Exploring religious practices through personal observation and interviews

Religion -- House of Worship

The house of worship that I visited is a Hindu Temple that was way different than anything that I have been used to seeing.

Architecture of the temple

The Hindu Temple is huge and on the outside, there is a conical-shaped structure on top of the temple and the tip of this cone is made of gold. There is only one entrance and as soon as everyone enters, they have to remove their shoes and their coats. There is a wash area for people to wash their hands and feet for purification before they enter the sacred area.

As soon as the sacred area is entered, there is a big pillar and every person was prostrating near this pillar before they went in to see the God. There are numerous deities or Gods in the temple and each of them have a shrine. Inside each shrine, is a different idol made of bronze or an alloy of different metals. The Gods have distinct face, hands, body and legs and even the facial features differ from God to God. Most of them also have some kind of weapon like an ax or a sharp wheel on their hands and this is to signify how they protect their devotees from harm. Huge metal lamps are placed at the entrance of each shrine and these lamps are lit with oil and cotton. They burned all the time in front of all the shrines.

The temple has one prominent God, in this case it was Lord Varadharaja and this particular deity had a bigger shrine. Also, this shrine occupied the central part of the temple and this is the first shrine that people see when they enter the temple. Each shrine had a few steps that had to be entered to get near the idol and only the priest went past the steps to get near the God. Other worshipers stood near the entrance of the shrine and prayed.

The other deities in this temple were Goddess Mahalakshmi, Goddess Andal, Lord Venkateswara, Lord Ayappa, Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Goddess Durga, Lord Muruga, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha and the Navagraha group of nine deities clustered together. Each of these deities had the same kind of shrine, though smaller than the main deity and only the priest went past the steps. The worshipers stood outside each of these shrines and prayed with folded hands.

Every God is adorned with flowers and bright clothing. The Goddesses have the traditional sari while the Gods have dhothi in vibrant colors. Other than that, each of the Gods wore a lot of heavy jewelry and a crown on their head. The priest said that a good part of the jewelry was made of gold and contributed by the visitors.

Prayer

During the prayers, the male and female sit together. In fact, the entire family along with the kids sit together in two parallel rows on either side of the shrine. There is no separation between the genders when it comes to sitting. However, there are a group of people who sit in the front and they are the ones who are well-versed in the scriptures and chantings.

Mass Chanting

There is a set of events that constitute the prayer. It starts with a mass chanting of prayers in different languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. This is done by all the people seated in the temple. This prayer recital happens only in front of one deity. Each day it is done in front of different shrines depending on the significance it has for each deity. Sometimes, more than one deity have prayers on the same day though at different times.

Each chanting or prayers are different for each God and this time, it was done for the main deity, Lord Varadharaja. It was in Sanskrit and Tamil and most people had a piece of paper to read from. There was a tune to it though it was more of chanting than singing.

Showing fire lamps to the Gods

Once the chanting was done, the priest lit a huge lamp with oil and camphor. This is then waved in front of the God in a circular motion and during this time, there is more chanting and prayer. Flowers are also thrown on the deity by another priest who is standing next to the one showing the lamp. Every worshiper stands on either side of the shrine and prays with folded hands. During this process, the bells are going off constantly and loudly.

Bringing the lamp to the worshipers

After the lamp is showed to the God in a circular fashion, it is kept on a plate and is brought to the worshipers. Each of them place their hand above the flame and then put their hand to the eyes and the head. Some of them even drop dollar bills and coins on the plate. If there are young kids, then the parents touch the flame and then keep their hand on the eyes and heads of the kids. The priest starts with one line and goes to each and every individual to help them get the God's blessing.

Distribution of holy water, holy food and holy kumkum

After every worshiper has touched the flame, the priest brings the next item for distribution and this is the holy water. It is contained in a silver vessel and the priest uses a silver spoon to give the holy water to every individual. Again, the priest goes from one individual to another. Each worshiper gets the holy water with both hands and drinks it. As for kids, the parents get it in their hands and feed it to their kids.

After the holy water is distributed, then comes the holy food. This differs from day-to-day and some common food items include nuts, raisins, whole fruits or sweets. The priest moves from one individual to another and hands it to them from a silver bowl using a silver spoon. Once this is distributed, then comes the flowers. These are taken from the garland placed on the God and are given to worshipers and it signifies that it came directly from God.