Hindu Temple

Upon arriving to the Hindu Temple, my first impression was the difference between their place of worship and the catholic church that I worship at. After placing my shoes in their shoe closet, I took a seat on the floor and started to study the main worshiping room. It was very much different than what I imagined it to be. I thought that the temple was going to be an elaborate building with stone floors and with many beautiful decorations filling the room. Yet, the temple was much different than that. It had a few beautifully carved stone statues, but it was quite simple to say the least. The floors were just tiles with matts thrown on top to make it slightly more comfortable for sitting Indian style, and there were a few scriptures on the walls throughout the room. Although it was different than what I imagined, the temple gave off a sense of ease and comfortableness. It was almost as if they kept it simple for others to understand that you do not need an elaborate place to worship to follow their gods. As if their religion is open for anyone to come worship and believe in what they believe.

After being at the place for several minutes, there was a lady that was a member of the temple that began to spoke about the Hindu traditions and their beliefs. She introduced the two most important people of their temple, the president and her father who happened to be the oldest member of the society. She spoke on some of their gods and some of their beliefs. I found it most interesting that they keep their doors open for other people of the world to come and worship. That the Hindus believe everyone is equal and the same. She also pointed out that there were over one billion people who practice the Hindu lifestyle. That's more than three times the number of citizens of the United States. However of the csra, only around six hundred families practice Hinduism. It amazes me that throughout the world that many people believe this religion. The speaker also pointed out their reasoning upon performing their greeting. In their greeting, they bring both hands together bow to one another. This greeting has the implications that you are one, I am one, and we are the same.

After the presentation, the oldest member of the temple then spoke. He spoke for a few minutes then it was time for the students who were there to ask questions about their beliefs. I felt that they made some valid points on what they believe in and were not offended by any of the questions that were asked. What amazes me more is that their religion supports the theory of evolution. Being that I am a science major, I constantly find myself questioning the bible and its reasoning for human existence.

My experience of the Hindu temple was one that I will remember. I guess because of their reasoning for life and the way that they choose to live their lives. Their beliefs make sense, and it is kind of interesting that I am questioning my own beliefs against theirs. Its going to be interesting next week learning about their society in more detail.