11/5/2020 0 Comments India -"I believe in the product!"Bangalore has over 1,000 Hindu temples. They are everywhere, all sizes from tiny ones on street corners with home grown paintings to famous ones, built hundreds of years ago. Over several trips, Peter and I visited some of these within easy walking distance of our hotel (The Leela Palace). However, our students (employees) told us that there is one temple we MUST see called ISKCON -International Society for Krishna Consciousness- (see photo). For those unfamiliar with Hindu teachings, Krishna is considered, among other things, the savior of humanity and the remover of all sufferings. He is deeply loved. On a sunny Bangalore morning, (one advantage of teaching at night), Peter and I ventured out and hailed what is called an auto rickshaw. These are three-wheeled motorized cars used throughout Bangalore as cabs for very reasonable prices. After a twenty-minute drive through traffic, we were dropped off at ISKCON. My first vision of this remarkable structure, located on a hillside, www.iskconbangalore.org reminded me of something that might be found at EPCOT Center at Disneyworld. The building was constructed with glass and steel with a traditional Indian motif making it seem like it came from another century. It was actually completed in 1997. ISKCON is a place for pilgrimage for many Hindus. As Peter and I were figuring out how to enter, we saw a large group of people (pilgrims?) waiting in line to walk up some steps to enter the building. We approached the group and they invited us to join the line. We thought this was the standard entrance line to the temple. We also heard some kind of chanting from a loud speaker. Quite innocently we became part of the line at the bottom of a long staircase. The chanting stopped for a moment and everyone in the line climbed to the next step. We took a step also still not quite getting it. Then the chant started again “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama Hare, Hare. Again, at the end of the chant, everyone climbed one step. By this time, we fully realized that we were part of the pilgrim line. We knew this chant, this mantra, this prayer. It had been brought to the western world in the 1960s by the Beatles and George Harrison’s song “My Sweet Lord.” After several steps, I asked one of the pilgrims in line with us, how many steps there were. He responded, “108.” This is the number of beads in a Mala used to help focus the mind and heart. For Christians, think Rosary beads. We settled in. Some 20 minutes later, we completed the 108 steps and all the chanting. This walking meditation had helped us become more receptive, more present, more available as we entered the temple. The interior of the temple is quite extraordinary with exquisite paintings, statues and garlands all related to the story of Krishna. There was a section, roped off, where a teaching of some sort was going on in Hindi. The priest / teacher was meeting with perhaps 50-100 people all sitting listening attentively. For quite a while, we walked around the enormous room taking it all in. We felt it was time to go and the exit process took us to a food market located in the back of the temple. There were shops, booths and counters selling vegetables, fruits and other daily necessities. There were also some booths selling delicious looking pastries. It was wonderful to see that the temple and the market were one thing – interconnected – the sacred and the secular. That resonated with me. The pastries looked very tempting so we got in line. The woman before me, from India, bought a pastry and the person behind the counter asked her for 3 rupees – say $.50. That sounded like a very reasonable price indeed. I asked for the same thing she had purchased, and the soft-spoken man gave it to me and said “$10 please.” Fortunately for me, and no doubt influenced by the 108 steps, chanting and everything else in the temple, I was non-reactive. I inquired, “she paid 3 rupees and you are asking me for $10, why is that?” He smiled “Because you can afford it.” Again, to my own delight and surprise, there was very little reactivity – I simply said “That’s true.” And I gave him the $10. He asked if we would like to see what they do with the money. We nodded and followed him to a door behind the counter. He held the door open and we entered a very large room with many people making boxes and packages of food. He explained that the temple has made a commitment to feed a lunch time meal to all the school children in Bangalore who need it. They deliver the food in every way they can depending on the volunteers who help – SUV’s, cars, auto rigshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, whatever it takes. It was startling and wonderful. The people who were putting all this together were quietly working at it. He then said, “Now, would you like to contribute more?” We did and I said “You are a very good salesman indeed.” Without missing a beat, he responded in an American business idiom “I believe in the product!” We all laughed, wished each other the best, and then Peter and I made our way back to wilds of Bangalore.
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David FeldmanDog walker, Dog Mediator, Father, Husband, Categories |