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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00068 Jan 2005

 
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--- In SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "rvv21" <ranjanvv@xxxx> wrote:
>>      I think it's unlikely you'll find a "Vishnu-only" temple in 
the > UK (apart from ISKCON temples) - but I could be wrong.  
However, the > sizeable Sri Lankan Tamil community in many parts of 
London have > retained their Shaiva temple culture to a relatively 
high degree and > have constructed many 'south-indian' style temples, 
if you were > interested in seeing them for interest. Many have a 
sannidhi for > Lakshmi/Naaraayana as well.

                       ****************
Dear members,

This is a very interesting thread of discussion and I like your 
exchanges.

One of the odd things I have noticed about Hindu temples abroad is 
this: they are designed to accommodate and built to serve the 
sentiments of all denominations of Hindu religous society. Such 
design and architecture is no doubt well-intentioned but the results 
are sometimes a mixed bag.

I toured parts of USA East Coast last year. My host was kind enough 
to take me to a very beautiful temple in Maryland. It was called 
Shiva-Vishnu temple but inside I was surprised to see many more 
special "sannidhi-s" (shrines or sanctums) for a number of other 
deities in the Hindu pantheon -- Ganesha, Murugua, AmbAL, AyyappA, 
Venkateshwara, Krishna... I saw devotees come in throngs and each 
proceeded straight to that shrine he or she wanted to particularly 
worship. Thereafter he or she spent a few moments at other shrines 
before exiting. I couldn't help thinking it all vaguely resembled the 
modern and convenient "multi-cuisine cafeteria" concept applied to 
temple architecture i.e. you come shuffling in a long queue with a 
plate in hand, go slowly around the table and help yourself 
generously to the dish you particularly like, and just a little bit 
of everthing else in the spread.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I want to be critical of "Shiva-
Vishnu" temples, I hasten to add. Who knows, perhaps the "Agama 
sAstras" themselves do, in fact, permit such "cafeteria" design of 
temples. But I must say this: I cannot help sometimes wondering if 
the presence of more than one Deity within a temple-precinct does not 
go against the essentially monotheistic grain of Hindu religious 
thought and practice. My own personal experience is that when I am in 
the presence of the main Deity inside a temple I'd rather fully 
concentrate on worshipping that one Divine Entity alone. But instead, 
I often find that, at the back of my mind somewhere, I'm being 
distracted by the anxious thought of having to rush for "darshan" to 
the "next crowded counter" -- viz. other satellite shrines 
or "sannidhi-s". The result is that a temple visit, far from 
affording one an opportunity for experiencing a certain sense of 
abiding One-ness with God, leaves the devotee with a strange feeling, 
instead, he's just concluded a long and hectic series of business 
appointments.      

Let me confess to one more thing. I always come away from a temple 
feeling a little guilty and disappointed if, after I've had "darshan" 
of the main Deity first, for some reason or other, I've been unable 
to offer worship at subsidiary "sannidhi-s". I've never relished such 
a feeling. It has always robbed the first experience a little of its 
joy.   

An exclusively Vishnu temple (with His other divine forms serving 
perhaps as smaller satellite "sannidhi-s") seems to me OK. An 
exclusive Shiva temple too seems OK. An exclusive Devi or AmbAl 
temple is OK too. But a "Shiva-Vishnu temple", and many of similarly 
newly-built, multi-themed, composite "designer temples" (in India and 
abroad we come across these days) -- they all seem to me to be 
somehow straying far from the central monotheism of that very Faith 
they are actually meant to reflect and enshrine.

What do members think? I'd like to hear your learned comments.

respectfully,
dAsan,
Sudarshan    

   








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