Beltane Waxing Planting Moon
The largest Hindu temple in America is in Maple Grove. Who knew? I dare you to find it there, though it’s a big place, set on 80 acres and rising high above the plowed fields to its south. The location makes it intriguing as it sits next to farms and has a large marshland on its property. This was my fourth visit to the temple, the first since Indian sculptors finished all the smaller temples, 21 in all, and since the carvings have come almost all the way down the temple facade pictured here. Not a usual sight in Minnesota.
The Woolly’s met there tonight and heard a presentation on Hinduism by Dr. Sane, the founder of the Children’s Hospital and the energy behind the development of the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota. We then had a fine Indian dinner served by a temple cook. Great desert, as usual, but the best nan I’ve ever had. Worth coming back for the food.
After the meal we adjourned to the main room of the temple which has smaller temples built inside housing the living statues of various Hindu deities. (Sri Durga) The main temple deity is Vishnu and he has the largest temple. He faces the large ceremonial doors which, when opened, shine the light of the rising sun on his body. Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha and Saraswati also have temples. Each temple has the superstructure of a particular temple located somewhere in India.
All during our presence in the main temple area, Hindu priests with the Brahmanic thread, shirtless and shoeless, chanted prayers, offered pujas and lit incense. The smells of the incense transported me to Singapore where my sister Mary and I celebrated Diwali by visiting a couple of temples, shopping in Little India and watching the fire walking in the early am hours of a November morning.
This mandir incarnates the global cosmopolitanism that cities across the world have begun to display. We’re lucky to have it here.