Reflecting on The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago

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The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflection on the field trip to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. After a brief Introduction to the Context, the Watercress tool will be used to highlight my observations.

In our study of the Hinduism, the class visited The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC). This active temple is a house of worship that serves thousands of devotees as they pay hamage to a diverse variuety of Idol and spiritual gods. Taughted as one of the oldest religions in the world, it accepts all religious belief systems and God. In fact, the Temple is designed to accommodate any and many gods to include the practices and rites of the devotees. Our volunteer tour guide explained the Hindu theology in lthis way. There is one god identified as Para-Brahman. This god expressed his engery or power through three vessels called Trinity. This Trinity is represented by the deities of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Each deity has a purpose and function in the ordering of all things. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer, purger, or redeemer. Vishnu manifest through various incarnated avataras to preserve good. The incarnation Rama is the ruling deity of the temple. Additionally, our host explained good or bad karma ended at the death of a person but the soul or atman continued to the next existence. This cycle would continue until the alman dharma produced enough good karma to elevated the atman to salvation or Mosksha. Moreover, as the guide prayed to the sun god on our behalf, he verbally honored each member of the team as a god. When asked about the type of text or holy book the religion uses to support its rituals and practices, the host mentioned four. He commented a...

... middle of paper ...

...have experienced barriers for the very same reason. The acceptance of any and all belief systems and gods pushes the etic position of many people. I for one, could sense and see the attempt to be inclusive of my belief system but the acceptance of everying kept me in the etic position..

when using the EMIC/ETIC portion of the WTR CRESS tool, I can safely say, there was no discomfort or uneasiness. I was simplely amazed at the sear scope of the religious practice and the ease of deity acceptability.

when using the Suprise portion of the WTR CRESS tool, I noted my surprise at being greeted as gods as the volunteer guide prayed to the sun god. I was also surprised at the seer number of gods and idols throughout the temples. Additionally, the idea that there was a holy text available for each god including religious ritual and practices was unbelievable.

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