Barefoot again.....hot pavement.

July 23, 2013

This morning we went to Meenaskshi Amman Temple with Dr. Ventramen whose presentation in the guide was described as a lecture when in fact it was three hours of storytelling from the Vedas to bring his points and Hinduism to life. This would be like a theologian telling you Bible story after story in an animated and captivating way as you toured holy sites where peole were actively worshipping, a lot to soak in. 

When I thought of Hinduism previously it was in terms of polytheism and reincarnation.  The reincarnation is definitely outside of much of western thinking, but the polytheistic view was explained in a different way by Dr. Ventramen.  He said that Hindus all believe in the divine and that the divine is God, the one.  That the other gods and goddesses are like the unfolding of a lotus flower and that they are simply elements or aspects of the divine. The work of humanity is to be one with God.

In the afternoon I had the honor of having tea with Dr. Ventramen in his home, because Gene was interviewing him for his project and Dennis and I skipped the shopping trip to listen to the conversation so we got in on the invitation.  We went into his small apartment, the coffee table littered with books, and directly ahead of Dr. Ventramen's chair was a drawing he had made in 1961 of Jesus Christ.  He said "Jesus Christ is my friend".  He said he is the only person who has ever lived that was divine, one with God.  He said that since 1961 he has studied Jesus Christ to find any flaw, and he has not been able to do that.  Churches have flaws, dogma has flaws, humans have flaws, but not said Dr. Ventramen, Jesus.  

The picture of Hinduism that I get in southern India is that they recognize the divine in many faiths, so the differences appear to be non-issues.  I asked Dr. Ventramen why Buddhism didn't "stick" in India.  He said it did stick in India because it was blended into the tenants of Hinduism and that the Baghavadgita ( remember I have limited Internet, and my roommate and I can't come up with the correct spelling.  We aren't gurus:) is full of the teachings of Buddha.  He said "Why would it stick in its straight form in a country like this, it has no celebrations, dancing, stories".  That does make sense, because our morning experience in the Meenaakshi Amman Temple was a sensory as it can get.

The Temple itself is amazingly cool.  It is one of the sacred places I have been most excited to see in India.  I thought about seeing it, but I never thought about experiencing it.  Wow!  Try to experience it a bit yourself by going to this website http:www.maduraimeenakshitemple.com

I know you won't be able to smell it, but you could see it and hear it at least.  I don't have enough internet time or even time here to check all of the websites we've been provided, but if this isn't a good one try a youtube search.  The sounds and the circular motion of the prayer rituals are amazing. Also, it would be a great place to look at on Google Earth.  The city is Madurai.  Before I came here I thought there was just one tower, there are many towers and it is an entire complex that began around 800 CE as a small temple and shrine and evolved through the Middle Ages into something much greater.  The gods and goddesses take many fascinating forms, sometimes they are the same god with many names.  Kind of like our personalities with many different faces/aspects.  The colors are better than any from the 1960's and things were just repainted last year. We couldn't take photos inside.  Terrorist threats of destroying sacred places are now too great.

Also, check for the Temple elephant.  We met our first elephant here. I stood in front of him with a ten rupee note (about twenty cents) and he took the rupees, raised his trunk and then brought in down on the top of my head with a little thunk.  The Hindus say this is a form of blessing from a popular god, Ganesha.  The elephant and looked eye to eye.  

Tonight we had a guided conversation with six local teachers and dinner.  It was a nice event.  We began our sessions at 8:00 a.m. And it's 9:30 p.m. now.  This will be the pace of our full week.