Religious Experiences in America

I have visited a few Hindu temples in the US during the past five months I have stayed here. It has been a new experience to see the same kind of temples as in India. Once in the temple it is difficult to believe that we are not in India and in America. Only the fact that during winter the priests are also wearing sweaters and the temple interiors are centrally heated and there is a parking lot which is larger than the temple are some things that make the difference.

I have visited the Ekta Mandir, more popular known as, Irving temple thrice and every visit has been unique in itself. The first time was on the New Year day, when the temple was teeming with people. The second was during an odd week day and the temple was almost deserted with a few devotees. Then it was to volunteer my time for Sankara Eye Foundation on the occasion of Holi festival. This time I witnessed the brotherhood that Indians share in this country. Hundreds of people congregated at the holy place to celebrate the festival and it was as close to India as one can get in this alien land. I managed to shot a few pictures of the temple on this day and here are they are for your perusal.

To tell you a little about the shrine, in my opinion this could be called a temple complex and not one temple. There are deities from across the country installed in separate prayer niches. It could be aptly referred to as Mehrab, but this Urdu/ Persian term is used to refer to the western directional spot in Mosques but a religious space is holy irrespective of religion and hence even a Hindu prayer niche could be referred as ‘Mehrab’. Anyway the temple built in a squarish style has numerous prayer niches or sub shrines dedicated to Lord Balaji, Goddess Lakshmi, Ayappa, Lord Vittala and Rakhumabai etc. Each niche has a cupola of its style, say for example the lord Vittala and Rakhumabai are popular among Maharashtrians so the cupola above this niche is in that style. Similarly other deities are adorned likewise.

The temple was conceived in 1981 and land purchased in 1984 but due to lack of funds and unfeasibility of location the land was sold and a new land was purchased at Irving, where the temple was built and stands today. The temple was formally inaugurated on May 30, 1991 when it had only Lakshmi or the goddess of wealth enshrined. Today this temple is one of the foremost centers of Hindu culture and has comprises of a cultural center, yagashala, youth center etc. It is indeed the right place for expat children to visit and learn about their culture, religion and not get lost among the teeming populous of America.