Visit To The Hindu Temple Of San Antonio, Texas

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Recommended: Visit to a Hindu temple

My husband and I attended The Hindu Temple of San Antonio on 18518 Bandera Road, Helotes, TX 78023. The worship service started at 10:30AM and lasted about an hour, and following was a celebration picnic which started at 11:30 AM to about 2:00PM. My husband and I left at the end of the worship service in the Hindu temple and did not stay for the festivities to follow due to prior obligations. The Hindu Temple’s normal working hours are Monday - Friday (9 AM - 12 Noon) (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM) Saturday - Sunday (9 AM - 7 PM). This particular Hindu worship service and following festivities was dedicated to the celebration of Abhishekam to Ganesha Balavikas Ganesh Chaturthi and the Conclusion of Ganesha Utsav and Nimajjanam. This particular service …show more content…

Today the temple is known as holy grounds by 3,000 Hindu families in the San Antonio, TX area. The reputation of the Hindu Temple of San Antonio, Texas is highly respected and shown through having to be barefoot throughout the grounds due to its holiness enforced by the Hindu traditions and faith. I did not have expectations before visiting the Hindu temple because I had never seen or heard of what the Hindu rituals of faith entailed. I was only excited and anxious to be a witness to the Hindu ceremonies. The geographical location of the Hindu Temple was very surprising due to it was 20 minutes out of San Antonio up a very steep hill in the middle of nowhere in Helotes, TX. This did not imply anything about the Hindu community other than all of them travel to worship and is not easily accessible by walking or bicycle. The Temple’s size would comfortably fit about 50 people, although it had crammed about 200 people into it at that service. The architecture was extremely well kept and beautifully maintained with the nicest polished gold trim I have ever seen, and the rest of the building, which was pure white, was probably hand washed daily it was so bright white. There was not any art that had adorned the walls, but statues, idols, and shrines were everywhere embellished with all different metals, jewels, ornate tapestries, and brightly colored …show more content…

The racial and ethnic makeup of the community at the Hindu temple was entirely Indian other than 4 people, 3 of which were onlookers from my school, and my husband and I. The age distribution of the congregation was of equal ages from very young to very old; along with equal parts male and female

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