Hindu Temple

On Friday we visited the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple in Aurora, Illinois. Pulling up to the Temple I was blown away by the exterior. The building was was guarded by fences and trees. The temple seemed to be hiden from the craziness of the world. From the initial look at the temple, I was a little thrown off when we walked in. I was expecting the inside to replicate the outside. Walking in, we were faced with a cafeteria. It appeared to be like a high school cafeteria with tables and chairs set out where a family was eating lunch. We were then taking into a room that appeared to be a media room. I rememeber sitting there thinking..."Is this it?"

After our guide gave a little background on the place and the history of India, we were asked to take our shoes off and to follow him upstairs. I had just assumed that the temple would be similar to the basillica where there were just tons of statues and an alter type thing. Instead, there were mulitple little statues with their own little area. This sacred spaces differed from all of the religions in the aspect of the congregation coming to worship are not facing one main signifcant place. There are mulitple statues to pray too.


There was one main god that represented the temple. His name is Sri Venkateswara Swami. We actually got to witness and some the class participated in a ritual of praying to God. I was just standing there is awe. I really didn't know what to think. It all seemed to be a little weird. It was one thing to read about the religion, but to see it was a whole different experience. In my faith, I am at a place where I am questioning a lot of what I was brought up to believe. After seeing a religion so different than mine just made me wonder more and more about my faith.



I found it so interesting that each statue was treated like a real person. They each recieved baths on certain days in which they were washed with milk and given flowers and fruit. Each God was represented through a statue in which they worshiped.

Overall, after the tour, I was more confused within my own faith than anything. This religion is so left field to me that it was hard to comprehend it all. I was really glad to have experienced such an unfamiliar place.