and trusts taking care of such temples do have the practice of providing food and rendering a helping hand to a lot of people.. but still a very huge amount seems to be spent on the beautification of the temples and the idols which beyond a limit seems to serve no practical purpose... Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupathi, wearing a diamond studded crown worth 50 lakh rupees sure looks wonderful and does give a refreshing feeling to all the thousands of people craving to have a peek at Him... But how does it help my hunger...