Non-Hindus are not allowed in Puri Jagannath Temple
A foreigner can be easily identified by the temple authorities and all sort of cleansing can take place. But what about Indians who are non-Hindus? How do the temple authorities recognize non-Hindus of Asian origin? What is this silly cleansing of sanctum sanctorum and grand bathing of the deities? What are these priests cleaning? They need to clean their mind and read the Bhagavad Gita at least once.
This stupidity is not Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism). These are not the teachings of Hinduism.
All living and nonliving is that Supreme Truth – this is the teaching of Santana Dharma.
He who considers the whole spectacle
with the same regard,
he sees the Self in all beings,
and he sees all beings in the Self!
with the same regard,
he sees the Self in all beings,
and he sees all beings in the Self!
He who sees Me in all things,
and who sees all things in Me,
he is never separated from Me,
nor am I ever separated from him!
and who sees all things in Me,
he is never separated from Me,
nor am I ever separated from him!
He who is established in unity,
who worships Me who dwells in all beings,
that devotee – whatever his way of life –
also dwells in Me! (VI, 29-31) Bhagavad Gita
who worships Me who dwells in all beings,
that devotee – whatever his way of life –
also dwells in Me! (VI, 29-31) Bhagavad Gita
7 comments:
Well, this issue seems to be akin to a paradox but an important concept nevertheless. The ‘Bhagvat Gita’ seems to be the mostly ‘misquoted’ scripture too in this regard. A temple is the ‘body’ of the deity according to the ‘aagama’. Indeed, ‘All living and nonliving is that Supreme Truth’ but should not get entry in to any temple only on that premise. Human body too is the temple (BG Ch.13, v.2.2) of that ‘Supreme Truth’. However, does anyone allow ‘all’ living and nonliving inside indiscriminately? If anything that is not conducive to the ‘health’ of that ‘body’ (depending on the body, of course) gets inside, there is an elaborate ritual of cleaning conducted. In a similar way, the priests conduct elaborate cleaning ritual as sanctioned by the ‘upasana’ for the ‘deity’ that is ‘installed’ in the temple. How does that become silly? Mind you, anyone who ‘qualifies’ to claim the status of a ‘yogi’ as described in the verses 29-31 in chapter 6 of Bhagvat Gita does not require to do any upasana anymore in any temple. However, it needs to be emphasized that everyone, irrespective of whether a foreigner or not, Hindu or not, should be ‘respected’ as a creation of the same divine power as any Hindu.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
the above comment is playing with words. Say whether it is a bad practice or not.
To me it is silly and is a bad practice. Anyone should be allowed to pray in Krishna's Temple. He never kept anyone out.
The whole life is a play (and display) of thoughts, words and deeds, isn’t it? This is in response to Shirish above. What one does not understand is often labelled as non-sense! But to understand that one needs to ‘enquire’ (BG ch.4, v.34) appropriately.
God is for everyone for sure, but temple is NOT. It may sound once again play of words but such a feeling may arise out of ‘equating’ God with temple. No God resides in any temple more than he/she/it resides inside you (or me). It is very much like an operating system such as Windows or Linux copying itself to the memory of the computer from the hard disk. Once you pull the plug, the system dies at the extreme (of course this is not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea) and similarly the life ends. While the ‘copy’ of God gets installed through incarnations in case of God’s creations, the copy of the GOD gets installed in temples (and in any other man-made creations) through ritualistic ‘invocations”. So, no Hindu ever worships an idol per se, but using the idol to channelize one ‘form’ of the divine essence. Hence it is ‘postulated’ by seers that the process has limitations, requiring frequent ‘remedial’ rituals to up-keep the ‘presence’ of the copy.
Is it a BAD practice to exclude people in relation to entry into temples? Not necessarily! A person who does not have basic understanding of the ‘steps’ to be followed inside certain temples will only create ‘impediments’ in his/her spiritual progress by ‘merely’ entering and committing ‘errors’ unwittingly. But what if the ‘outsider’ takes the pain to learn the ‘temple etiquette’ before expressing his/her interest? Of course, then he/she is ‘eligible’. Everyone can pray to God and there are very many means prescribed in scripture(s) according to the respective level of ‘evolution’ of the devotee and that is never ‘prescriptive’ (compare with other religions). The most important thing in any religion is to ‘respect’ its tradition. There may be reasons that one may not understand! What one understands is only a reflection of his/her own evolution of consciousness otherwise known as enlightenment.
No God keeps anyone OUT. But even the creator (Lord Brahma) can not enter the abode of Lord Vishnu (or Lord Shiva) as a matter of right according to the ‘puranas’. It had to be earned by severe penance.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion and the ELM has similar views.
Most important to me is: what is the view of the temple authorities themselves? They can then be engaged either way.Also, please note that there is a tradition at Sabarimalai that women are not allowed on the premises.
There is an intermittent heated debate regarding this tradition also. Are you going to quote the same verses here?
Are you not satisfied that lakhs of other temples have no such rules?
A few years ago, an incident of a pandal burning took place near the hallowed Srirangam temple (near Trichi). Some respected persons said that prior to this incident, there had been a steady decrease in ritual purity. How do you quantify this?
What I would like to conclude is: the issue is not that simple and certainly not for general public debate.
Namaste!
God dnt care wat religion u r. make ur mind clean.
The is a place of Hindu wership. I don't understand why a non Hindu would like to visit it. It is not a picnic spot. Nevertheless, if anyone still wants to visit it out of devotion for Krishna Bhagwan, s/he can easily convert to Hinduism and do so.
As to the prohibition of non Indian Hindus, I feel any Hindu Indian or foreigner must be permitted entry if he/she can prove he/she is a Hindu.
Accepting Jagannath means what? accepting the rules and rituals of the temple which was decided by Sankaracharaya not the servitors.Let me remind again Jagannath temple is a place of worship not to experience.Mostly non Hindus enter to avail experience only without knowing rituals.so non Hindus should not dare to enter because previously Jagannath Temple has been looted seventeen times by these kind people and this type of history should not be repeated again. The very word CONVERTED HINDU is not within Hinduism.For them and fulfill their interest Lords appear on the chariot.
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