Something to do with Religion

Every morning and evening, the Hindu people in the slums carefully sweep their sidewalks. They perform this ritual meticulously, even if there is a landfill next door, they will still make sure the portion in front of their their quarters is free of dust and garbage. Afterwards, they draw in a hindu symbol directly in front of their entrance. I was watching this activity with Samadhi, one of the social workers, and she brought up the issue of religion.
“What is your religion? Christian” She asked.
“No” I replied. “No religion. I believe in universe”
So, she was extremely confused. “What do you pray to?”
She was unable to comprehend existence without faith. I wanted to say that I need not pray to a higher being as greatness and beauty is inherent in nature. But from here, the language barrier broke down my attempt to explain any further. Eventually, she seemed to understand of her own accord.
“God is in all of us.” She seemed to say in agreement with my unverbalized thought.

As the day passed, after visiting many families in the slum area, we eventually decided to go visit a Hindu temple “so I can pray to her god for whatever I want.”

Parthasarathy Temple was one of the most beautiful temple I’ve ever seen (but that may be because I have not yet had a chance to see the rest of Tamil Nadu). The temple built from an ancient Dravidian civilization, has a front and back entrance tower cover in detailed carving of hundreds of deities. After we’ve removed our shoes on the street, inside, all the walls are lined with similar detailed carvings. The area is built like a maze, a path you explore leading you to different chambers of God. In each camber, there is a larger than life size statue of a god in black stone draped in flowers. A loosely-clothed Brahmen priest is also there, blessing each person with holy water poured into the hand to drink, yellow powder on the forehead, or a thump to the head with a metal cylinder.** Most people will quietly theirs, as the blessings are passed around. Others will ask certain objects such as fruits or flowers be taken to the statue to be blessed. The blessed items are then returned for individual safekeeping. Finally, a candle is lit and individuals cup their hand over the candle and, then, to their face in order to spread the light of knowledge from God. The most affected believer I saw began to joyously sing, shout, and dance before and during the blessing.

Sumadhi and I went to 5 different chambers, drink, powder, thump, drink and thump. At the end of the journey, near the back door, there are two alls, in between them are hollowed areas with dark hand imprints. We placed our hand where thousands have done before and our head into the hollow. There was an echo and a muted feeling inside the hollow and, there, you close your eyes to pray. Here, more than anywhere else in the temple, I felt how compelling religion can be. In the tumultuous experience of living in a polluted, rapidly progressing city, full of contradictions, religion must sometimes be the only peace that people can find.

**Disclaimer: At the end of the day, I am still an ignorant foreigner in my interpretation of these rituals so please consult a Hindu textbook and don’t take my word for it.