At the Hindu Temple

Today, our RE class went to a Hindu temple here in CT, having learned more about Hinduism last week from our RE director, who had majored in East Asian religions and lived in India for a year (his mother had been in the Peace Corps in India for 2 1/2 years; he was in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, I believe.)

He had told us several stories from Hinduism, about the four faces of Brahma, and the three main deities Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva; about both the oneness and multifaceted aspects of God (which are either believed to really exist or to be symbols of life, nature, etc.); about Rama and his story in the Ramayana; about Krishna and his incarnations when life on earth is out of balance between good and bad; about the elephant-headed god Ganesh; pooja, the ritual offerings; the animal spirits associated with the gods (and so there are many vegetarians); Sanskrit; samsara, or the wheel of suffering; reincarnation; karma, which is not some kind of universal scale of justice, but is more about the sum total of your actions (I've heard it described as intention)--so not "karma is a bitch."

So today was our field trip.  We removed our shoes, saw the shrine to Ganesh, entered the main sanctuary, and did the prayer walk around the room, seeing each shrine and statues to the deities.  The kids asked questions, as did the adults, as we went.  The statues were from India, but the elaborate, gleaming white architectural niches were made here (no pictures allowed inside this area.)  We saw several people praying and making offerings at various shrines--Rama, Shiva, the Jains, the planets, and several others.  There was the sweet smell of incense and lots of ringing bells, plus chanting.  Also, another member demonstrated how ashes at the shrine of Shiva were put across the forehead, left to right; he compared it to Catholic Ash Wednesday.

Then we went downstairs to the Hindu school for the common prayers; we sat on mats or in chairs along the wall.  Led by students, we chanted OM , and other chants (shanti, shanti, shanti), plus two cycles of yoga forms (essentially what we would call salutation of the sun, downward facing dog, and others, each presented with their Hindu name and a short instruction, but I had the strong feeling that this was yoga as it was meant to be--within its spiritual tradition.  i just looked it up--it was a progression called the Surya Namaskara), and more chanting.  There were two presentations on temples by students--one in Tamil Nadu to Shiva and one KaliSa (I think.)  After the kids presented, they asked the gathered children and adults 4 questions--right answers were rewarded with candy!  Everybody liked this part and a couple of our students had a right answer.

Then we went upstairs where there was more chanting and an increasing number of people.  We watched for awhile, looked over a book they had on the temple and its prayer walk.  The curtain in front of the main deity was drawn because the statue was being washed (butter, milk, juice, honey etc., which is later offered as a blessing) and dressed; we hoped to see the curtain opened but think it happened later than we were there.  As we left, I did buy some laddu, a sweet yellow ball with (usually) chickpea flour, ghee, sugar, nuts (almonds or pistachios), cardamom, and this one had raisins.  I shared it around outside but the kids pretty much didn't like it, neither did the adults (well, I did, but I remember having it at my Hindu neighbor's house when I was a child.)

I think we have one major field trip left, to an African American Baptist church.  I've really loved this class.