Sorry for intro.^^ Now let's get into the actual thing! Shall we?
Now, I visited a Buddhist temple in Malaysia when I was like nine, so I had NO IDEA what the heck I was doing and I think I just ended up playing outside in the gardens while a monk helped JUST my mom with her prayers. But, the Hindu Temple I visited was different.
There were surprisingly quite a few American people, a few Indian families too- cuz we visited on a Sunday. (Usually more people come to pray on Fridays and Saturdays). And we visited with the entire fam: dad and dongsaeng somehow came along too- and the priest was like very helpful and friendly! He lets everyone pray regardless of your religion! <<< That's how it should be!
Here's a pic of the temple we visited. Can't say which one-cuz don't want y'all stalking me! But, it's in the U.S. ;)
Disclaimer: I was too shy to take pics so, I'm basically stealing these off the internet. Not all are pics of the temple I visited! So, sorry if I use your picture without you're permission! But, I boosted the saturation and brightness tho. So, MUAHAHAHA.
Anyways, when you enter first thing you do is take off your shoes. I'm serious. They have shoe racks for you to place your shoes in at the entrance.
Kinda like the picture above.^^ Hehe, told ya so.
And then basically, we walked up a flight of stairs to a room leading to another room. Does that make sense? In the first room there was this dude behind a counter. Prayer music filled up the entire space. And you start to relax a bit. At least I did. Dongsaeng was a bit scared. The dude behind the counter turned out to be one of the main priests! He said to feel free to walk around and visit the Gods and then comeback. I was a bit confused. Umm... my ma just told you our problems, aren't you going to help? Nonetheless we did what he said. We thought the place was closed at first cuz there was barely any cars....... So, we were just glad the place was open.
So, the room that the other room led into was the room where the statues of Gods were. I think they're called murtis- and the were in these little "houses".
Dongsaeng: "Noona! Why are there soooo many Gods?"
Me: "Well, Hinduism is a religion were they believe in many different Gods."
Dongsaeng: "Oooohhh. But, why are there so many?"
Me: "Different Gods just resemble different things."
Dongsaeng: "Oh. I don't get it."
Little brothers...... He's so innocent for his age it cracks me up. XD
Anyways, below is a picture I found of the temple we visited.
Hehe. Had to cover up Uncles. ^^
Most temples I heard won't be as nice and clean as the one I visited so I'm very fortunate that I could visit this temple.
We started by praying to the center God. (I think there was suppose to be a specific order but we really didn't pay that much attention and the priest didn't object soo..)
Okay there's a few ways you can pray.
I mainly prayed in what I call the "Namaste" pose. See below. (Sorry if there's an actual term and I just butchered it)
You can also sit criss cross apple sauce and pray.
And if you're really brave you can bow on your knees. Some people even lay completely flat on their stomach!
A little while after we visited all the statues (there were more on the sides of the room) the priest showed up and led us to the main statue again. He went inside the "house" and started chanting for us. I didn't understand a thing he was saying but, it was still peaceful. He then took a bowl of flowers and had each of my family members recite our names and touch the bowl and he took the bowl to the "Lord". He also poured a bit of Holy water into our hands and let us drink. Tasted like water but.... more Holy? He began to chant more in between each event. He then took a kind of candle out in front of each of us. You wrap your hands around the light and bring it back to wrap around your head. We repeated the candle thing three times. Now, we were doing a special prayer for our family's problem. So, we got a one on one with the priest. Next time I go is probably an actual "service".
I think it's actually called a lamp tray.^^
And to finish it off the priest gave us each a banana and trail mix and said "God Bless You."
That concludes my first visit! It was very interesting and peaceful. I think we had a really good priest. My favorite thing he said was, "There is only one god in our universe, he speaks all the languages. Different people just have different ways of viewing him."<< Such a chill dude!
Okay, to answer future questions: NO. I AM NOT CONVERTING.
I was just visiting. I think it's okay to visit every once in a while. And Hinduism is a very open and accepting religion so anyone may visit. Anyways, I guess that concludes this blog. So, yeah.
xoxo,
Naeun
insta: simplyne19
YouTube: Naeun Lee
For business inquires ONLY: xoxo.naeun118@gmail.com
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