happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Rituals

Before getting into the prayer room, people have to take off their shoes; this rule applies to anyone who wishes to get into the prayer room. Shoes are filthy things that are not allowed into the sacred place of god. From what we’ve been told devotees have to wash their face, hands, mouth and feet before praying to the gods. I am not sure why these particular parts, but mostly because people have to be clean and pure to be present in front of gods. Deepa told us that washing mouth before praying is to “clean” out the bad things people have said before. However, we did not see anyone cleaning him or herself; this is simply what we were told. There is a bell hanging from the ceiling in front if the deities, devotees ring it like a doorbell to the gods asking the gods to listen to their prayers. Again, from what we have been told, there is not a way to pray to the Gods, as long as the prayers came from the heart. Singing, dancing, kneeling etc. According to Steve, singers would come in during specific services to lead prayers with singing and playing instruments. 

The deities are treated like humans at the temple; they are bathed, fed, taken care of daily. Deepa would splash droplets of water on the deities using her hands, instead of actually putting the deities in a bath. Clothes of the deities are changed every full moon. Food is offered to the deities once every evening; devotees would be the ones to offer dried fruits, sweets to the deities other times of the day. On Sundays, food would be offered twice, morning and evening. Different days of the week, the deities would be offered different meals if it is their birthday. For example, on Mondays, Shiva would be offered a different meal than usual. Coconut is also a very common fruit being served to the deities. Steve said that coconut is a very “bias” fruit in India. I’m not sure what that means but I assume it is equivalent to “important” and “of special meaning”. The breaking of a coconut symbolizes a new beginning, as the coconut breaks to release seeds for new coconuts. One other thing we observed is that devotees pour milk, honey, yogurt on the ox and fountain in front of the deities as an offering to Ganesh, the son of Shiva. People pray to Ganesh to remove obstacles and sorrow.

 Steve told us that there is no specific way of yoga being practiced at the temple, as yoga is the way of living; it is very personal. However, from what we observed, the temple practices Bhakti yoga, serving god through love and devotion.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Power

From what we’ve been told (again), there is a male priest who was away as his brother had just passed away in India. The priest is aka the Maharaj, which directly translates to “Big King”. The priest is in charge of the temple, meaning that he is the person of power. From what we have learnt from Smith, there is a caste system in Hinduism. The caste system separates people into different levels; these levels are how people are being perceived and what their responsibilities and power are. Brahmin is the highest level of status in Hinduism (58). There’s a saying, “with great power comes great responsibilities” - in this case, with greater power comes greater responsibilities; only male Brahmins can be priests at this particular temple. Obviously, the priest was of great power at this temple. However, the other person that seemed to have power at the temple is female. From what we have observed, she was managing the entire temple. People we met at the temple kept telling us to go to Deepa for questions. When we got to Deepa, she told a male student to show us around, as she was busy doing something else; she also gave us permission to take pictures in the temple. Here we can see she possesses some level of power in this temple and most people at the temple knew that.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Gender 

We went to the temple on a Sunday after their lunch service. From what we have observed, majority of the devotees were female. The reason for this might be because most people left after the service and female devotees volunteered to stay behind to clean up. Despite the fact that the caretaker of the temple, was a female, I would say there are no specific gender roles in taking care of the temple and deities from that we observe and been told. Steve, a man we met at the temple had just finished doing dishes for the Sunday lunch service. According to Steve, Deepa and other devotees made the food and Steve did the dishes. Devotees can volunteer to take on whatever service they wanted to offer to the deities and the temple. There is not one specific service that a female or male should/could not do in the temple. For example, devotees volunteer to help Deepa with taking care of deities (bath, feed etc.). There were 3 shrines for 3 different sets of deities; 7 deities in total, only 2 of them were women, however, the way they were worshipped was the same as what we have observed. People stand in front of the deities doing what they do. We did not see any different ways of treatment between male and female deities. From what we have been told and observed, there was no specific distinction between male and female at the temple.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

The Hindu Temple

The Happy Valley Hindu Temple was established on 15th February, 1953. It was the only purpose built temple in Hong Kong. According to the website, the temple is operated by a management council of 15 devotees. The Hindu Temple serves 100000 followers from all over Asia as of 2012. From what we’ve been told, a former British governor gave the land to the founder of the temple.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Space

The way the deities are arranged is also very interesting. From Smith, we learned that there are 3 central gods in Hinduism, Creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva). In the Hindu Temple, three sets of deities were arranged in the order of the gods in Hinduism (Smith, 62). On the left there is Jhulelal, the God of Sea who is the reincarnation of Brahma. Hong Kong is a harbour city and people relied heavily on fishing for a living before. This may be the reason why this particular form of Brahma is placed in the temple. In the middle there is Vishnu and Lakshmi, from what Steve had told me, Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity; the special thing about this particular set of deities is that there is a smile on their faces. This is very uncommon in the rest of the world, and it is also the reason why the economy in Hong Kong is so good; again according to Steve. On the right, there is Shiva, the destroyer along with his wife Parvati and 2 sons. Ganesh is one of the two sons, who people pray to to take away obstacles and sorrow. Here we can see that the Hindu Temple is closely connected to Hong Kong, this is a sign of localization of an Indian religion.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Space

From what we’ve been told, the temple can accommodate around 400 people with its fairly large space. Objects that are high up and separated from crowd would give people a feeling of superiority and power; I think we would all agree with that. Before getting to the main area of the temple, devotees have to walk up a long flight of stairs. There were a few steps leading up to the prayer room once we reached the main meeting area where devotees take off their shoes. Deities were placed in shrines, which are lifted above ground level in the prayer room. Elevation of the deities and prayer room indicates a sign of power and superiority, as areas where regular people and devotees stay were not elevated in any way. In the temple there was a clear separation of spaces. The prayer room is separated from the general meeting area with a beautifully decorated door that looked like a gate. Then, the floor in the prayer room is lined with red carpet, stopping right in front of the shrines. There were gates and curtains in front of the deities separating people from the gods. All of the above are signs indicating where the prayer room and deities stay is a sacred and special place/area.

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Here we have a picture of us (again) with Aaron (on the right), a HK student who is so fascinated by the idea of Hinduism that he started practicing Hinduism after taking a religion course.

And a man (left 2) who wanted to learn just like us  :) 

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Photo of us with Deepa and Steve! 

Steve shared a lot about Hinduism and his own beliefs with me. He is a very wise man, I would say. -Nina 

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Deities at the Hindu Temple :)

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

This is the front door of the third site we visited, the Hindu Temple in Happy Valley 

[happyvalleyhindutemplehk-blog]

Here is a video of Aaron showing us how people pray to Ganesh. 

Not sure if this is the right way, or is there even a “right” way. 

He is pouring a mixture of milk, honey, yogurt, and water onto the snake and ox.