Hinduism Temple Visit Personal Experience Reflection Essay Example

Devi explained that to be considered clean to enter the temple, her family would have to remove their shoes and wash their legs at least up to their knees. Their hair would need to be wet, be worn down, and freshly cleaned. Devi then said to finish the process, they would have to put on clothes that had not been touched by human hands, at least since it had been washed and purified of what was unclean.

As we entered the temple, it was very loud. This was surprising to me because the places of worship I have experienced, often focus on meditation, contemplation, and an atmosphere of peace. I know meditation is a large part of the Hindu culture, so I expected there to be little to no sound in the temple. Resulting from meditation, positive energies flow throughout the worshipper's bodies. We proceeded towards the right, as Devi mentioned that in the Hindu culture the right, clockwise, is considered to be the correct way and left, counterclockwise, is considered evil, in a sense.

She explained that this was simply because most of the people who wrote and designed things were right handed, so moving to the left would be considered defiant. Devi mentioned three main gods Ganesha, Shiva and Vishnu. Later, as I was doing research, I discovered that she had mentioned three of the five main deities. (Ganesha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga. ) She focused on two in particular. Ganesha was one of the first alters we went to. She explained that each god is associated with an animal. Ganesha is shown with/as the elephant deity riding a mouse.

The sight of this made me chuckle a bit.

Devi even said that it was funny to her that her culture idolizes a mouse at all. Ganesha is the son of Shiva, who is the main goddess she prays to. He is known as the Lord of Success. If you need anything, this is the god to pray to. Devi took a few moments to pray, then continued with exposition: Ganesha's head is supposed to be a symbol of the Atman or the soul; the fact that the head is an elephant, is meant to remind people of his wisdom, with the trunk of the elephant symbolizing the sound of the universe… "ohm. " The body of Ganesha represents Maya or the body.

This idol visual is to remind people to be humble and to allow success to come from the energy within. The energy from within, relates to the snake around his waist. Devi knew a lot about this god in particular. Devi and I moved on, clockwise once again. We went to Ganesha's brother, Kartikeya. Devi mentioned at this point, that Ganesha is represented with gold and his brother is often decorated in silver. As we continued throughout the temple, we spoke of the incense in the air; it smelled wonderful! Soon after, we came upon a box of idol gods. These idols didn't have the rass plaques like the other idol god statues, but instead had a paper trifold in front of each statue. I learned that these idols represented the gods of the universe; one for each of the nine planets in our solar system. The Sun was the

center statue. We went around just once, but it was mentioned to me that when praying to the gods of the universe, we would normally go around nine times. We continued on to the end of a long line and waited to see the idol of Shiva. While in line, there was a shaman or guru of some kind, who passed out two almonds to each of us in line, blessing them along the way.

I 'm not quite sure of the significance of the almonds, but I decided to take it at face value. There was no need to wait for a particular time to enjoy these almonds, and it's not required that you eat them either. As we entered into the shrine for the alter of the goddess Shiva, I noticed that as others were leaving, they wouldn't turn and walk out; they would touch a few chakra points and walk out backwards. While walking backwards, they would take a step, then kiss their hand and touch each step as they left it. Once they were out of the shrine, they would then turn and leave.

At this point, two of the alters were being redecorated. Devi brought my attention to it, as they would say a mantra, kiss the flower or fruit, then place it on the statue of the gods. They were very particular about how and where they placed the decorations. It seemed to be symmetrical. I was told that it is symmetrical so that the balance of the chakras and other energies around are in check and aligned. Devi then asked if she could take some time

to meditate. There were many people doing this in the temple on rugs. I like meditation, but it also gave me more of a chance to observe everything.

The people throughout the temple, did not have a uniform way of sitting, like the movies perceive monks and meditation. One thing I noticed that was similar with everyone, was that all arms and legs were inside of the vehicle at all times. No one had any limbs off the sides of the rugs. The people in the temple who we praying were in a sitting position for the most part, but I don't know if you could call this a lotus position or not. I know that in yoga, the lotus position is with the legs intermingled almost in a cross-legged form fashion, with the arms out and placed on the knees.

When we were finished with this, Devi showed me a place in the temple where they had a chimney and a fire blazing. Fire is the most powerful of the elements in the Hindi culture. The fire is a reminder to us, that the fire can purify and can also destroy us. This is why it is considered to be the most powerful. Devi said that after her son, Rishi, was born, the family had a ceremony with fire to represent him coming into the world. Rishi's youth and innocence were pure like the fire, and any impurities were to burn away in the flames to protect him from evils.

She said it was like a baptism for the Christian faith. As Devi and I headed out of the temple, there

was a social place that had tables and what looked like a buffet bar. It wasn't quite what I would call a buffet. Our timing was around 4:00 in the afternoon, so I don't think they had a buffet feast. The buffet did have was a curry rice with peppers and olives in it, however. I didn't get a chance to try it, since it isn't on my diet, but the peppers looked like chili peppers and the olives appeared to be kalamata olives. The rice, being a bright yellow, was obvious to me that it was a curry rice.

We left the temple after this. As I've been going through this class it has landed in kind of an ironic point of my life. It has only been in the past few months that I've started getting back into religion. I've tried to figure out how to define my religion to people. Do I have a real religion? Most of the things I believe in are not within the Christian faith. From reincarnation, or the rebirth, to energies and healing aspects from with in. I am a firm believer in things like ghosts, zodiac truths, reincarnation, chakras and energy healing.

I even speak of karma on a regular basis. I used to take the bits and pieces I liked from Christianity, or what I could believe in/understand, and intersperse things that I believed in on my own. Often times when someone would ask me what my religion was I would respond "It's kind of complicated. " After this I would go on to explain my life story through religion. This class has

been interesting, because it was only in December that I started to attend church on a regular basis since middle school (Ten years now. As I meet new people and re-meet people I have to explain where I came from and how I came to be with the church community. Since this class, I have been able to say more than just my usual script. Some of the things I've learned with in myself since I have started taking this class, is that before, I would say I was more spiritual rather than religious. Those things ended up being part of a religion after all- Hinduism! Now with the knowledge I have, I can say that I am a christian but that some of the spiritual energetics of the Hindu religion are things that I believe in as well.

It is hard though to talk to some of my christian friends who are very much conservative Christians, and not so open to other truths being possible since the bible doesn't mention some of the things I talk about. One of the things I thought I was going to focus on in this paper was the many gods they have specifically. In doing more research on this I realized that Hinduism is so polytheistic that I couldn't focus on all the gods that would deserve it. One of the gods that I did look at a little more in depth was Rama. I suddenly realized a connection between a show that I did a few years ago.

I remember you (Dr. Maxwell) mentioning that the hippie movement had some parallels to Hinduism. The musical

that I did was ? HAiR! " In this musical myself and the tribe/cast members started a song right before the end of the first act. The lyrics read "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. " Thinking and looking at these lyrics it has Krishna and Rama in this chant. The gods name is Rama. I'm not sure what this means but it defiantly made me think of this experience. Rama is a deity referred to as the "perfect man. This god is the first son of Kausalya and Dasharatha. Rama is Sits, another goddess' husband. There is a story where he leaves his home to honor his father. The tale says that Rama abandons his claim to throne and "serves an exile of fourteen years in the forest. " Rama is considered to be unending compassion , and people often pray to him for courage to strive for their values and duties to the faith. The Hindu people have a few written texts they use for their praise to the gods. Their version of the bible is called the Bhagavad Gita. They also live and practice their religion eight the four Vedas.

They seem to be a representation of the wisdoms of their world. The Vedas were written approximately 4000 years ago in sanskrit. Before the chance of writing these down came about, these Vedas were passed down in an oral tradition up to 2800 years prior. The four Vedas in particular and are explained to be forms of wisdom. The Rig Veda is the wisdom of the verses. Next comes the Sama

Veda, or wisdom of the chants. We then have the Yajur Veda, or wisdom of the sacrifices. The fourth Veda is known as the Atharva Veda, or wisdom of the Atharvan Priests.

Many years later to help people who spoke the hindu language there were three vedas added. Brahamanas are discussions of the rituals, while Aranyakas are religious books that are to be studied in the forest. Finally there are the Upanishads which focus more on the philosophical writings and understandings of the first four Vedas. As a matter of fact, it has been said that the Upanishads look at the sacred texts in a metaphoric way. These Vedas are often practiced in the mantras that are said through prayer to the gods. I learned that the verbal praise that is known as mantras is often referred to as pujas.

She said that mantras are more for the guru or shaman to chant as prayer and meditation is happening. When it is mentioned as a puja this is a way that commoner and shamans alike can pray to or for the gods. Also in the Hindu culture there are four casts. These casts are a direct correlation to the color of skin. Although in India ,where Hinduism is thought to be associated with in the modern world, the cast system is banned by law, the United States also can comp racism and civil rights in a similar manner. Just because the law of the land forbids something doesn't mean it will be abolished.

Simply put, the vernacular of society changes, but the underlying problem still exists. Although there are four major casts,

there are hundreds of sub casts that people still deal with in todays society. There number four comes up in yet another aspect of the culture. The Yogas are an important part of the lifestyle of Hindus. Yogas are pathways or margins of knowledge. Raja yoga is a yoga that most people are familiar with. This is yoga of the body where we have a fervent practice here in the US without putting it into a religious context in any way.

Hatha yoga is a yoga that is mentioned as the sun and moon yoga. This yoga is supposed to put one in balance from body and through soul! Being at harmony is the result of this particular yoga practice. As I said earlier I do have some experience with the energy centers or chakras. There are seven points in the body where balls of energy resinate from. The first or base chakra is at the pelvic area. This is what I tend to talk about when I say the passion chakra. This chakra is know for self expression, enthusiasm and being grounded. The element of the earth is in this root chakra.

The next few chakras occur at the abdomen (2), the solar plexus (3) and the heart (4). The second chakra is known for self gratification and emotion. Water is usually the element that resinates with this energy ball. This chakra comes alive usually around the time of adolescence. At the point of the solar pelvis, control, ego, self definition- these are what represents this chakra; this relates to the fire from within. The heart is where one will feel the

compassion from with in. The air usually notes for this chakra as far as the elements are in play.

The chakras continue at the throat, the third eye, and the crown of the head. At the throat self expression or the sound of the ohm are represented with sound. When we move up to the chakra at the third eye, light or self refection is at this point in the body. The final seventh chakra is at the crown, where if you meditate through all seven of these chakra zones on reaches a place of enlightenment or mokshah. Overall I have to say I am very intrigued by the aspects of Hinduism. I don't know if I could convert whole heartedly, especially with my background coming from christianity.

I do believe however, that it has changed me and my way of thinking to quite an extent. I have learned so much and yet still know so little. Studying this is such a focused matter has made me reconsider some of the judgments that I had. I couldn't understand so much that I ended up having my ignorance practically handed to me on a plate. I did enjoy visiting this temple and may go back to try and understand some of my neighbors more. My journey has just started with the life of Hindu aspects, and is far from being over!