panelarrow

| 0 comments

Last Thursday, our class had the wonderful opportunity of visiting the ISKCON Temple here in Dallas, located at 5430 Gurley Avenue. The experience was quite interesting. First, we took a tour of the interior of the temple. After, we got to speak with our guide about the many different pictures we saw in the temple. To finish off this experience, we then had the chance to try some wonderful food from the restaurant in the building.

The temple resides in an old basketball court that was the recreational area for the church that was located there. When one first walks into the large room, their eyes are immediately brought to the large display to the left of the entrance. A shrine, this setup dominates this space. Next, one starts to notice the paintings that are around. Each appears to show a different story of Krishna. It seems only right that a religious society that has the words “Krishna Consciousness” in its title would have pictured dedicated to this deity. Finally, one can see the memorial to the founder of the movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who started it in New York in the late 1960s.

Our guide talked to us a bit about the founding of the movement as well as the inside of this specific temple. He also discussed aspects of the faith. Before going on our trip, our class was asked to read ISKCON’S Search for Self-Identity: Reflection by a Historian of Religions, an article by Thomas J. Hopkins. I’m glad that it was required of us as it was quite helpful as it helped me understand not what our guide was mentioning in regards to the spiritual aspects of the religion, but about what he mentioned regarding the movements origins as well. We heard a bit about Prabhupada and it was consistent with that in the article. Our guide’s explanation of the temple being located in a former basketball gym that belonged to the church which once occupied the area the temple is now at can also be seen through the words of the article, as we read that in the early days of ISKCON, temples were founded in any type of space. We finished the tour with our guide by hearing about a few of the paintings in the room.

After the tour, we moved into the restaurant across the hall and took part in the delicious buffet. Many different foods were available. To drink, one could make themselves a cup of tea, or try the delicious tamarind tea. I did and I was not disappointed. The food was great. The atmosphere of the courtyard was wonderful. Everybody who was working there as well as who ate there seemed to enjoy themselves. Maybe that was because the workers are devotees who make the food as an offering to Krishna and those who eat it are happy simply because it is delicious. In my eyes, it goes past this. There seems to be a sense of community at this place and by all evidence, this will remain the same for a long time.

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *.


Skip to toolbar