Hindu Temple

Went to a Hindu temple last night con mi amigo -mostly out of curiosity. Then when we pulled up -it was and of out in this ghetto area (ironically located close to a gated suburbia) and I spotted the shoe rack outside of the temple building. Now cool. Who puts a shoe rack outside???

1. It's cold outside and there is rock/pavement stuff to walk on :(

2. Thieves... hello... plenty of people wouldn't hesitate to steal some Nikes shoes.

At the Jain temple I went to a couple years ago they actually had a designated closet area for your shoes and wallet/leather material. Anyways, we went into the temple -which was just a huge open space with statues and idols along the front and side of the room. There weren't many people there and we didn't know what to do, so we just sat in on the floor Indian-style like a few other people were doing. Then the priest? started the congregation and everyone went up to where he was standing in front of some idols of gods. I saw words under some of the idols indicating which gods they were. I saw Kali and Rama and Vishnu.

Then the priest started saying words in Hindu that I couldn't understand, but the tone he spoke was vibratory and rythmic almost like a song. There was also a lot of insense in the room making it kind of smokey. Then as people started gathering around, they brought out this silver plate which was lit with fire and they moved it around in the front of the group. After about 5 minutes the priest than started saying more things in Hindu but with a less song-like tone and people moved around in circles and started bowing down on the ground. We didn't really know what was going on so we just stood there like a couple of tourists.

Then the silver plate with fire was taken to each person and they put their hands to the smoke and brought it back to their face -I guess to take in the insense. This whole time someone had been ringing a bell in time to the priest's words and random people would ring the bell as well when they wanted to. There were a lot of kids there with their parents, which was pretty adorable.

After the priest stopped speaking the congregation dispersed. Some people left the temple, while others stayed and bowed down to various idols, poured milk over a Naga statuette, rang the bell once, and stood in prayer before the statues. After about another 5 minutes of observation, we left too.

I liked the fact that the room was a big open space ad the people there were pretty welcoming. I also liked that there were two separate parts of the worship -one where everyone worshipped together and then another where people could worship on their own individually. It was also great to see it was a family-friendly zone.

I didn't like how nobody really went out of their way to guide us through what was going on or followed up with us afterward. It was kind of a come-if-you-feel-like-it-and-do-what-you-want kind of a vibe. I also didn't like how hushed and quiet it was -at least afterwards. Nobody really stayed to talk and connect with anyone.

The idols were very vibrantly colored and ornate in decoration. Reminds me of the Roccoco period in Europe where everything was over-ornate-ified. The design ends up distracting instead of bringing focus. Too much going on.

Overall a very brief and interesting experience.