First Day: Adventure to BAPS Houston

Today we started our course for this A-Term, Intro to Eastern Disciplines. The best way we decided to begin this course was to almost immerse ourselves into part of the culture. We did this by visiting BAPS (aka BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. We drove to the temple and it was magnificent even driving up. The inside and outside of the Mandir was incredible and you could find a new detail everywhere you looked. We met with our guide and discussed the architecture of the temple and his knowledge on Hinduism. The temple is made of over 33,000 pieces shipped to Houston from India. Our guide described this as a huge 3D puzzle which I thought was an interesting way of looking at it. I think the most amazing part about the architecture was every detail it seemed had a meaning behind it. For example, he showed us how on the east side of one of the pillars the deity’s eyes are open. However, on the side facing west, the deity appeared with his eyes closed.  

The Class outside of BAPS

Our guide also spoke about the deities within Hinduism and the shrines for them within the temple. For these areas, the temple has specific events during the day to pay respect to them. An example of this is bathing and feeding the deities. While we were there, we saw them give food to the deities and closing the doors for privacy. I think that this is very interesting since in Hinduism the gods are still alive. With contrast in Christianity, in which, it is believed that God and Jesus are in heaven and there is the heavenly spirit. At the temple, we were told that devotion ceremonies to the gods happen five times a day. 

We were lucky enough to be at BAPS to participate in a ceremony called Arti which happens at 11:30, after the deities are fed. We walked into the ceremony not knowing much about it and I thought this was a great way to explore and interpret the experience. It felt like a more adventurous or exploratory way of approaching the ceremony than knowing almost exactly what would happen. During this ceremony, the women and men are separated into two sections facing the shrine. First, the priests give their devotions to the gods with candles while a chanting prayer is played. One of the reasons for this was from before electricity so that the deities were given light. 

After this, the light that the priests used to give to the gods is put in a pot and passed to the public. During this part, you are suppose to take some of the incense like smoke and bring it to your eyes, forehead, and heart. I believe this is to give good energy from the gods to those crucial parts. Finally, we walked to a room in the far back for the next part. To begin, each of us washed our hands, I believe this is for the cleanliness to the gods. You then receive a gold cup full of, what I believe is, holy water to pour on the statue of a deity. During pouring, you pray for what luck or things you would like or to mend. As being a senior, I thought of well being and healthy times with the end of the school year and start of the new opportunities. 

Finally at BAPS, we had lunch at their Indian Buffet, which I highly recommend. I had never really had Indian food before, except things such as lamb and naan. I tried a few of the dishes there and they all tasted amazing with sweet, spicy, and so much flavor. Everyone else, even frequent Indian food eaters, thought it was really delicious. I especially liked the samosas.

Origins and Principles of Hinduism

During our time back at school, we thought of questions we had from our experience at BAPS and if we could answer them. Some questions were:

Why did we have to remove our shoes when entering?

Why were some gentleman prostrating (special movement while praying)?

What are the stories behind the popular Hindu deities?

What is Dharma?

What is the Vedas?

We each chose one of the topics to investigate and reported back to the class with what we had learned about the topic. I learned about what the Vedas are in Hinduism. They are the main literature and scripture in Hinduism that is followed. These answers gave us a better understanding of the introduction to Hinduism. I would really like to look more into Hinduism as just reading some of the stories was intriguing. Lastly, we did some meditation and basics to yoga to wrap up the day with some peace. 

Part of the BAPS exhibition