Hiding Out With The Hindus

The trip to Aurora, Illinois was extremely bumpy and after three hours of being tossed in the back seat I was really hoping the long journey would be worth it. Much to my surprise I think my gasp of "Oh My" when we stepped out of the car was very telling. The beauty and design of the exterior of the temple was absolutely breath taking. I did not even consider the possibility that it could get any better when entering the building. Once we walked in we were greeted by our guide and taken to a community room to discuss the specifics of the faith tradition that we weren't already aware of. Some of the most fascinating aspects to me where the differences in the South Indian Hinduism and the North Indian tradition. One is able to tell the difference between the two by what kind of stone is used on their idols. The temple that we visited was of south Indian decent and used a black granite stone opposed to the white marble of the north Indian tradition.

The temple that we visited was built about twenty two years ago and is a very special sacred space because it houses two of the three major gods; Brahma, Vishnu, and Shima. Vishnu and Shima are both worshiped in this temple. The temple opens daily at nine o'clock and closes each night after the gods have been put to bed at nine as well. The space is very clean because it is a requirement to remove shoes.

Our guide said 'One reach heaven by praising the Lord'. Therefore the Hindu's have four different paths to reaching salvation they include:

• Meditation- Concentration
• Serve the poor, sick, needy
• Preach- spread the word of the Lord
• Worship and Prayers (Occurs in the temple)

Overall, I found the Hindu faith tradition to be the most different from the others; however, it was also the most interesting. The Hindu culture is very proud of everything they believe in and take their rituals and practices very seriously. I felt very blessed that they opened up their sacred space to us as a manner to learn more about different religions. Great success of a day!