Shane Callahan
Indian Civilization
Blog Post 1
When we pulled up to the ISKCON Temple I had no idea what to expect I had never been to any place of worship like this before, my only prior experiences have been to Christian churches and a Jewish Temple. While there were immediate differences that I could notice there were also some similarities in this religious gathering center and the ones I had been to in the past. The first thing I noticed was the noise level and how that differed from what I was used to but also makes sense after all in the article the Swami was known to lead loud and lively worship in Tompkins Square Park, where it all began. The members of the Dallas ISKCON Temple seemed to be very devout and regular practicing, which makes sense after reading how the movement began and how important Krishna Consciousness is to followers. I also observed some younger followers as well as older ones like our leader Pejorady. But just like when the movement began there is a sense of devout young followers who come to worship and strengthen their faith. I also observed the writing in Sanskrit near the front of the room, and how Prabhupab was able to translate Sanskrit for his disciples in the early years of ISKCON so even after all these years the people of this faith still do carry some of their oldest traditions with them even though most American people are not familiar with the language. Prahupab’s final mission to his homeland of India and surrender to Krishna goes with the lesson Pejorady taught us about how devout Krishna’s followers really are and how they have so much love for their god. Another observation I had of the temple was all the beautiful art work and decorations covering the walls and ceilings. The many pictures of Krishna around the worship room truly show how much this faith cares about and reveres their god. My favorite photo of Krishna was of him lounging in the branches of a tree hanging over the water as a dozen topless women approached him from the water. Krishna is seen with a glowing gold ring around his head and has the womens tops hanging on the branches with them as he gazes down at the approaching females.
The rest of the room also had beautiful paintings of their mighty god performing numerous acts with stories behind them. Krishna is not what most Westerners think of when they imagine a god as he was a lively person and was known to have fun as well as be a tremendous leader. Last but not least another tremendous feature of this temple was the restaurant with Indian food in it. I had never been to place of worship that had a restaurant or to an Indian restaurant before so it was two new experiences in one for me. All around the ISKCON Temple was a tremendous educational experience for the class to have. 