the requisite post about spirituality in india

In the United States, India is synonymous with spirituality, and there is some truth in that statement. I've stumbled upon dozens of temples in my week here. Right now, I am sitting at our host family's kitchen table, and there is a shrine in a small alcove to my right that features a statue of Ganesh, a photograph of our host mother's in-laws and a burning stick of incense. I can hear bells ringing from the small Hindu temple that stands on the corner. Images of the Hindu gods are everywhere and featured very casually at that.

One of these religious sites that I didn't even know was here was the Lotus Temple. This shows my ignorance, I suppose, but I sort of assumed that it was a Hindu temple since we're in India and about 80% of the population is Hindu. However, it's a Bahá'i temple. I didn't even know that Bahá'i was a thing until this afternoon, even though I pass this structure every day on the Metro ride to class. 

It's an amazing building, and the architecture is striking. People of all faiths are welcome to enter and to pray. We had to take our shoes off before we entered, and the temple is supposed to be a completely silent space. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. We got into the building as it started to rain, heard a brief sermon in which they read from the Qu'ran and the Bible and recited a Bahá'i prayer, and left as the rain subsided. The inside of the temple is cavernous, too. It's a giant dome of concrete and marble that somehow seems delicate and cold all at the same time. The benches are made of marble, which makes them hard and cold but it definitely adds a nice touch. On the ceiling is a round golden seal with what I assume is the symbol of Bahá'i. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures because that would have ruined the atmosphere, but I understand why. The space was, all in all, peaceful, and it was a welcome break from the frantic, frenetic traffic and noise that totally encompasses New Delhi.

I enjoyed my brief time in the Lotus Temple more that I expected to, and I found myself searching for something to pray for. I don't know what this says about me, but I think there's something appealing about creating your own religion, your own version of spirituality. And who's to say that we can't? Our own set of rules where we never have to wear shoes, or where we can take from any other religions, or pray by jumping up and down on a pogo stick, or build a cavernous temple of cement and marble in the shape of a delicate lotus blossom that pipes in the harmonious sounds of birds chirping and flutes playing.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've visited a couple of religiously significant sites, and I've found myself wishing that I had a set of beliefs as strong as religious faith. But maybe the fact that I've been craving that means something in of itself. Maybe my religion is the search, the attempt to find that inner peace. Or maybe I'm over-thinking it and buying into the whole myth of Orientalism. When I decided to go to India, I got some flack from my family and friends about "finding myself," and I've been painfully aware of not falling into that trap. It's like today when I saw a gringo meditating in the Lotus Temple, with a white bandana tied artfully around his head. I saw him and cringed, and I do not want to be that girl. My dad is in the midst of reading Steve Jobs's biography and he is absolutely sure that I will come back from this experience an even more militant vegetarian with a guru and yogi on-call, like Jobs did after his stint in this country. But here, it's easy to stumble upon a spiritual place without even knowing it so maybe I'll stumble upon a faith as easily as I stumbled into the Lotus Temple today. Maybe that's the key to becoming the next Steve Jobs.