The Maharajas of Travancore, have, for generations, been depositing all the treasures of the Kingdom in the Vaults of Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Trivandrum  The purpose was two fold. One was to protect the articles of value from being plundered by invaders. The other was to ensure that the Kings themselves were not corrupted by wealth. This ensured that the Kings who have always considered themselves to be the Servants of Easwara,  always retained  Bhakthi and therefore the protection of the Paramathma for the people.

Among the six kallaras or chambers in the Temple, Bharatakkon Kallara (Chamber B) is very closely associated with Sri Padmanabhaswamy. It is not a part of the Temple Treasury. The holy Chamber houses a Srichakram, an idol of Sri Padmanabha and many valuables meant to enhance the potency of the Principal Deity.

In 2011, the Supreme Court of India sent a seven member committee to the temple. In the presence of the Head Trustee of Travencore Trust of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy, the temple's six secret vaults were opened.

When opened, the vault contained diamond jewellery, golden utensils, weapons, golden idols, golden elephants idols and diamond necklaces having 500 kilograms weight and 18 feet length and bags full of golden coins of different nations.

For documentation purposes, these vaults have been designated as vaults A, B, C, D, E and F. While the rest of the vaults are at least opened eight times in a year, the main vault is Vault B. This chamber is being considered by the Trust members and other learned astrologers of India, as a highly mysterious, sacred and risky and dangerous to unveil it.

The chamber B is considered to be fixed to the secret chamber with the ‘naga bandham’ or ‘naga paasam’ ‘mantras’ by the then ‘sidda purashas’ who lived during the reign of king marthandavarma in the 16th century.

It is said that a door of such a secret vault can be opened by a highly erudite ‘sadhu’ or ‘mantrikas’ who are familiar with the knowledge of extricating ‘naga bandham’ or ‘naga pasam’ by chanting a ‘garuda mantra'; so except in this way, the door can't be opened by any means by anyone.

If any human attempts are made with man-made technology to open the mysterious Chamber-B other than by chanting highly sacred and powerful ‘GARUDA MANTRAS’ by a highly sacred ‘SADHUS’ or ‘MANTRIKAS’, catastrophes are likely to occur in and around the Temple premises or throughout India.

It is said that chanting the Garuda Mantra by a powerful ‘SADHU’ or ‘YOGI’ proceeds to automatically open the door and no human effort is needed to open it in any other way.

It is said that Vedic Astrologers of India tried to open the door, once but they were unable to do so.

It is said that If this mantra is chanted properly by some Sadhu, only then will the door open. Else, mighty serpents guarding the door will wreak havoc on those who try to open the door.

Entrusting all the "wealth" to the Temple where no one can use it may appear to be purposeless.  Since much of the Treasure in the Temple is supposed to be ornaments of Gold, let us look at one passage from Srimad Bhagavatham: 

Trembling with fear, Kali said: “My Lord, the entire Earth is ruled by you. Where can I go? God who has created Good has also created evil which is but the shadow of Good. I have to exist somewhere since I have been created. Tell me where I should go and I will obey you.”

The King thought over his words and said: “What you say is right. You can go and thrive where the name of the Lord is forgotten. You can go where there is gambling, drinking, lustfulness and the desire to kill.”

Kali said: “Point out to me a single spot where all these are present and I will go there.”

“Gold”, said the king. “Gold will propogate avarice, untruth, arrogance, lustfulness, ruthlessness and hatred. These five will be the places and so, Gold, will be the place where you will be allowed to Live.”

Wealth and particularly great wealth, was never considered as beneficial to the common man.  The King, always held the wealth in trust to administer for the welfare of the people.  Wealth, in excess of need was considered to be a perpetrator of greed and sorrow. 

Real wealth,  according to the Paramathma is pure and sustained Bhakthi. 

Given the above, how can Gold be with the Temple, where it does not belong?

The force of Kali has been vested in wealth. The attraction of wealth has been the motivator of human action including criminal activity that is driven by greed. The force of Kali that attracts people is also, fortunately or otherwise a symbol of power that acts as a magnet in drawing the attention and consciousness of the people towards the place where it resides.  If it resides in a Temple, where it can do no harm, the People are attracted to the place of worship, by perceiving it as a place of dual power - worldly and otherwise.

In the Kali Yugam, diverting the attention of people from material pursuit and fixing their attention on the spiritual path is a very difficult accomplishment.  Gold in Temples generally serves this purpose because for people who are constantly seeking material prosperity,  gold is associated as a representaton of power. 

Now consider the doors to Chamber B of the Temple in the correct light.  It is said that the doors will open when the Mantra is chanted correctly as it should be. Anything that is done with a discipline will positively impact the mind, simply because discipline structures the organization of our thoughts and subdues itt from fleeing in all directions. Likewise, the chanting of the Mantra in the way that it should be, enables thoughts to be controlled and focussed on the Paramathma. Any Mantra chanting will have an effect on only one aspect of our self and that is the Mind.  There are doors in the mind that are closed and block out the inflow of enlightenment. These need to be opened so ignorance can be dispelled. The way to open the doors is to focus the mental resources on the Paramathma and one of the ways of doing that is to chant Garuda Mantra correctly. 

This chanting will not happen unless man thinks there is treasure to be found or reward to be gained.  So the people may chant the Garuda Mantra, for the misguided objective of opening the doors to attain worldly treasure, but what will happen is, by the time each of us practices the Mantra enough to say it correctly, the inner doors to wisdom, knowledge and enlightenment will open. The opening of the inner doors will put everything in the correct perspective for the each person that makes the attempt. The right perspective is that the inner treasure of knowledge is far more valuable than the gold or worldly treasures for which we strive most of our lives. 

So there are many ways in which the Paramathma attracts and brings us to the correct path and perspective of life and its purpose.  The objects of this world are created to provide a physically perceivable path to enable us to carve out the mental path. This ability to attach a symbolic meaning and interpret the physical world and its objects is extremely important to keep worldly events in the right perspective and adjust our inner self (which is the only area of control that is possible) so we are able to evolve beyond the world of objects. 

Such an approach is all critical and a fundemental requirement of Sanathana Dharma.