Saturday

Today we spent the morning at the Swaminarayan Kalupur temple, the center of the Swaminarayan Hindu faith of our host families. It was a special festival day for them, which coincided with the full moon of the night before, so it was filled with people. We met briefly with the father of the head of the sect – Tej, for short! – and then were given a guided tour of the temple complex. This included visiting the holy shrines of their faith, and seeing where the sadhus, or saints for them, live in community. We went to the top of the facility, some seven stories high, and were able to view the entire city from that point. It was moving for me to look out over such a crowded, bustling city and feel a bit of peace in the midst of it all. We were served lunch at the temple – at 10:45 in the morning! – and then our visit there was complete. All of this, by the way, was done by the men only – the women spent the morning at the temple, but with the wife of Tej and were given their own program. The men proceeded to take richshaws from the temple (will try and post a video soon of what that is like) to BAPS guest house, where we had a bit of time for rest. I used that opportunity to go to an internet café and catch-up on blog posts, emails, and seeing what else is going on the world (Dallas Clark gone for the year (boo), Yankees don’t make it to the World Series (yea)). At 1:00, our entire group met together for the first time in private to be able to reflect openly and honestly on what our experience has been like so far. I won’t go into that at this time, but it was very helpful to all of us to be together, and to share highs and lows thus far. We then proceeded to go to a museum of rare Indian tapestry and art. That was interesting and all, but very few of us had the energy or stamina to take it all in! We then went back to the guest house and rested for a couple of hours before dinner. Dinner was at a local restaurant with another civic leader, and the food was good – although it’s all beginning to look the same to me by this point in the trip! I haven’t had issues with intestinal or stomach problems, while some in our group have. But I am looking forward to moving on to Kerala Monday to a region which will have either chicken or, yes, even fish.

For many of us in our group, this is our first significant time being exposed to the Hindu faith. For each of us, our reaction has been different and unique, and for me it has caused me to ponder more on how I would refine and sharpen the words I use to speak my own Christian faith. I think it will be helpful to reflect some on this while we are in Kerala, where we will be interacting with a variety of Christian denominations – and how they exist and minister to the people as a minority religion. There has been a definite struggle for many of us between how positively we have felt by the people’s gracious hospitality, and the concern we feel due to how so many millions, or billions, of people are far from the Christian faith. Perhaps I am beginning to narrow in on the point of this trip in the first place . . . .