IndiPeeps: Day 4

Here's a short lesson on India for you. India is the fastest growing democracy in the world. Its population is also fast growing and it is projected to be the most populous country in the world by 2020 when it will overtake China. As of 2013, there are 1.25 billion people who live in India, although many, we learned, don't have official papers because they are not issued birth certificates if they are not born in a hospital. So really, I'm not sure how accurate any "official" data is about statistics in India. Of those 1.25 billion, about 80% are Hindu, 14% are Muslim, 2% are Sikh and 2% are Christians. Technically, India is tolerant towards all religions and freedom of religion is a fundamental right, but in practice there is definitely intolerance toward the minority religions and persecution of those believers is not uncommon. Since castes are an aspect of Hindu religion, this practice dominates Indian life. Castes are a hierarchical order which dictate what job a person can do and what kind of people they can interact with. This is a fascinating concept coming from a Christian American background where we are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves and that hard work and perseverance can improve anyone's economic status. The top caste is the priestly caste and the bottom class, the untouchables or Dalits, are not even considered human. They are relegated to jobs which involve human waste and other such nasty business. I would encourage you to read more about castes if you're interested. OK, history lesson over.

So today's agenda for us was to explore the religious diversity of India by visiting their places of worship. We started by visiting Akhshardham, a huge and magnificently constructed Hindu temple. The word akhshardham means divine abode of God, too bad it was dedicated to the wrong God. This place was constructed like a temple from hundreds of years ago with artisanship rarely found in construction of any modern building. The entire place was made out of sandstone and marble with no metal supports. Amazingly, it was finished in 2005. It included gardens, courtyards and an elaborate and ornate centerpiece, the mandir. Inside the mandir were thousands of carved images of all the Hindu spiritual personalities or gods. At the center of the mandir was a kind of altar to Bhadwan Swarminarayan and his succession of gurus. I admired this place for its incredible beauty and craftsmanship, but saddened by the misdirected worship of earthly men and created gods.

These photos are from the internet since no photography of any kind was allowed inside.

Our next stop was a Christian church in the heart of Delhi. In fact this church, an Anglican church, was located across the street from the President's house and was built for the Queen to use when she visited Delhi. It was very reminiscent of an English church for me. Sadly, the church was empty of any kind of worshipers which I found in stark contrast to all the other houses of worship we visited. This church was also the church in which Abhishek and Angie were married. They told us a little about the wedding which included 850 guests!

After the Christian church, we moved on to a Sikh gurdwara. Sikhism was founded 500 years ago and followers consider themselves disciples of God and followers of the 10 Sikh gurus. Interestingly, their beliefs have some commonality with Christianity, like the believe that there is only one God or that ancestor worship is wrong. But they also have strong differences from Christianity, like they believe the soul goes through cycles of births and deaths before it reaches the human form. One thing the Sikhs are known for is their nishaan sahib - the orange pole and flag flown outside every gurdwara. It is believed to be a kind of billboard for them announcing where the gurdwara is in the community. Since they are strong believers in equality and caring for community, each gurdwara serves a free meal to anyone who comes each day.

Sikh gurdwara, note the pole out front

You were not supposed to take pictures inside, but I may have sneaked a few...

We were able to go inside the gurdwara after first removing our shoes, washing our feet and covering our heads. We all sat quietly on the floor for a few minutes observing Sikh believers come and pray before the sacred book. Afterwards, while we were waiting to reclaim our shoes, an older Sikh started asking me questions. He told me was 84 years old and had a very good mind. After learning we were from the US, he told me he knew lots about our history - like we were founded in 1916 after the Boston Tea party where people climbed onto a ship, poked a hole in it and sank the boat. I think his history lesson was a little different from the version I was taught! Nevertheless, it was fun to talk to him.

From the Sikh gurdwara, we went to visit another family of a Catalyst resident, R. R's family lived on the back side of a very old Hindu temple which was devoted to the worship of their goddess Kali. Kali is the goddess of time, change, power, creation, preservation and destruction. This was a very spiritually dark place and very uncomfortable to be in. While waiting for R to escort us through the tight, twisting alleyway that led to her family, but also past the temple and through a market devoted to offerings for the goddess, a lemon was thrown at us. Abhishek warned us not to step on the lemon, because it was a symbol of bad luck. Clearly, white foreigners were not welcome in this place.

Once R met us, we very quickly walked through the narrow alley past the temple, past the beggars, past the stalls hawking offerings and souvenirs and to the home of R. At first, I didn't realize we were at her home because it was literally an open area under a platform covering. I'm not even sure how their home was delineated from the other families that were living there as there were no walls or dividers. All sides were exposed except for a covered roof. We were immediately flanked by lots of kids and people all so excited about our visit. I couldn't resist taking photos of the kids who were thrilled to see an image of themselves immediately appear on my phone. Again, the warmth of the Indian hospitality was apparent as we were offered cups of Coke. Stop for a minute and think about this hospitality and generosity. We in America have abundance upon abundance, but how often do we sacrifice what we have to offer to strangers? I mean really sacrifice, because I bet that bottle of Coke cost them more than they had to survive on that day.

Our visit to R's home was short and we were soon being ushered back out through the market. Walking back through, we witnessed the extreme way of "worshiping" this goddess of destruction. There was a woman who would prostrate herself face down on the ground, get up crawl a few feet and then fall flat again. This was repeated over and over until she reached the temple. Beth witnessed her hissing and reaching for small children. It was evil and dark and heart breaking.

The market

Little girl in the smoke and sunshine

These photos are of R's home, friends and family

This is their home, our team are sitting on their bed

The woman worshiping the goddess.

Ok, I know this is getting to be a long post, but I'm really only half way through our day!

The next place of worship we went to was a Baha'i temple. I was not familiar with the Baha'i faith, but it is a growing faith practiced all around the world. Apparently there is a big temple in Seattle. The Baha'i faith, which was conceived in the 19th century in Persia, seeks to combine all faiths into a unified belief. From their website,

Bahá’í beliefs address such essential themes as the oneness of God and religion, the oneness of humanity and freedom from prejudice, the inherent nobility of the human being, the progressive revelation of religious truth, the development of spiritual qualities, the integration of worship and service, the fundamental equality of the sexes, the harmony between religion and science, the centrality of justice to all human endeavours, the importance of education, and the dynamics of the relationships that are to bind together individuals, communities, and institutions as humanity advances towards its collective maturity.

We thought that their all-encompassing beliefs could be very attractive to people, especially in the US, and therefore this could be a dangerous threat.

The Lotus temple was a booming landmark sitting on a hill and beckoning all around. Its design was architecturally amazing and the acoustics inside were phenomenal, but overall I was left with a feeling of emptiness. We were able to sit inside the building for a few minutes and experience the end part of a worship service.

As we were approaching late afternoon, we made our way into old Delhi. We climbed aboard rickshaws propelled by a man on a bicycle and wound our way into the center and to a Muslim mosque. I loved the rickshaw ride! It was fun and dangerous and all around crazy! Unfortunately, by the time we got to the mosque, it had closed to visitors so we were not allowed inside.

Abhishek and I on a rickshaw

The mosque

Since our restaurant was around the corner from the mosque, we decided to walk, which was quite the crazy thing to do too. It was us and about 1,000 cars, bikes, rickshaws and motorcycles all using a tight narrow road lined with shops and vendors.

The restaurant was tucked down a small alley and a little sketchy looking, but it's always those types of restaurants that are the best. And this one didn't disappoint. Abhishek told us the restaurant was over 100 years old and inside the walls were lined with awards, including a "Best Of" award from the New York Times. Go figure. Once again, Abhishek ordered for the table and we were soon presented with steaming bowls and plates full of tandoori and grilled chicken, butter chicken, mutton curry and biryani. Oh, and the best naan ever. I mean ever.