On Tuesday we took a field trip down south of here to the Radha Kalachandji Temple.  It is a Krisna temple that was started by a man named A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.  He started many many temples during his times in the United States.  When we arrived we met our guide, Nityananda Chandra.  He began to tell us some stories about the area and the people who were members of the temple.  He pointed out that many of the houses had plaques on them and that they were members of the church.  The plaques had names various places in India so it could feel closer to their homeland.  He also told us of a kid who had studied at this temple who had graduated at 11 and was valedictorian of his class at Boise State at 16 or 17.  It is Boise State but still that is a huge deal. From there we were brought to a room to take off our shoes, and then into the temple we went.  Looking around it reminded me of a cathedral.  Very beautiful with all of the paintings, the statues, and everything else about it.  From there he talked about their god.   On Tuesday we took a field trip down south of here to the Radha Kalachandji Temple.  It is a Krisna temple that was started by a man named A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.  He started many many temples during his times in the United States.  When we arrived we met our guide, Nityananda Chandra.  He began to tell us some stories about the area and the people who were members of the temple.  He pointed out that many of the houses had plaques on them and that they were members of the church.  The plaques had names various places in India so it could feel closer to their homeland.  He also told us of a kid who had studied at this temple who had graduated at 11 and was valedictorian of his class at Boise State at 16 or 17.  It is Boise State but still that is a huge deal. From there we were brought to a room to take off our shoes, and then into the temple we went.  Looking around it reminded me of a cathedral.  Very beautiful with all of the paintings, the statues, and everything else about it.  From there he talked about their god.

Krisna is the god of their faith.  He normally takes on the appearance of an eleven year old boy.  He is also not portrayed as the manliest man.  Rama is normally shown with large muscles and a bow while Krisna is a lot smaller, less toned, and without a weapon.  There were also many paintings of Krishna throughout the temple.  One was of Krishna up in a tree with three women below reaching toward him.  Innocently it went unnoticed in my mind that the women were in fact naked, and Krishna had seized their clothes.  He is portrayed as being a mischievous little boy in this painting. In the one next to it he is being chased by a woman, very motherly, like she was going to punish him.  Again he is being shown as a mischievous little boy.

After that we went across the hall to the vegetarian restaurant. As I am a carnivore most of the time I had a lot of rice and a little salad.  Not the best choice for me as vegetables are gross and should be burned but the flavor of that rice was amazing.

As a kid I grew up mostly in Montana and a little bit in California.  Especially in Montana we had a few jewish people, and the rest were either christian or atheist.  And the jewish population was so small that they either didn’t practice very much or they rented out a room somewhere in a church. I have never set foot in another religions place of worship.  It was surreal to me because I had zero idea how to act inside of it.  Not knowing whether we could sit down or touch anything was the weirdest sensation I’ve felt.  I’ve never been thrown into a situation like that because we just didn’t have that where I grew up.  Everything looked so nice and pristine and I had no idea what was sacred and what wasn’t.  Obviously the statues of their gods and its founder is sacred, but it was a first not knowing anything about the religion and how it is worshiped.