On Tuesday our class visited the ISKON temple in Dallas.  This temple is called the Radha Kalachandji Temple.  It is a Krishna temple and we were toured by Nityananda Chandra.  He lives in the community that surrounds the temple.  There are around fifty families in the community who live in houses named after holy sites in India.  The children in the community all go to school in the temple, which apparently has very high academic success.  He showed us the prayer room and brought us around to show us the various paintings and depictions of the story of Krishna.  Krishna live on the earth for five years and had the body of an 11 year old. In the picture that I took, Krishna is showing his power by lifting up an entire mountain.  He is surrounded by the locals of the village and cows. He is also lifting the entire mountain with just his pinkie.  Also shown is an elephant god who was punishing the village for disrespect.  The punishment was torrential rain that came down in massive pillars.  Another detail of the photo was the fact that the villagers were attempting to help Krishna lift the mountain by using sticks raised above their head.  Nityananda also told us about how the hare Krishna movement began in America.

While we were there we observed multiple people in prayer.  The held prayer beads that were concealed in a bag around their finger.  These prayer beads were similar to what you find in the Catholic religion.  In the side of a temple is a statue of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.  He is shown in prayer and all around him were flower petals.  The people in prayer would occasionally walk over and touch his feet which is a sign of respect in the Hindu religion.  People would also walk in and lay down completely in front of his likeness momentarily.  The priest was also at the front, standing in prayer next to a statue of Krishna.  He repeatedly rang a bell for about 15 minutes but the purpose of this ringing was unclear.

Nityananda also spoke to us about his and the temples belief in the spirit versus the body.  He spoke of the body being the vehicle and the soul as the driver.  Life should be spent in devotion to God and seeking happiness.

He also described God, or Krishna, as being the most beautiful person on earth.  He had blue skin and was constantly attracting women.  In one picture he created multiple versions of himself so that every girl would have someone to dance to.  In another photo he had stolen the tops of a group of girls and was up in a tree hiding from them.  In many of these depictions his youthful side is displayed very openly.  There is one where he is being scolded by a woman for stealing honey.

After we fully toured the temple we were let into the cafeteria.  The cafeteria was entirely vegetarian which is consistent with their faith.  The had vegetables, a soup with spices and lentils and many other vegetarian options.  For desert they had a rice pudding and a raspberry based desert.