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Temple Visits
- Thread starter Fireside_Hindu
- Start date
Fireside_Hindu
Jai Lakshmi Maa
I attended a special performance at temple today. It was a music and dance program dedicated to the occasion of Mahalaya - or the day that the Goddess Durga emerges from the light from Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva as well as other God's faces. It was a beautiful performance. The singing was all in Sanskrit or Bengali. (I gather the the goddess is kind of a big deal in Bengal)
Next Tuesday I'm in Indianapolis for a week to celebrate Navratri with some of my old friends at my former temple. I'm looking forward to Garba and trying to speak Hindi with them
:camp:
Next Tuesday I'm in Indianapolis for a week to celebrate Navratri with some of my old friends at my former temple. I'm looking forward to Garba and trying to speak Hindi with them
:camp:
The lamp is being lit! Soon abhishekam of Ma Durga, Ma Lakshmi and Ma Saraswati will begin followed by Shri Chakra pooja. I am having a very hard time keeping still.
Usually somber and reserved, the temple is filled with Ma's energy. The birds sing for Her outside and the energy makes me want to squirm. I can barely sit still!
Usually somber and reserved, the temple is filled with Ma's energy. The birds sing for Her outside and the energy makes me want to squirm. I can barely sit still!
Fireside_Hindu
Jai Lakshmi Maa
On Wednesday, I was granted the privileged of seeing the progress on the interior of the Hindu Temple of Central Indiana, by one of my old friends there who is on the Executive Committee. Because I did not take any pictures it will be hard for me to convey how beautiful this temple is going to be when it is finished. The Shilpis in charge here are immensily talented. The attention to detail is staggering and humbling to me. Not only that - I was informed that when it is complete, it will all be painted in bright colors, like many south indian temples. Just imagining it takes my breath away. MahaKumbhabhishekam is planned for next summer and I am definitely going to make plans to be there for it. I have only visited maybe 10 unique temples in the US so perhaps my experience is too limited but of those 10 I think it will be one of the most beautiful ones I've ever been to.
:camp:
:camp:
Maya3
Well-Known Member
That sounds wonderful! I can't wait to check out the photos if they'll have them on their website.
Today there were a couple with twin babies at the puja. They went up to the priest and the babies were both given tilak (I assumed that's what it was) and they prayed. They were about a year old, maybe a little younger, dressed in the same cute little dresses.
Is this a ritual that all Hindu babies get at this time? I have seen it at the temple before.
Maya
Probably nothing that special unless they sat down with priest for awhile. Then it could have been one of several samskaras.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Today, my younger grandson (KG) has gone to the school dressed as Rama with 'pitambara' and a 'mukut'. I suppose there will be a Seeta too. I will post the photograph when they are available. When babies/children go to the priest, it is customary for him to give them 'tilaka', tie a thread on their wrists, and give them 'prasada'. Yes, the young ones are 'rupaas' of the deities (Bacche to Bhagwan hote hain - Children are Gods, that is how it goes).
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Maya3
Well-Known Member
It wasn´t for very long, they sat with him for maybe 5-10 minutes or so.
What are the samskaras that people do?
Maya
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Surprisingly there are many before the child is born. Gujarat government or some organization is pressing for before birth Samskaras saying that Abhimanyu learnt half his war skill while still in the womb). Of course, I do not like it. First government should not meddle in religious things, and second, it is anti-science.
Samskaras during childhood (Wikipedia): (Hardly any Samskara can be performed in 5 or 10 minutes. What will the clients/Yajaman pay for a 5 or 10 minute ceremony?. It has to be long)
Namakarana (giving a name): It is performed on the 11th day after birth.
Nishkramana (first outing): Four months after birth. Child is taken out much earlier these days.
Annaprashana (feeding cereals): Sixth month.
Chudakarana (first tonsure): First/third/fifth year.
Karnavedha (piercing the ears): Only for girls, for boys only in villages. Rajasthan/Gujarat village people always wear an ear ring or an ear stud.
Vidyarambha (commencement of studies): Generally the child is helped to write 'Om' after prayers to Saraswati. Three to five years. The orthodox have various rituals.
Upanayana/Yajnopavita (Sacred thread): Seventh year or any odd year later for those eligible to wear it. The others do not care about it.
Samskaras during childhood (Wikipedia): (Hardly any Samskara can be performed in 5 or 10 minutes. What will the clients/Yajaman pay for a 5 or 10 minute ceremony?
. It has to be long)Namakarana (giving a name): It is performed on the 11th day after birth.
Nishkramana (first outing): Four months after birth. Child is taken out much earlier these days.
Annaprashana (feeding cereals): Sixth month.
Chudakarana (first tonsure): First/third/fifth year.
Karnavedha (piercing the ears): Only for girls, for boys only in villages. Rajasthan/Gujarat village people always wear an ear ring or an ear stud.
Vidyarambha (commencement of studies): Generally the child is helped to write 'Om' after prayers to Saraswati. Three to five years. The orthodox have various rituals.
Upanayana/Yajnopavita (Sacred thread): Seventh year or any odd year later for those eligible to wear it. The others do not care about it.
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Maya3
Well-Known Member
Surprisingly there are many before the child is born. Gujarat government or some organization is pressing for before birth Samskaras saying that Abhimanyu learnt half his war skill while still in the womb). Of course, I do not like it. First government should not meddle in religious things, and second, it is anti-science.
Samskaras during childhood (Wikipedia): (Hardly any Samskara can be performed in 5 or 10 minutes. What will the clients/Yajaman pay for a 5 or 10 minute ceremony?
Namakarana (giving a name): It is performed on the 11th day after birth.
Nishkramana (first outing): Four months after birth. Child is taken out much earlier these days.
Annaprashana (feeding cereals): Sixth month.
Chudakarana (first tonsure): First/third/fifth year.
Karnavedha (piercing the ears): Only for girls, for boys only in villages. Rajasthan/Gujarat village people always wear an ear ring or an ear stud.
Vidyarambha (commencement of studies): Generally the child is helped to write 'Om' after prayers to Saraswati. Three to five years. The orthodox have various rituals.
Upanayana/Yajnopavita (Sacred thread): Seventh year or any odd year later for those eligible to wear it. The others do not care about it.
Thank you! I didn´t know all these.
Vinayaka, it would have been nice, but they left earlier than me yesterday.
Maya
Right now, during Navaratri, is a very traditional time to do this one. Generally we have 5 or so children doing it at the same time. Sort of a little circle of learners.
Is this the same one, Aup? Vijayadashami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Just known be many different names and celebrated differently in each state?
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
No Vinayaka, "Vasant Panchami (Nepali, Hindi: वसन्त पञ्चमी
, sometimes referred to as Saraswati Puja (Bengali language: সরস০বতী পূজা, Shree Panchami, or the Basant Festival of Kites is a Sikh and Hindu festival held on the fifth day of Magha (in early February) marking the start of spring and the Holi season. On this day Hindus worship Saraswati Devi, the goddess of knowledge, music, art and culture." "Vasant Panchami initiates the spring festive cycle and heralds its summation that occurs with Holi." "Celebrations today still honor Kamadeva, his wife Rati, and his friend Vasant (the personification of Spring)." "Goddess Saraswati is worshipped and the day is treated by celebrants as Saraswati's birthday." It is customary to wear yellow clothes on this day. It was celebrated with equal fervor in Gujarat and Lahore, Gujataris, Bnegalis continue with it, but now the Lahoris do not like it. Vasant Panchami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Fireside_Hindu
Jai Lakshmi Maa
I keep meaning to post this and then life happens!
During my visit with friends for a week long Navratri festival at my former temple, there were many wonderful experiences. But one encounter sticks out and I want to post about it because I think it's interesting insight for those western Hindus who sometimes feel out of place at temple or even maybe practicing in general.
I was seated for the morning puja, waiting for the Lalita Sahasranama to begin so I could clumsily (although lovingly) mumble my way through it. I had taken Tilak , tirtham and prasad already and I pulled out a notebook to practice writing some devanagari before the puja started.
And young Indian man (Probably 20 or 21) sat down next to me and fixed me with a look of either confusion or curiosity (both, as I would soon find out).
Me: "Hello, Namaste."
Him: Hi. Um...Are you..." (he points to his own forehead to indicate my tilak)
I smile and laugh a little to help him feel at ease.
Me: "Yes, I practice. There aren't many of us, but we're out there."
Him: "Oh, so do you...understand what's going on?"
Me: "Mostly."
He then starts to (with interest, not antagonistically) question me on my knowledge of Hinduism and seems satisfied with my answers.
Him: "It's nice to meet someone who actually knows about the culture and what things mean. Usually when I ask, you know, (white people - I felt bad for him he kept trying to avoid calling out my race) they just start talking about Buddhism or yoga."
Me:"Yeah, lots of people get it confused, or only want the parts they can easily understand."
I go on to explain my history with the temple community and how welcomed everyone has made me feel and that people are mostly curious....
Him: "Yeah, that's a good word for it. Exactly."
....and that I've only ever had one experience I could call negative.
Him: "Negative?"
Me:" Yeah - once someone told me that you can't become Hindu. You have to be born Hindu."
At this he rolls his eyes and cringes.
Him: "I'm sorry you had that experience. I feel embarrassed! It's because - well I went to a Catholic school and we'd always have speakers who would come and say things like that about Hinduism. I think that's where it comes from."
I assured him I had no hard feelings and that I appreciated him coming to talk to me. I also said I was embarrassed that speakers had come to his school and said such things. We chatted a little longer and then the Sahasranama started. I wasn't able to talk to him further later on in the week, but the encounter left me feeling hopeful.
___________
I relate this story because I think it's important for western Hindus to know that the supportive Indian Hindus are out there and they are the vast majority. It's just that they tend to be quieter than the dissenters. Don't feel like you don't belong at temple just because of where you were born or because you didn't grow up with Hinduism. On an enlightenment level most of us are still children anyway. I also relate it because judging from the young man's surprise it's important that we not hide our religious faith from other Hindus. He had no idea that white people practiced anything outside of ISKCON and I think moving forward stronger Hindu communities will develop when ALL members can live openly. Some day Hindus of all nationalities and colors will be the norm, but we can speed that up by making ourselves known.
:camp:
During my visit with friends for a week long Navratri festival at my former temple, there were many wonderful experiences. But one encounter sticks out and I want to post about it because I think it's interesting insight for those western Hindus who sometimes feel out of place at temple or even maybe practicing in general.
I was seated for the morning puja, waiting for the Lalita Sahasranama to begin so I could clumsily (although lovingly) mumble my way through it. I had taken Tilak , tirtham and prasad already and I pulled out a notebook to practice writing some devanagari before the puja started.
And young Indian man (Probably 20 or 21) sat down next to me and fixed me with a look of either confusion or curiosity (both, as I would soon find out).
Me: "Hello, Namaste."
Him: Hi. Um...Are you..." (he points to his own forehead to indicate my tilak)
I smile and laugh a little to help him feel at ease.
Me: "Yes, I practice. There aren't many of us, but we're out there."
Him: "Oh, so do you...understand what's going on?"
Me: "Mostly."
He then starts to (with interest, not antagonistically) question me on my knowledge of Hinduism and seems satisfied with my answers.
Him: "It's nice to meet someone who actually knows about the culture and what things mean. Usually when I ask, you know, (white people - I felt bad for him he kept trying to avoid calling out my race) they just start talking about Buddhism or yoga."
Me:"Yeah, lots of people get it confused, or only want the parts they can easily understand."
I go on to explain my history with the temple community and how welcomed everyone has made me feel and that people are mostly curious....
Him: "Yeah, that's a good word for it. Exactly."
....and that I've only ever had one experience I could call negative.
Him: "Negative?"
Me:" Yeah - once someone told me that you can't become Hindu. You have to be born Hindu."
At this he rolls his eyes and cringes.
Him: "I'm sorry you had that experience. I feel embarrassed! It's because - well I went to a Catholic school and we'd always have speakers who would come and say things like that about Hinduism. I think that's where it comes from."
I assured him I had no hard feelings and that I appreciated him coming to talk to me. I also said I was embarrassed that speakers had come to his school and said such things. We chatted a little longer and then the Sahasranama started. I wasn't able to talk to him further later on in the week, but the encounter left me feeling hopeful.
___________
I relate this story because I think it's important for western Hindus to know that the supportive Indian Hindus are out there and they are the vast majority. It's just that they tend to be quieter than the dissenters. Don't feel like you don't belong at temple just because of where you were born or because you didn't grow up with Hinduism. On an enlightenment level most of us are still children anyway. I also relate it because judging from the young man's surprise it's important that we not hide our religious faith from other Hindus. He had no idea that white people practiced anything outside of ISKCON and I think moving forward stronger Hindu communities will develop when ALL members can live openly. Some day Hindus of all nationalities and colors will be the norm, but we can speed that up by making ourselves known.
:camp:
Nice story, and so true of the kinds of things we encounter. The last young man that had a similar encounter with me ended up hanging out with us, sharing stories, having fun all through the festival. The vast majority of people, once engaged, will be very similar to him. Some do get it right away though, before you even have to open your mouth.
Fireside_Hindu
Jai Lakshmi Maa
Not technically a temple visit, but I took some unexpected Darshan while visiting DC!
We came to DC to visit some friends and it was our first visit so there were tons of museums to visit. I already knew there was no time for visiting any of the temples outside DC because we would be so busy and short on time.
A week ago, I stumbed upon an article about the Saraswati sculpture outside the Indonesian Embassy in DC. I that it would be nice to see some day, but didn't bother looking to see where it was in relation to our hotel. Again, I figured there wouldn't be time anyway.
Well, on our walk back to our hotel from our last evening with friends, we walked right by her! I was so excited to get to see her. It's an amazing sculpture actually. If you get a chance to visit her, please do. It was particularly nice to see her because I'd been feeling frustrated lately about my Hindi studies.
Here's a picture my husband took with his phone. It's a little blurry but you get the idea. =)
:camp:
We came to DC to visit some friends and it was our first visit so there were tons of museums to visit. I already knew there was no time for visiting any of the temples outside DC because we would be so busy and short on time.
A week ago, I stumbed upon an article about the Saraswati sculpture outside the Indonesian Embassy in DC. I that it would be nice to see some day, but didn't bother looking to see where it was in relation to our hotel. Again, I figured there wouldn't be time anyway.
Well, on our walk back to our hotel from our last evening with friends, we walked right by her! I was so excited to get to see her. It's an amazing sculpture actually. If you get a chance to visit her, please do. It was particularly nice to see her because I'd been feeling frustrated lately about my Hindi studies.
Here's a picture my husband took with his phone. It's a little blurry but you get the idea. =)
:camp: