Shiva-Vishnu Temple, Dykes Road - Research Paper Example

Sur Supervisor Site Visit of the Place Visited: Shiva-vishnu Temple, Dykes Road the Visit: February17 and 21, 2015 People Interviewed: Mr. Vishnuvardhan In order to study more about other religion, I decided to visit Shiva-Vishnu temple located at Dykes road near Miami, Florida. I was fortunate to have one Hindu friend accompanying me during my visit to Shiva-Vishnu temple. Hinduism is a very old religion – in fact, so old that it can be said to have a no specific date of its origin. The religion is followed by over 900 million people of India and Nepal. To understand more about Hinduism – its rituals, beliefs, and value system, I chose an auspicious day of Maha Shivratri (a great spiritual night) that falls on the 13th night/14th day of the Hindu month of Maagh every year. This year, as per Christian or Gregorian Calendar, it has fallen on 17th February. On this auspicious day, devotees observe fast and offer special prayers to Lord Shiva. Devotees chant Om Namah Shivay throughout the night of Maha Shivratri. The first word ॐ (Om) has a special significance in the Hindu religion. It is the primordial sound of the universe. It is also the source of all sounds. It is the only word that can be spoken with an open as well as closed mouth. It is the sound that joins the outer world with the inner. When one repeats ॐ for several times, it becomes a door to deep silence within - a step to enter into a deep meditation (Issitt and Main). I reached the temple site early in the morning as I was informed that this is a special day for Hindus as they observe fast and do puja (a religious prayer) on this day. On reaching the temple, when I contacted mahant (a priest) he informed me that I need to go through the temple and observe the rituals keenly. He also assured me that he would clear all my queries during a leisure time on some other day as it would not be possible for him to explain me everything on that day due to heavy rush of devotees. Usual timings of temple for visitors are from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and then from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. On the days of special events, temple opens up as early as 7:30 AM in the morning for devotees. On February 17, it also opened up early in the morning. The Shiva-Vishnu temple at Dykes Road had its humble beginnings in 1993. The purpose of opening the temple was to impart religious, cultural and educational values of Hinduism to its followers, especially younger generations. I began taking rounds of the temple. The Hindu temple has a distinct appearance and architecture. Externally and internally, they look entirely different than any church, synagogue or mosque. Hindu temple can be recognized by its shape and vastness. Skilled artisans do mostly manual work while crafting the stones that are used to make temples. I came to know from my friend that Dr. Ganapati Sthapati of Chennai, India provided architectural plans of this temple. Its construction began in 1999 and all of its Shilpis (craftsmen) arrived from India. Its community hall got ready in April, 2001. Pran prathishtapana (annotation) of all the deities were completed in November 2001. By 2002, the temple got completely ready in all respects. Usually, white and black stones are used to build Hindu temples. Stone work in this temple is eye catching creating a soothing sight. I could see two large inscription crafted on the stones: Om Namah Shivaaya and Om Namo Naaraayanaaya. My friend explained me about that in English. It means "I bow to Shiva" and "I bow to Vishnu" (Naraayanaaya is the other name of Vishnu) respectively. My friend told me that there are three gods or trinity in Hinduism – Brahmaa, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva). Brahmaa is the creator of life; Vishnu is the preserver of life, and Shiva is the destroyer of life. They are the manifestations of a common shakti (eternal power) that run this universe. In a way, all three are required to balance the life. My friend informed me that majority of the temples in India are devoted to Shiva and then to Vishnu. Perhaps it is so because people are afraid of Shiva due to His very nature that tends to destroy the life. Surprisingly, very few are devoted to Brahmaa because there is no reason to feel afraid of Brahmaa because His very nature is the creation of life. I could see that people were proceeding in queue for Darshan with folded hands chanting the mantra Om Namah Shiva. The priests in the temple were chanting shlokas (mantras in Sanskrit – the most ancient language) and offering prasadam (small food offering). It is customary to provide prasadam in all Hindu temples on special occasion as it contains blessing and good wishes from the God. When I tried to know the meaning of these shlokas from my friend, he replied me that it is a supreme religious knowledge that can be explained by learned priests only. I decided to revisit the temple some other day when priests are free to explain and tell me more about Hindu religion, its origin, its core values, its rituals and how deeply they are rooted among Hindus – the followers. Next, I could make the visit to Shiv-Vishnu temple only on February 21 when the priest informed me that he would be free to discuss and tell me more on Hinduism. I reached sharp at 9:30 AM. Priest began his discussion stating that Hinduism is a much broader religion in the sense that it is not made of only a single god. In fact, it boasts of having 840 million deities. It is the eternal power that rules the universe and Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva) are three manifestations of the same eternal power that keep balancing the life force. Usually, people cannot grasp this eternal power but can easily associate themselves with these manifestations and surrender in Bhakti (devotion). While much I could know about Shiva from my visit on the day of Maha Shivratri, I was eager to know about Vishnu from the priest. Vishnuvardhan, the priest, gave me an elaborate description and many fascinating aspects and stories of Vishnu. Vishnu, as a preserver of life, keeps on taking birth in human forms on this universe whenever the evil powers rise and try to control the fate of mankind. The priest informed me that Vishnu has so far taken 9 avatar (incarnation) and the last one is yet to take place. So far, Vishnu has taken birth in the forms of Matsya ( the fish), Koorma (the tortoise), Varaha (the boar), Narshimha (the man-lion), Vaman (the dwarf), Parasuram (the angry man, Rama with an axe), Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, and Lord Buddha. The last avatar of Kalki is yet to come. Each avatar had a special purpose according to the times prevailed then to enrich and preserve the life (Das). Each time, the evil doers are eliminated from the earth to preserve the life. According to the priest, the Rama and Krishna avatars have a lasting impressions on Hindu psyche since ages. The culture of India that has evolved in the last 5,000 years has its roots in these two avatars. What the priest told me can be summarized in the ensuing paragraphs. Ramayana, an epic by Valmiki, depicts the life of Rama ­– one of the most revered incarnation of Vishnu said to have existed around 7000-9000 BCE. Most devout Hindus keep Ramayana in their home and read a few lessons from it daily. Rama took birth on the earth at the time when evil powers were gaining strength all around. Ramas is considered the most ideal character in Hindu society as he came to be known as Maryada Purushottam (the perfect man). As a symbol of virtues and high morals Rama continues to inspire Hindus (the followers of Hinduism) since centuries. Tens of hundreds of Rama temples are built across all parts of India. He fought with Ravan, a wicked and cruel king with some extraordinary evil powers, killing him to establish the rule of dharma (righteousness). Bhagvat Gita is another religious book that is full of knowledge, wisdom and dharma (religion). It is the collection of words that Krishna (the highly revered incarnation of Vishnu around 5000 BCE) spoke to Arjuna to motivate him to fight a war against Kaurav, his 100 cousins, as he was hesitating to kill them even though they were doing adharma (unrightful things) to rule Hastinapur (an ancient kingdom). Just like Ramayan, the lessons from Bhagavad Gita are read often with great awe in any Hindu’s home. Arjun asks tens of hundreds of questions on religion, Atman, Atma-gyna, and matters related to spirituality; Krishna explains him everything in great detail successfully (Paramarthananda). Herman Hesse speaks on Bhagawad Gita, "The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of lifes wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion" (In Praise of the Bhagavad Gita). Mahabharat is an epic that depicts the war between Pandavs (Arjuna and his four brothers) and Kauravs (One hundred cousins of Arjuna). Gita is a long sermon given to Arjuna at the warsite. In Gita, Krishna makes every attempt to make Arjuna vitaragi (detached) from the worldly relations so that he lifts his gandiva (the devine bow of Arjuna) to finish all those who are doing adharma (nonrighteous acts). A large part of Gita deals with hundreds of spiritual questions that Arjuna asked to Krishna. Briefly, it can be summarized in the following lines. The essence of every living being is Atman (soul). Atman keeps migrating after the physical death of body. Atman never dies but only gets salvation from the birth. Hindus call it Moksha. On gaining moksha one halts the cycle of birth and death permanently. The soul is deathless, infinite, imperishable, immortal and eternal. It exists after the death of a physical body and it enters a new body at birth. It is the attachment to material aspects in life that causes rebirth. The necessary condition for Moksha is to be vitaragi (detached) to all aspects of life. It is the ego that send one into a new birth after the death. A state of vitaragi is nothing but an egoless state that stops the cycle of birth and death. Satisfied with the answers that Krishna proposed, Arjuna plunges into a great war of mahabharat that lasted for 18 days. Together with his four brothers, Arjuna finishes all the great warriors of Kauravs. Krishna remains his sarathi (charioteer) throughout the war and guides him, but He himself never fights or uses his arms to demolish Kauravs (Paramarthananda). Atma-Gyan is a word coined by Hinduism for enlightenment. It means knowledge of self. It is an ultimate gyan or knowledge. Hindus call it a real knowledge; all other knowledge that humans gather in life are only relative and not permanent. Moksha is not possible without atma-gyan. Thus, Gita has not only inspired Hindus to follow the path of dharma in all stages of life but it also teaches the ways to attain atma-gyan as an ultimate height of spirituality. Unlike Bible in Christianity or Koran in Islam, Hindu religion revolves around – not one but numerous religious scriptures or texts. Among all scriptures, Vedas are said to be the most ancient ones – the period that goes back 5000-10,000 BCE. Vedas reveal paths for a spiritual journey for humans. They are of four kinds: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda. They are considered primary scriptures laying a basic foundation of the Hinduism. They speak about the eternal truths that were grasped by numerous Vedic Seers during their deep meditations. In actuality, Vedic truths are not simply philosophical statements given by human minds, but they have been uttered by seers after gaining Atma-Gyan (self knowledge) and Brahma-Gyan (cosmic knowledge). They are divine revelations. What they spoke about universe and cosmology in those days have been found true by science and astronomy in the current times. For example, they said the universe is infinite. Science too has reached to the same conclusion. Upanishads are the part of Vedas. Upanishads are many such as Kathopnishad, Sarvsaar Upanishad, Kevalya Upanishad, Adhyatma Upanishad, Ishavashya Upanishad. It was already 12:00 noon and Vishnuvardhan had to leave for some other official work so he had to finish his interesting commentary on Hinduism. I was really astonished to know about many facets of it; however, much was left that I was not knowing yet. One thing is pretty sure that my visit to Shiv-Vishnu temple has raised my curiosity about Hinduism to a much higher level. References Das, Subhamoy. The 10 Avatars of Vishnu. about.com. Web. 22 Feb 2015. In Praise of the Bhagavat Gita. About Religion. Web. 22 Feb 2015. Paramarthananda, S. Lectures on the Bhagvadgita. Samskrita Academy. 2003. Issitt, Micah & Main, Carlyn. Hidden Religion: The Greatest Mysteries and Symbols. ABC-CLIO. California. 2014. Read More