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Why Do We Need a Temple?
\nChaitanya Charan Dasa: Ratan Gupta (RG) is a wealthy industrialist, well-known for being charitable to noble causes. He recently attended an ISKCON program at a friend\u2019s house, where the speaker Sanatana Swami, a venerable monk who has been teaching God consciousness for the last 35 years, invited him to visit the local ISKCON temple. One early evening, Ratan decides to go to the temple. As he parks his car outside the temple, he notices hoardings depicting a grand new temple that ISKCON is planning to build. He enters the temple, has \u2018darshan\u2019 (entering the temple room and seeing the Deities) and enquires about Santana Swami. He is directed to a small room, where he sees the effulgent Swamiji sitting erect on the floor behind a small desk. The room is filled with pictures of Krishna on the walls and books about Krishna in the shelves. Sanatana Swami greets him with a warm smile and invites him to take a seat. Their conversation:<\/p>\n
RG: Pranam, Swamiji.<\/p>\n
SS: Hare Krishna, Guptaji. Please accept the blessings of Lord Krishna. We are happy that you have taken time out from your busy schedule to visit our temple. Did you have darshan?<\/p>\n
RG: Yes, the Lord is so beautifully dressed and decorated. I heard you are coming up with a new temple.<\/p>\n
SS: Yes. Krishna willing, the temple will be constructed in two years if the funds come regularly.<\/p>\n
RG: That brings me to a question that has been in my mind for a long time. Can I ask you?<\/p>\n
SS: Certainly.<\/p>\n
RG: Do we need such costly temples? So many people are suffering without food, clothing, and shelter. Isn\u2019t that a much more urgent necessity for society than an expensive temple?<\/p>\n
SS: Certainly it saddens our heart to see people suffering without the basic necessities of life. Many humanitarian organizations are working to help them and much more can be done. At the same time, a temple plays a vital role in the integration and the development of the entire community, a role that is not being played at all in our modern society.<\/p>\n
RG (surprised): Really? What is that role?<\/p>\n
SS: I will briefly explain the social services provided by a temple through an acronym T.E.M.P.L.E.<\/p>\n
T \u2013 Tranquility<\/p>\n
E \u2013 Education<\/p>\n
M \u2013 Medication<\/p>\n
P \u2013 Purification<\/p>\n
L \u2013 Love<\/p>\n
E \u2013 Engagement<\/p>\n
RG: Sounds interesting.<\/p>\n
TRANQUILITY<\/p>\n
SS: Just as food, clothing and shelter are the basic needs of the body, peace is a basic need of the mind. Today, there is practically no system to provide for this basic mental need. Worse still, our fast-paced, stress-filled lifestyle agitates our mind a lot. No wonder the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the greatest medical challenge of the current century will be not AIDS or cancer but mental health problems. The temple is one of the few places where one can immediately experience a deep peace just by going into the premises.<\/p>\n
RG (looking thoughtful): When I entered the temple I was wondering how it is such a haven of serenity despite geographically being amidst the hustle-bustle of the city. Where does this tranquility come from?<\/p>\n
SS: The tranquility is a natural result of the divine vibrations that constantly pervade a temple. Those vibrations result from both the presence of the Lord in His deity form as well the constant chanting of His holy names. Many, many people come to the temple in the evening to de-stress themselves before returning home. They take darshan of the deities, attend the worship or sit in the temple hall taking in the divine atmosphere. Thus they become mentally recharged to cope with the challenges of life.<\/p>\n
The founder-acharya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, wanted to have temples right in the hearts of the cities so that maximum number of people would have easy, quick access to the tranquility that the temple offers.<\/p>\n
RG: Sometimes I wonder whether peace of mind is a luxury that we can ill afford when we have so many duties to perform for our family, office and society.<\/p>\n
SS: Peace of mind is not a luxury, but is a necessity that enables us to perform our duties sustainably. To lift a 5 kg weight for a few minutes is not difficult. But if we were to lift it continuously for the rest of our lives, it would soon become a burden, an unbearable burden. We would need to relieve ourselves of the weight by short breaks that would allow the muscles of our arm to rest and regain strength. Similarly our duties \u2013 and the anxieties that inevitably come with them \u2013 are like burdens on our minds. If we let these burdens weigh on our minds constantly, they exhaust us mentally. We need short breaks that allow our minds to rest and regain strength.<\/p>\n
People try to get these breaks through entertainment \u2013 by watching TV and movies. Entertainment may sometimes refresh us, but often it leaves us with more agitating thoughts, desires and memories.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, when we come to the temple, we take those mental burdens off and sooth our minds with the healing serenity that pervades the temple. Then when we are mentally rested and refreshed, we restart our duties with greater effectiveness.<\/p>\n
In fact, because people don\u2019t take such nourishing breaks, they become ineffective in their personal functioning and irritable in their interpersonal dealings, leading to so many avoidable problems.<\/p>\n
RG: I had never thought of the temple contributing to society by providing mental rest.<\/p>\n
SS: You are not alone in that. I too had hardly any idea of the value of our culture till I came in contact with ISKCON, And I would surmise the same holds true for most Indians, including even those Indians who are proud of their culture. That\u2019s what makes the next contribution of the temple to society \u2013 education \u2013 so vitally important. Many temples offer a tranquil atmosphere, but ISKCON temples particularly offer spiritual education too.<\/p>\n
Education<\/p>\n
RG (somewhat skeptically): Spiritual education? Do we really need that, especially in this age of science?<\/p>\n
SS: Science tells us how to do things, but spirituality alone teaches us why to do things. For example, the medical colleges teach how to cure a patient, but they don\u2019t teach why to cure him. Consequently, many doctors see their patients as money minting machines and often subject them to needless tests and treatments so as to earn more out of them. Similarly, in every profession, when the motive of earning takes primacy, professionals end up exploiting their clients.<\/p>\n
RG (protesting): But that is a human defect. Why blame education for that?<\/p>\n
SS: The purpose of real education is not just to train students in technical skills, but also to rectify the lower human tendencies. Sadly, modern education fails to do that. Learning is not just for earning, but for service.<\/p>\n
RG (thoughtfully): Service?<\/p>\n
SS: Yes, the doctor\u2019s real duty should be to serve the patients, to free them from their pains and to heal them. Think of how much better our world would be if everyone were working to serve each other, not exploit each other. Spiritual education can create that culture of service.<\/p>\n
RG: Why do we need spiritual education for that? We just need to help people understand the need to be good and to do good to others.<\/p>\n
SS: Without spiritual education, most people will not be able to stay good or do good for a long time; they would soon succumb to an immoral, exploitative mentality.<\/p>\n
RG: Why?<\/p>\n
SS: Being good and doing good or living by moral principles is like following traffic laws for smooth and safe travel. The purpose of travel, however, is not merely to follow the laws but to reach the destination. If a traveler feels that the traffic laws delay or obstruct his reaching the destination or that there\u2019s no policeman to catch him, he will soon become tempted to break the laws.<\/p>\n
Like traffic laws, moral principles promote order, specifically orderly social interactions. But modern education doesn\u2019t teach us about the goal of social transactions or the goal of life itself. So, most people chose by default the incessantly glamorized goals of modern consumerist society\u2014wealth, enjoyment, prestige, power, possession, position. The Bhagavad-gita, which has been acknowledged as a philosophical masterpiece by Emerson, Einstein, Gandhi and many other thinkers worldwide, explains graphically how such a materialistic worldview leads to corruption and degradation. When the social culture aggressively propagates materialistic goals and education does nothing to counter this propaganda, then morality appears unnecessary and even undesirable, resulting in the mentality: \u201cIf the goal of life is to earn money and enjoy life, then why be honest, when honesty will severely limit my earning and enjoyment? By hook or crook, earn and enjoy. There\u2019s no God in front of whom I have to account for my deeds; there\u2019s only this one life for me to enjoy. I just have to make sure that whatever I do, I do it cleverly enough to not get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n
RG (thoughtfully): Yes, the resolve for morality doesn\u2019t last. In my thirty years of business experience, I have seen many moralists glide down to immorality.<\/p>\n
SS (nodding): More the materialistic propaganda spreads, more the immorality increases \u2013 and not just in earning, but also in every form of enjoyment. According to the US Congressional Quarterly, in the 1960s, the top disciplinary problems in US schools were sticking gum under school desks, noise during classes, breach of dress code, littering the classroom and running in halls. Now, the top disciplinary problems in US schools are drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery and assaults on teachers. And as India is becoming westernized, soon these problems will come here also.<\/p>\n
RG (nodding gravely): It\u2019s scary when we hear about incidents like students shooting co-students and teachers as happened in Virginia Tech a few years ago. But how can spiritual education counter this?<\/p>\n
SS: Ultimately, everyone is seeking happiness. Spiritual education helps us understand where to find the highest happiness. Most people seek materialistic happiness, but such happiness is always temporary; we have to lose it all at the time of death \u2013 and sometimes even earlier. Moreover, even that temporary happiness is illusory. The Bhagavad-gita explains that we are not our material bodies, but are spiritual beings, souls. We are temporarily occupying material bodies, which are like our vehicles. Satisfying the body by material enjoyment is nothing more than giving fuel to the car. Just as car fuel cannot satisfy the car driver, material enjoyment cannot satisfy the soul and so it is essentially illusory. And worse still, even this illusory happiness always brings misery with it. The Mahabharata explains that before we acquire material pleasure, we hanker for it; when we acquire it, we worry about losing it; when we inevitably lose it, we lament over the loss. We can summarize the nature of material enjoyment by the acronym TIME: Temporary Illusory Miserable Enjoyment.<\/p>\n
RG: That\u2019s quite a sobering analysis.<\/p>\n
SS: Spiritual education doesn\u2019t stop with condemning material happiness; it also points the way to a better form of happiness, a source of happiness that can never be taken away from us. The Vedic texts explain that as souls, we all have an eternal loving relationship with the all-attractive Supreme Lord. In loving and serving God, we can relish supreme and everlasting happiness; the more we love God, the happier we become. The scriptures of the other great religions like Christianity and Islam also describe love of God as the ultimate goal of life. Hence, love of God is the nonsectarian, universal, spiritual goal of life.<\/p>\n
RG (thoughtfully): Love for God as the ultimate goal of life? Isn\u2019t that too other-worldly and impractical? And how does that lead to morality?<\/p>\n
SS: Love for God certainly directs our vision to the other world, the eternal spiritual world beyond the temporary material world. But this other-worldly goal does not make us impractical; rather, it builds the most solid foundation for living practically in this world. Just as when we switch on the master switch in a house, all the lights in the house automatically turn on, love for God similarly results in love for all living beings. We realize that all of us are brothers and sisters in the one universal family of God. When we love all living beings, we no longer desire to exploit or manipulate others for our selfish interests. Instead, our love for God inspires us to love and serve each other. This creates a culture of warmth, trust and service, which encourages moral behavior. This contrasts sharply with the modern culture of alienation, suspicion and exploitation, which fosters immorality.<\/p>\n
When we follow a genuine spiritual path, even in its early stages, it triggers our inborn value system. We intuitively realize that God is our greatest well-wisher and that the rules He has made for us are in our ultimate interest. So we voluntarily and lovingly choose to lead a life of moral and spiritual integrity, as ordained by God, And as we find inner happiness by loving God, we become freed from selfish, lusty, greedy, and egoistic drives. No longer do we feel we are missing something because of our morality. Morality ceases to be the \u201cdifficult but right\u201d choice. Rather we choose morality as the natural path to our spiritual growth.<\/p>\n
This is how spiritual education leads to the culture of service, by which people can constructively use all other education for doing good to others. Without spiritual education, they often abuse their material education to exploit others.<\/p>\n
RG (after a thoughtful pause): My grandparents used to tell me that in their times, they would leave the doors of their houses open and still no one would steal anything. Now I get some idea of how that was possible.<\/p>\n
SS: Yes. In Vedic culture, even uneducated peasants would hesitate to sin because they were aware of the law of karma: for every one of our actions, we will have to endure a corresponding reaction, sooner or later. And this awareness would be spread by the temple, which served like a university for systematic spiritual education. Unfortunately, over the centuries, this emphasis on spiritual education was lost; the culture remained, but the philosophy explaining the purpose of the culture became inaccessible to most people. Consequently, nowadays millions of people visit temples without obtaining any idea about the ultimate goal of life.<\/p>\n
To counter this spiritual ignorance, Srila Prabhupada established right from the beginning of ISKCON in 1965 a culture of regular classes. In our temples, we now have a daily morning class on the Srimad Bhagavatam and a daily evening class on the Bhagavad-gita. Additionally, in the evenings, devotees conduct systematic courses on the Bhagavad-gita in the temple as well as in several other parts of the city where the temple is located. These courses lead students from the basics of spirituality like scientific, logical proof for the existence of the soul and God to advanced principles like analysis of the identity and the personal nature of God. Our temples also have a weekly satsang program every Sunday, where hundreds of people come to the temple for a spiritual get-together comprising of a discourse, kirtan and Prasad for everyone. And the results are there for everyone to see. Connected with this temple itself, there are over two thousand people who, by receiving spiritual education, have started leading pure lives free from all bad habits and have started seeing their jobs as a service. Similarly, all over the world, over one million ISKCON devotees have received spiritual education and have started living service-oriented lives.<\/p>\n
RG: That\u2019s impressive. Do you think that everyone can become spiritually-minded?<\/p>\n
SS: Why not? Every one of us is potentially divine, no matter what our current condition is. We just have to reactivate that divine nature. The temple not only helps remove our ignorance of our divine nature, but also teaches the practical process to heal the diseased mentality that has resulted from the ignorance. Thus a temple is not just like a university offering education, but also a hospital offering medication.<\/p>\n
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