FIELD REASEARCH PROJECT PART A- OBSERVATION OF A RELIGIOUS RITUAL

HINDUISM

This Sunday my partner Stacey and I went to a Hindu temple called Shri Swaminharayan Mandir. It is located in Yonkers, NY. When we first approached the temple it was amazing looking, new, and very nice. We had to walk down some stair and when we entered it was nothing I have ever seen before. When we walked in I thought there would be a funny smell of some sort but there was no funny smell, it just smelled normal to me. Once we walked in we introduced ourselves and the guy who was waiting for us got the clergy man to speak with us. We had to take off our shoes off to enter the temple. The temple was so beautiful and very colorful. On the left side of the temple there was this big colorful stage which had three statues of women on it in purple clothing. The women looked life like and very tall. Flowers and all types of decorations were surrounding the statues. To the front of us was two gods sitting on the stage dressed in yellow clothing. They were statues but to the Hindus they are considered saints, guru’s and they are never associated with money or women. The names of both gods were Lord Sami Nariyan and Bjatjumahraj which were the spirit gods on the stage. Every Sunday at 4:30 pm they have a religious ritual which is called the Sunday congregation where they worship the swami and give thanks and ask for protection but in order to do so you must have no karma and do what the god ask to be done as a Hindu worshiper. They were singing chant songs and chanting the gods names. On the stage where the saints sat was three men playing three mini drums on the floor in the front sat the men and far behind in the second back row sat the women and children. Men and women are not allowed to sit with the men during a ritual. They all sat on the floor and wore no shoes and somewhat had there heads bowed and there legs were crossed a certain way. We spoke with the clergy while the ritual was going on. It was very semi quiet and very peaceful. I felt a since of relaxation. He stated that the priest lives in the temple. Every day they bath and brush the teeth of both swami statues. They feed them 3 meals a day and fruits at 3:30 everyday. They also give them a glass of water throughout the day. They change there clothes during bed time. To me and Stacey we were thinking this is crazy, they are only statues but to them they are gods and it is a must that they are taken care of. The reason for the ritual was to give praise and respect to the gods and spirits. It was very interesting, the ceremony last about 2 hrs. What was also interesting was that they had there own food, toothpaste, books etc. It made me feel like they had there own mini community and they provided everything a person needed to survive right in there temple. The other gods that are praised are Bhagatju Manharaj, Shashtriji Manharaj, Xogiji Manaraj, and the most important Pramukhswami Maharaj because he is still alive. He is 87 years old and he was there at the temple in Yonkers some months ago. We were told that he stayed in America for 120 days this year. The name of the clergy was Sudhil Patel and he was very nice and I am so happy that I chose Hinduism because the religion was fun to learn about.