A Hindu temple in The Hague (1)

 I am visiting a Hindu temple in The Hague. A family member of mine knows colleagues who come over there. The temple is maintained by the Shiram Mandir foundation, which "meets the needs of the Hindu community throughout the Netherlands by holding church services on a weekly basis."
 
 


See also http://shrirammandir.nl

The temple is located in the Schilderswijk, a neighborhood of The Hague, and I think it is housed in a former school and has been enlarged inside, so that I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge space with many Hindu gods, texts, decorations, golden domes, altars. In short it was as a whole full of inspiration and atmosphere and special energy. We took off our shoes on our arrival, and we really stood out as original Dutch people tall and white and blond and so but we were warmly welcomed by people from the Hindustani community. I quickly felt at home even though I really didn't know much about all the symbols and images. And the Mandir, the leader, said a lot, but that was in Hindi, so we didn't understand anything. Where do I look at, how does it come across to me, what do I find impressive or strange? Well that's what I'm going to describe.

·        I feel how I am immersed in an age-old tradition of devotion and fine energy. Somewhere is sung, we have the Dutch translation on paper "Come to me, My child" appears Brahman telling us. Well, of course, that feels very welcome. I think Brahman is the same as Allah, God or Yahweh of course. There is a lot of beautiful singing and partly because of this I feel how I am becoming more open to the beautiful old Hindu values ​​of faith. I feel awe, respect for the divine world, sincere faith and surrender. I also feel the support from the spiritual world as if we are immersed in grace and love so that we can stand it again in the outside world.

·        Throughout the service rituals, prayers and bows are performed, and flowers and food offered on all kinds of altars, and I don't know the names of all those gods, but I do see Krishna, Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu and Durga somewhere. As far as I am concerned, they are all aspects of Brahman having here their own power and strength and status. But they are really Hindu gods without any doubt. In addition to the mandir, an older couple performs rituals throughout the meeting. It feels very devotional, warm and respectful. I think that's the older notables of the community, maybe the elderly ex-mandir and his wife. Later on I hear that this role is always performed by an different  older couple, and that old man is the cleaner at the school where my family member is working,  and his wife. I think that is really very special. Although the mandir is a man, I see all kinds of women performing rituals, in any case I have the impression that the feminine aspect is well given room in this temple, such as Durga, one important goddess.

·        Almost at the end of the service all of us get a dot painted with dye on our foreheads (I understood it is a bindi painted at the place of the chakra of the forehead). I am very moved, as a Catholic I experience it as a kind of communion, something sacred and that we as an outsider also get such a dot on the forehead feels very welcome and open, so of the sort of “we are all children of Brahman "

 I still feel uplifted and blessed all week long, I clearly got something of energy to withhold against the angry outside world.

My God, would You like to comment on my story?

My son, I will do so in the next blog.

My blessings to you all

No 456

The energy in places of worship (Religion, 3)

Monologue on religion, part 3

God is favouring places of worship because one is together. Because one works on something, all together. Because one builds up an energy together, which everyone who goes to this place of worship feels and feels well by, and is lifted up spiritually. One can hardly accomplish this alone. This energy which is build up, gets bigger and stronger untill its power is grand, impressive. One can get a boost by it, as soon as the place of worship is entered. For example someone who is depressed, struggling with life. Or someone who is insecure or angry, seeking, desperate, restless, angry with life.

But even someone who is loving, big at heart and a joy to have around, can get recharged there. Also people who do not believe in anything or are atheist by choice, are immediately feeling something really special. Unless one has become totally anti-religion, then there is an inner resistance and one will not allow oneself to open up.

Usually one is consoled, nurtured and strengthened as soon as one enters. Such a place of worship has become a blessing despite dogmas, wrongly applied rituals, wrong ministers, sectarian thinking and so on.

Psychologists call it a gestalt, a form, a structure which is build up and got a life of its own. This form stands firmly.

• Two people in a relationship build their own gestalt with a feeling of familiarity, homeliness, intimacy, their own vocabulary, own atmosphere and own energy.
• Cities have build their gestalt, which is a collection of all of its inhabitants, all of their desires and plans, their houses, their streets, neighbourhoods, the landscape in which that city has been growing etc. Therefore a village at the seaside has another radiation than a village in a valley.

Houses of worhips are gestalts. So your places of worship are always extremely precious.

This is because they are transmitters of spiritual energy, used by God here in the spiritual world. This energy which is delivered from the spirit, from above, is divided and transformed into the wordly wavelength in which people can receive it. (translator: it is as if a huge bite, too big, is cut into small digestable portions).

A catholic mass for instance, referring to My last blog, is a transmitting station for Us, the consecration as a climax. Not only the church-goer but the surroundings take in the energy that is transmitted there as well. First of all the church-goers receive the strong, high energy in that moment while they in their near and open attitude attend the mass. But a part of the released energy is distributed in the environment and contributes to a lot of aspects of life which are connected with this energy: spiritual motivation, hope, emotion, insight, intuition.

How this energy will be absorbed and how much her influence will be in someone's life, depends of course on the life-situation, the personality and the activities he or she has.

The bigger the house of worship, the more frequent the services, the purer the focus of the devotees, the more spiritual the minister, the stronger is the energydistribution and the blessing for everyone.

Often are the places of worship build on a location where there is by nature an energetic effect on the surroundings.

In the next blog I will get into a third aspect of how useful or useless forms of faith are. This is the personality of man. The personality of man is the cause why discrimination, separation, prejudice and intolerance can be cherished in a place of worship and this is the cause of abusing the collected and distributed energy present there.

One could state that the second aspect is mostly Our spiritual influence.

This aspect discusses the disfiguring of God's energy by man. But that is for the next session.

My blessing to you all

Nr. 17