“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.34)

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मन्-मना भव मद्-भक्तो
मद्-याजी मां नमस्कुरु
माम् एवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवम्
आत्मानं मत्-परायणः

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ

1. What is the use of this elaborate structure?

“Wow, this place looks really nice. Something like a cross between a palace and a house of government. We don’t have anything resembling this where I live. It is interesting, for sure. A lot of people appear to be entering and exiting. They create something like an assembly-line; it is as if they are standing on a moving conveyer belt.”

2. Simply to worship a statue?

“Really? To go in front of this piece of art and recite a few prayers? That is the cause of the commotion? Appears a little odd to me. How can there be this much interest? How did this one place become so popular? You don’t see the same happening inside of museums. At least there you have some sort of information associated with each piece. You learn how old it is, from which part of the world it came, how long it has been in the museum, who donated it, etc. There is a tour guide. Over here, all you get is decorations, like clothes and flowers. There appears to be fruit placed along the front, too. Weird. Are we allowed to eat that?”

3. Interacting with something that is obviously inanimate

“Do they not see what I see? The statue isn’t moving, right? It is stationary. It does not speak. It does not gesture in affirmation. It does not officially recognize any action conducted in front of it. A simple nodding of the head would suffice, but since this is a construction of brass, marble, or stone, there is no chance for any of that to happen. Therefore, may I politely ask, what exactly is going on?”

4. There has to be a better use of resources

“I don’t want to be rude, but consider how much money must have been spent on this place. It was built on donations, at least. Thank goodness the government did not squander tax revenues on this extravagance. But think of how many poor people could have been helped. How many of them could have been fed. This is something to consider.”

5. Did someone live here before?

“Maybe that is the reason for the attention. This used to be someone’s home. That statue is a depiction of their form, features, and likeness. The occupant was important, and so society wanted to continue the interaction. It serves as a sort of memorial to the impact made by that person. In that case, the worship makes a little more sense. But still, the level of attention is obviously overboard, if you ask me.”

…

In this hypothetical case, the observer might instead be inclined towards service to man. They speculate that if there is a God, He would be more pleased if everyone followed that direction. The exact implementation of that assistance is subject to speculation.

One person helps by offering food and clothing to people they see suffering on the street. Another person sets up a shelter for people who have nowhere to go. This person with deep pockets wants to establish an educational institution specifically targeted for the less fortunate.

The truth is that intelligence goes into every aspect of the temple construction and subsequent experience. It may not appear that way, as people are worshiping a supposedly inanimate object. They are asking for things as opposed to working for them. They are bringing offerings which do not magically disappear, after the fact. If the deity is accepting these items, there is no obvious way to validate the exchange.

As there is a laboratory for the scientist to test the principles they have learned in an academic setting, the house of worship is like the playing field upon which to implement sanatana-dharma, which can be considered the science of self-realization. The objective of the discipline is to both learn of the proper identity of the individual and act in ways reflecting the assimilation of that knowledge.

The house of worship is like a starting point. Through the interaction, there is an outward recognition of the difference between man and the Almighty. I am an individual spirit soul who transcends matter. The body does not identify me. The body is always changing.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

God is of a similar kind of soul, except with a notable distinction. He can distribute His influence everywhere. The deity in the temple is one representation of this. I am offering prayers towards a specific object in my location in the world. A different person living hundreds of miles away is also offering prayers.

Our two objects of worship, though situated in different places, though perhaps slightly different in construction and appearance, are actually identical. They represent the same person. This ability to witness everything is the feature known as antaryami.

The person worships in the temple, but we should understand that God is not limited to any place of residence. He is as much outside of the temple as He is inside of it. But the worshiper still has an attraction, based on what they have learned, what they have read, what they have heard from authority figures.

The interaction has the potential for bringing full and complete success. It is one of the ways in which a person can follow the recommendation from Shri Krishna to Arjuna to become a devotee, to always think of the highest being, and to worship Him.

In Closing:

Chance for complete success,
With deity vision to bless.

Since interaction true,
Prayers in surrender too.

A place from which to begin,
He who without and within.

But from steadiness in regulation through,
Soon feeling constant companion who.

Categories: the five

Tags: god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion, temple