FAITH

Temple visits

The spiritual and the religious

God is everywhere. He/She is the Universe, the empty space, the galaxies and the stars. He/She is everyone and everything. Good and bad. He/She creates worlds. The lesser gods and the planetary lords, who control the winds, the waters, births and deaths, are created by God and have individual powers that humans cannot imagine. All of them have allotted functions. We are all a part of Him/Her.

We visit temples to see God personified in the form of an idol. We have several gods and goddesses. Therefore there is a multiplicity of temples. Within, there are several sanctified altars where we can find the idol of the deity of our choice.

When in a hurry, we just take off our footwear, enter the temple, go to our favourite deity, prostrate full-length, get up, say our prayers, circumambulate the sanctum sanctorum, collect our portion of the offerings from the priest, drop a coin or two in the altar or in a collection box, return to retrieve our footwear and head to wherever we have to.

When we have the time, we elaborate the ritual. We buy some offerings from the shops outside the temple. Common offerings are flowers, fruit, coconuts, bananas, some simple eats such as sweets, turmeric and vermillion, sandalwood powder or paste, betel leaves and arecanuts. Camphor and incense sticks are also offered, these being lit up in our presence and offered, while we fold our hands and pray. We can also ask the priest to mention our name…