Puja

An anthropologist studying Hinduism and maroon religions took three friends including me to a Hindu ritual called a puja. Since I know nothing about Hinduism, please forgive me if I make any mistakes when discussing what I saw at the puja.

The worshippers were from British Guyana, so the service was held in English. The temple was in house of the Shaman, or pandit or minister (I am not sure what his title is). Only about fifteen people came, so we saw everything up close. As someone who knows almost nothing about Hinduism, I was very appreciative of the shaman’s willingness to explain the basics of the religion to us. There were about 20 statues of various gods and forms of gods around the edge of the room. The pandit named and discussed each of them.

 From left to right: Hanuman (the monkey god) is in the corner, Krishna is the blue one with the flute (Krishna is a form of Vishnu, which explains why both are blue ), Ganesha is the elephant god, Brahma (the creator) is in the middle, Vishnu (the preserver) is balancing a chakra (wheel) on his finger, and Shiva (the destroyer) is in the foreground. Here, Shiva also looks blue.

The service began with walking in 3 circles around the entire temple. The next step involved touching the feet of the statues of various deities and bowing in a specific, ritualized way. Sometimes the service leaders or ministers prayed alone, and at other times the group prayed aloud together, chanting in unison.  There were offerings of food and flowers on plates that the leaders would move clockwise in front of the deities.

Before going to the service, the anthropologist told me that many Hindus were frustrated with Christian criticisms of Hinduism that some had formed a sect of Hinduism mainly in response to those criticisms. I am unsure whether this temple was part of that response sect.

I did notice that the leaders spent a lot of time comparing Hinduism to Christianity. The Shaman called the three principle gods (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, ones closest to the camera)  “The Holy Trinity”. The woman who led the religious service talked to us at length about the gods being part of a larger whole. She told me that non-Hindus often ask why Hinduism has so many gods. She then explained that Hinduism actually has only one god; the various deities are different forms of that one god. Her defensive tone combined with the anthropologist’s earlier comments on Hindu frustration with Christian criticism made me wonder whether she was making a statement about Hinduism deserving as much respect as Christianity.

Or, perhaps they were simply making statements about Christianity and Hinduism being more alike than different. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone is welcome to participate regardless of religion. Many self-described Christians worship at the temple. The attitude of the shaman appears to be that faith is what matters, not how one worships or imagines god(s).