Today’s trip was to the Hindu Temple in Rock Island, Illinois. Just like all of the other new places we’ve visited, I didn’t really know what to expect since Hinduism is fairly new to me. I understood that they believe in reincarnation as well as multiple gods, but I had no idea what their worship space would look like.
I believe that Hinduism is “closer” to Christianity than to Judaism or Islam. The biggest difference is the fact that Hindus believe in more than one god. Hindus believe that the spirits or souls of the gods were once on earth in another form – either as an animal or a human being. In the epic Ramayana (epics are the stories used to explain what the Hindu gods did and how they came to be), the god Shri Rama commanded the monkeys to build a bridge. This idea shows that he was very human-like, but could still do extraordinary things, just as Jesus was human, but did things that no ordinary human could do. Judaism and Islam do not believe that God ever came to earth. They believe that Jesus was just a prophet who came to do God’s will and spread His word.
The Hindu temple was simple, yet it was decorated with the statues of the gods. All of the statues reminded me a little bit of the statues that are found in a Christian church, specifically a Catholic church. They had one main god whose statue was much larger than the others and placed in the center just like a crucifix in a Catholic church. There were also many bright colors which one might find in the paintings and stained glass windows of a Christian church. Both the Jewish synagogue and Islamic mosque were decorated very simply with only a few colorful decorations, which is quite the opposite of the Hindu temple.
Each specific god in the Hindu religion has a few things that it is known for. For example, there is a god of earth and a god of wealth and many, many more. I thought that the idea that there was a god for each thing was similar to Catholic saints being the patrons of different things. Judaism and Islam do not have saints, nor do they have specific gods or people representing or watching over particular things. They pray to a certain god when they need help with something just as we would pray to a particular saint. The priest also told us that they pray to the gods every day in the morning and evening. I know that morning and evening are common times for Christians to pray as well. I found this idea interesting as well.
Hindus believe that god is in everything, which is basically the same idea that Christians hold. We, as Christians believe that all people are created in God’s image and therefore, are a part of Him. We also believe that God created all things, so they too, are a part of Him, just in a slightly different way. I was taught to respect God’s creation in everything I do and the priest today mentioned something similar. For example, he said that people in India take quick showers because they don’t want to waste water which contains god.
One thing that I found really interesting was one of the “slogans” that the Hindu priest talked about. He said “Worship your own, respect all.” I believe that this is an idea that all religions are trying to achieve and I think that Christianity does a fairly good job of it. A specific example of being respectful and welcoming is right here on campus at the beginning of Sunday mass when the community leader explains that people from other faith traditions are welcome to come forward at communion time to receive a blessing. I’m not saying that the Jewish religion and Islamic religion aren’t welcoming because they certainly are, I’m just pointing out that it is another similarity between Christianity and Hinduism.
It’s taken a little bit of work to find the similarities between Hinduism and Christianity, but they are definitely there. I’m going back to the idea of pluralism/tolerance, but if people would just take the time to look at the different religions, they would see that we are more alike than we are different. It is my hope that people start to realize this and start breaking down stereotypes. Remember, worship your own, respect all.
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