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The Hindu Temple Of Atlanta

Decent Essays

A Hindu temple contains a very different religious experience compared to what I 've previously experienced in the past. Perhaps the most obvious difference comes from just how individual it can be compared to a group service for example. While there is a portion of the service that is led by a priest for the vast majority of your stay the experience is really upon you and you alone. While there are traditions to follow it 's still a unique experience. During my attendance at the Hindu temple of Atlanta I almost assuredly didn 't follow all of the customs and traditions but nevertheless, did my best to at least not offend my hosts. The experience was alien compared to anything else I 've ever experienced in this capacity and to be honest …show more content…

The setup of this temple was similar to the other with deities lining the outer perimeter. In this area after circling the building was led into an inner chamber with a few followers. Eight people were placed to the right and the left of entry way to this sanctum and the priest was ritually chanting something. After a time he began ritually feeding the deity by offering a small amount of liquid before it 's mouth before pouring it into a basin above. He then takes a flame and spins it around multiple times. The priest then took a flame to each follower to hold their hands around. He then takes the liquid from early and offers it to assembled people. They each take a sip of the liquid then splash the remainder over their heads. The priest then takes a large ornate metal hat and places it on each followers head. Then, fruit was given to each follower there some of children kept it while some of them seemed to be used to give a food offering to some of the statues of deities. Upon leaving food was serviced to guests in the form of a spicy rice. Lastly, upon going to leave I noticed that one of the priests had gone outside with some food to offer it to a statue of a deity though, this wasn 't a part of the service directly It was clearly a part of their daily lives. Overall this was a very different type of service compared to a christian service for example. To be honest I feel like not knowing Hindi made it so a lot of the subtext behind the service was lost to

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