India: Devotion

Ganesh, the very popular elephant god, was everywhere.

One of the aspects of India that I found fascinating was the integration of religion. In the States, religion doesn't often intersect in everyday life. Sure, there are varying levels of religious devotion, but for many religious people church appearances occur once a week (or less) and a cross on a chain is the only outward sign you notice as you pass them on the streets.

A busy temple next to shops in Jaipur.

I was amazed by how much religion was part of everyday life. (Maybe I'm just missing some obvious signs in America. For example, Christianity is the major religion here. Are there Christian aspects of everyday life that I don't even recognize as being religious because I'm so used to them? If so, I still think they are much less prominent.) In India, there were small temples all over. I don't think I walked down even one street that didn't have some sort of small temple or shrine. Even when we drove through the mountains to reach Dharamsala, we saw temples in the middle of nowhere. I didn't go inside many private Indian homes, so I can't speak to those, but many hotels and shops had a small shrine set up, too.

A random temple in Pushkar.

When I was in Jaipur, I was awakened at 5 a.m. by the Muslim call to prayer. When I was in Dharamsala, I woke up to the sound of hundreds of chanting monks.

Religious icons were for sale everywhere. Religious symbols were painted over many doorways.

In Jaipur, I met some 20-year-olds who brought me to a couple temples one evening. First, we stopped at a small Shiva temple, where about six men had gathered after finishing their work days. They were praying and playing worship music, and I was able to join them and participate for a bit. Then, we went to the much larger Govind Dev Ji temple, which was crowded with people praying, singing and worshiping on their way home from work.

The devotion was amazing.

Another random temple in Pushkar.