CHICAGO: The Hindu Temple of Lake County in Grayslake has blossmed out of its traditional label of a place for worship and rituals with avowedly seeking to create awareness about essence of Sanatan Dharma not only among Hindus but also among members of the communtiy at large
Iit is in this context that students from schools and colleges in the Lake County area visit the temple for getting first hand feel about this oldest world relgion – Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma. As indicated by teachers of world religions class, their students get a real sense of Hinduism when they take time to go to local temples, Sikh Gurdwara or Jain temple.
It was in this conext that a large group of 125 students from the Lake Forest Academy with five teachers visited the temple on Wenesday October 15 to see, as put by Geetha Patil, a spokesperson, Hindu deities, observe Hindu rituals, and get their doubts and questions answered by knowledgeable people.
Anand Upadhyaya and Prabhakar Joshi usually give the tour of the temple to students and answer their questions.
Anand Upadhyaya gave them an elaborate tour and answered all their questions accurately and methodically with lots of day today examples. Temple priest Pandit Anil Joshi welcomed the students warmly and requested them to participate in the Archana and Maha Mangalarati and blessed all the students for their academic success, bright future and prosperity, become good citizens, and maintain peace, harmony, and love to humanity with prasadam.
Dr. Harsh Kumar, the president, appreciated the teachers for bringing their students to the temple and getting first hand information. He said that for starters, a visit to a Hindu temple can be helpful in understanding the way Hindus worship their deities, decorating them elegantly, and chanting scared hymns. This would help shatter the usual myth created by many books depicting Hinduism as an antiquted form of worhsip to monkey , elephant gods and the likes.
It should not be deemed a religion confined to the Indian subcontinent but is essentially a world religion with its universal appeal and preachings. In the United States, the diverse and universal aspects of Hinduism are reflected in the plethora of temples representing numerous worship traditions as well as cultural beliefs, Dr. Harsh pointed out. He also assured teachers that his team and he will be available to answer their questions regarding Hindu religion any time.
Suri Swamy
