*Disclaimer: This is purely a thought and is not meant to attack temples or religion in any way.*
‘Bhagwaan tumhara Bhala Kare’, (a popular Hindi phrase which translates to ‘may god bless you’) is something we have all heard since childhood. Hearing this phrase and searching these blessings, from time to time we have found ourselves visiting a temple.
In the hope that we could find god or get god to hear us, in the pursuit of mental peace and in the search of strength, from time to time we have all found ourselves visiting a temple.
In short, we often find ourselves visiting a temple when we’re seeking something. And every day as hundreds of people gather outside temples, they hope that they can get closer to what they seek. One day, at 4am, plenty of such ‘seeking’ people were lined up, chanting their prayers while waiting patiently for the temple doors to open. He too stood amongst this crowd, his mind searching peace, his eyes searching dawn.
Soon the line began to move and as people got closer to the doors, their chants intensified. With the chants reverberating in his head, he got closer to the door of the temple. The sight in front of him was magnificent, it lived up to what one would’ve imagined ‘God’s residence’ would look like. The structure was made of some white stone. The temple was conically shaped, with inscriptions all around it. These inscriptions, some human, some animals, some nature — probably signified different forms of gods and went spirally all the way above from the doors till the golden tip of the structure.
The doors opened and he eventually entered the temple. As his feet touched the moist doormat, he found himself now wide awake. The huge doormat was intentionally left moist, as it was meant to ‘cleanse’ oneself before they got inside. With his eyes now open, he could clearly see the majesty in the simplicity all around him. Before him was a golden paved hallway with small banana trees and garlands of flowers lined up on both sides — simple yet astounding, quite an entrance for a temple, he wondered.
At the end of the hallway, was an enclosure where the idol was placed. The entrance to this enclosure had banana leaves hanging from the top, leaving a narrow opening through which one could not necessarily see but could easily anticipate the majesty inside. People were made to enter in small batches, so that there was no chaos inside, and the line could keep moving as well.
He stood outside, waiting for his turn to come. As he looked around the hallway, he noticed there were small inscriptions lined up on them — almost like a story been sketched on a wall. A story that leads you to god, that leads you to peace, he wondered. There was a gentle soothing music playing in the temple and there were fans set to keep the area ventilated. As he looked at the banana trees gently swaying to the air, he found his breathing slow, his mind calm. The atmosphere in the hallway had taken over his mind.
In that calm, as he could feel his breathing, his gaze lowered, his hands folded and without him noticing, a gentle smile took over his face. He could see his thoughts entering is brain, one by one. What once appeared like an entangled ball of yarn, now appeared like single, individual threads. Easy to see, easy to understand and maybe even easy to solve, he wondered.
In that moment he realized that only he himself could untangle the ball of yarn in his head, only he could build his mental peace, that only he could get himself closer to what he was seeking and perhaps it was his very own blessing that was missing all this while. People come to temples seeking something, praying for something, wishing for something. But they often don’t realize that they perhaps should pray and wish for that something from themselves instead.
With this thought fast filling up his mind, his eyes slowly opened. He saw the pandits signaling the line to move and as he stood in front of the idol, he folded his hands, bowed down and just smiled. He turned around and started making his way towards the exit. As he was about to leave the temple, he took a deep breath filling himself with the air of positive energy. For he now knew, that he himself, was his temple.
