On Saturday, Venkat, our Tamil teacher took us out to South Jordan, where we visited the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple and then got south Indian lunch. It was an eventful saturday!
I was very excited for the Temple part! not too excited for the food, but it actually didn't turn out that bad. When I first saw the temple, I was so excited. I saw the engraved gold, and I felt like I was out of Utah. As we were walking around it, I saw the different beautiful decorations, and the engravings on the pillars. Since this was a temple dedicated to the god Ganesh, it had statues of him everywhere. There were tow little elephant statues on the outside of the temple, and they were beautifully engraved. Venkat explained that Ganesh was Siva's son, but that he never married. So, that is why he stands outside of the temple, looking for a wife. He also said that many bachelors in India come to seek the blessings of Ganesh. I thought this was really cool, and interesting because he seemed tailored to the specific needs of the men.
When we went inside, it smelled so good, like fresh incense. The main shrine had a gorgeous statue of Ganesh, and there were colorful flowers decorating his neck. The shrine was so beautiful, and there was a bowl of fruit on the ground. Venkat approached the priest and then the priest started saying chants and prayers in Sanskrit, which is a beautiful language. He had incense, water and a little bowl of fire, that as he approached Venkat with it, Venkat put his hands in it and rubbed it on his face... it sounds more dangerous than it actually was. It was very interesting to see, and so beautiful too. I liked the statue a Siva that was next to Ganesh, and it was so beautifully decorated as well. The priest was very friendly and he didn't keep us from observing, he was very welcoming. He was shy though, and rarely made eye contact. Later, I found out that he was from Tamil Nadu, which made me happy!
There was a young man there, no more than thirty, that worked at the temple. He was so friendly and we found out that he was from Chennai, and was going to be in Coimbatore this summer, to study Sanskrit! He was explaining to us that there the spirit of the gods were everywhere, that there was no separation between us and them, and that the purpose of the temple was to invoke their blessings upon us. I witnessed this first hand because there was a cute little family, sitting on the floor, by the shrine. They were with their little two year old boy, and he sat so still and his parents chanted a prayer in Sanskrit. It was so beautiful to hear and to see. There were quite a bit of people there, and I was reminded that they were just like me, there is a deep desire to connect with the divine and the sublime, no matter what religion one may be.
The young man said "everyone is Hindu until they say otherwise! Hinduism is the mother of all religions". I thought this was so interesting and I had never perceived Hinduism this way. I want to go back to the temple, it was a wonderful experience.
The food was actually good! I was scared, but I really liked the Dosa with the chutni. The rasam and sambar were a little spicy, but they tasted soooo good with the Indian onion rings, as I call them. The mango Lassi was delicious, and so was the rice. I was so relieved to like the food, and now I have one more thing to look forward to, for India.
No comments:
Post a Comment