Places of worship
For a Hindu, To show devotion to God and/or religion through actions - for example, prayer. is very important and is something many Hindus do every day. Worship is a way of showing love and devotion to In Hindu belief, the absolute reality that is the true essence of all existence, God.. Hindus believe they have an The essence of a being. Can refer to body, mind or soul, depending on context, but usually indicates the soul that is reborn., or piece of Brahman, within them. Therefore, connecting to Brahman through worship is very important. Hindus use all of their senses when they worship so that they can fully connect to Brahman. There is one God within Hinduism, Brahaman, but there are many different One god or goddess. In Hinduism, the word for gods and goddesses that many Hindus believe are different aspects of the one Supreme Spirit (Brahman). through which Brahman is expressed.
Worship can be done within the home or temple. Most Hindus worship at home every day but visit a temple when they want to. Many Hindus also try to visit a temple to celebrate important festivals such as Diwali, the festival of lights.
The temple
A temple in Hinduism is called a The word many Hindus use for a place of worship - a shrine or special place in the home or a building used by the community for worship and other events. and is a special place where Hindus worship. In countries where there are many Hindus, such as India, most towns will have a mandir so all people can worship easily.
Hindu temples are decorated elaborately as they represent the idea of a palace, which highlights the idea that God is like a king. The outside of some temples have statues of various deities or scenes from important stories in Hinduism.
As there are so many gods in Hinduism, it is not possible for every temple to have a statue of each one. This means that each temple has statues of many popular gods, such as A Hindu deity portrayed with an elephant’s head - a god of good luck. Son of Parvati and Shiva. and A Hindu deity. The aspect of Brahman responsible for destruction and renewed creation. Some Hindus regard Shiva as the one Supreme Deity., but also some statues of gods that are important to the people of that particular community. For example, Hindus who like to worship Vishnu is the aspect of Brahman responsible for the preservation of the world. Vishnu forms one part of the Trimurti, along with with gods, Brahma and Shiva. (known as Vaishnavas) will visit temples that contain statues, or A statue of a god or goddess which has been made holy through a special ceremony; a term for any statue of a god or goddess., of the ten The Hindu word for incarnation of a god in a human (or animal) form on Earth. The spelling ‘avatara’ comes from the Sanskrit. of Vishnu.
In the main shrine room there is a dome that reaches up high. This is to symbolise the idea that Hindus can reach up to God.
Visiting a temple
Inside a temple everyone must remove their shoes as they should not bring dirt into such a special space. There are areas for worshippers to put their shoes as they come in. Then they enter the main shrine room, in which there are statues of various gods.
When they enter the shrine room, Hindus ring a bell to ‘awaken’ the deities and show them that they are ready to worship. If possible, they will then walk around the main shrine area within the mandir. Next they will either kneel or sit down on the floor in front of the deities, clasp their hands together and offer pranams, or respectful greetings. Showing respect to the deities leads to what is known as dharshan, or ‘receiving sight’ of the deity, who in turn, sees the worshipper. At this point, Hindus might silently recite personal prayers or traditional ancient prayers.
Worshippers also give offerings to the gods, such as food and gifts. This is to show that the gods are respected and to indicate that people are worthy of the gods’ attention. Once the offerings of food have been blessed by the temple priest, they are distributed to the visitors.