On Tuesday we took a class trip to the ISCKON Temple, a Hare Krishna temple in Dallas. When we first arrived at the Hare Krishna temple, the outside architecture was on par with what I was expecting, a temple clearly influenced by India.  Once we stepped inside I noticed a very strong aroma, a smell of spices, herbs, and other natural plants.  However, despite the physical structure and smell being what I expected the inside of the temple was different from what I expected.  I had assumed the inside would look very traditional, however, it seemed to have a mix of traditional mixed with contemporary.  The priest, Nityananda, also mentioned how the temple used to belong to a church and the prayer/worship room for the Hare Krishna’s used to be a basketball court for the church.

Inside the temple were many pieces of artwork which illustrated Krishna and his many personalities and traits.  One piece of art that stuck out to me particularly was the one of Krishna holding a mountain, Govardhan, over his head and the head of citizens to protect them from the torrential rains coming down on them.  The rains were a result of Indra, a false idol being angered by Krishna convincing his people not to pray to him anymore.  Indra became so upset with Krishna and the people that he tried to kill them.  Fortunately, Krishna was able to protect everyone by shielding them with the mountain.  In the painting you can see the people or villagers raising sticks above their heads to try and help Krishna to lift the mountain.  This is equated to people believing they are on the same level as god.  It is sinful and bad for the soul because one should not be equal with god, they’re relationship with god should be one of admiration or service.  The beliefs held by the Hare Krishna’s seem to center around people making they’re soul better by improving their relationship with god.  They are firm believers in the fact that the body is just a physical form and that the soul is what truly makes a person.  This is an interesting belief because our culture and society put so much importance on physical appearances, however, in Hare Krishnan culture spirituality and soul are the most crucial aspect of life.  I found it interesting that Hare Krishna’s believe that god’s soul travels from physical form to physical form because most religions see god as an all powerful being that is greater than individual people.  Part of the reason I found this so interesting was because this idea of god being in the same physical form as all other humans makes the artworks in the temple come to life.  In the artworks Krishna is always interacting with other humans in some way.  In one he is being devious with women, in another he is helping people, in another he is dancing and enjoying life.  The Hare Krishna temple provided me with good and interesting insight into the Krishna’s culture and ideals.  It was very interesting being immersed in a very different setting than what you are used to.