Example Of Essay On Religious Visit Reflection

I have had several stories about Hinduism. Since I have never been to any of their services, I expect some if not all of these stories I have heard before to be true or something close to the truth. I am told that Hindus worship or sorts of animals from snakes to elephants. So I expect to see several images of such animals in the temple. I also expect to be segregated since I think I am from a different culture. In terms of prayer, I expect that we will be offering our prayers to one of these gods by kneeling before them.
There is no much information I have had about this religion. I have never thought that I could one day enter into a temple. I attended the International Society for Krishna Consciousness chapel and once I was there, I realized that there was a lot to learn. I attended one of the weekly services and on this particular day was called the “Sunday love feast” which is ideally an art of worship. My visit brought in a different and a new way of looking at the religion. I have always looked at the Hindu temples from outside the fence. But on this particular day it was a humbling experience to be part of the congregation. There was a lot to explore much more so in terms of their cultural background and everything surrounding that environment other that the religious service itself.
Everything starting right as one pulls out into the temple compound. The architectural concept behind the construction of the temple attracted me. The building is constructed using pure marble and other building materials that I was made to understand that they are imported directly from India. These materials are similarly sent elsewhere where a temple is to be constructed. Once I got out of the car, I stood there at the parking lot as I admired the architecture. The building stood at about 40 feet tall. The building was so beautiful looking at the tower and all the carvings on its walls.
Once I got into the temple, my perceptions and expectations toward the religion changed. It was really totally different. At the entrance, I was requested to have my shoes off and leave them outside. For a moment I thought this was meant for the new comers only. But looking at wherever I was told to place them, I found out that everyone else is supposed to take their shoes off. I have been to Indian restaurants before and am familiar with the smell of the Indian spices and aroma. This was the smell that I noticed once I entered the building. I noticed that they were selling food inside the building. All kinds of Indian foods were available here, and Indian food being among my favorites, I felt more welcome in this place. All Hindus are vegetarians and that meant that all the food in the temple had no meat. Indeed, they are very strict vegetarians and believe that animals have the same feelings as humans. And they also believe that killing animals cause a bad fat to a person. Hindus also believe in the doctrine of reincarnation. Through this they believe that a friend or relative might be alive, but in this case as an animal.  At this point, this was really a good time for me to have a taste of their food. They were also selling some literature in the lobby.
After passing the lobby, I was directed and came with two sets of doors. This, I was told one was meant to be used by men while the other was to be used by women. I have never known this before that they practice this in Hindu. I have ever had this belief that men and women should be encouraged to stay in unity. And also to me, I looked at this in terms of gender separation. My fears of gender segregation were to be confirmed all through as I continued to observe the events of this day. I observed that women have a lesser or just a supportive position or role in the temple. This is because this religion holds a strong believe that men and women are not supposed to mix during worship. And in most cases, men are given preference and as such seen as more superior than women. This is against my belief as a Christian where I believe that everyone is equal before God. In our places of worship too, all should be equal, whether a man, woman or child.
I entered through the doors, I realized that the two groups of men and women worshipping were separated by a decorated pot with flowers and is rectangular in shape. With my left hand side was a stage for kids to hold plays and other children's activities. On the main stage there was a central section with a barrier made out of wood which hold Hindu symbols that mainly signified the different gods. A statue of a man with an elephant head stood before me, which I was later told that Hindus regard an elephant as a good animal and as such it should be praised. They also do the same with a monkey since I noticed a carving of a man having a monkey’s head too. Hanging on the walls also were the pictures of the current and former Gurus (Hindu spiritual leader/teacher/guide).
All the worshippers were casually dressed mostly in the Hindu traditional wear and therefore it was not easy to tell the social-economic class of a person. Nothing could tell from where or which part of the economic class they came from despite the new and nice cars in the parking lot. Only one thing was clear inside the temple- their humility. They were also so free and open to accommodate people from different cultures. As in my case they treated me as an equal. They did not care about my religious background. As I could learn later, Hindus believe in one “GOD” and therefore everybody is in the same path to pray to this same creature. This is informed by their belief that all rivers and streams lead to the one ocean and therefore no need to evangelize and convert people into their religion.
I walked through the doors and along the hallway I could see how all the worshippers exchanged greetings. For the first time, I was not sure whether they were exchanging greetings or it was some form of a ritual. I somehow felt out of place by not fitting directly into the practice. They were greeting each other by touching each other’s ankle instead of shaking hands. I watched them pray. And as they prayed, lay and they stretch their hands out completely. This type of prayer indeed did show a totally different from what I am used to. In my Christian church we either stand up or just kneel down for prayer. But for the women, they pray while kneeling down and their heads on the down on floor. However, I did not understand for how long they need to pray of continue doing that. They also believe that their god is central to their being and therefore all the men and women walk around this god in prayer.  However, men are given preference in that men are allowed to go first then women follow.
I had an eye-opening experience through this worship service. I came to understand how other religions conduct their services and how they worship. One particular practice that caught my attention was that Hindus are still engaged in arranged marriages. This is despite the fact that the world has changed a lot. This is also contrary to the Christian faith. The other worship practice that was contrary to the Christian believe was the fact that Hindus go round their god in prayer. The men also lay down with their hands stretched out when they pray. In most Christian religions, they are engaged evangelism which is not the case with Hinduism. In Christianity, worshipers either kneel down, sit or stand when offering their prayers. Also most Christian faiths do not conduct businesses within the place of worship. This was contrary to what I observed here since food was being sold.