One Last Cultural Trip

Friday we had opportunity to make one further trip to experience the reality of Hinduism in the context of some major temples. We had been careful not to do much photography around other temple sites in order not to raise to many questions. Today, however, we would head to two areas that were "tourist" places and would not raise much question about our being involved with videography.

We started by stopping at the SPICE Hostel for High School boys in Cuttack. It was good to see this and get a feel for this further ministry of SPICE. The boys here all have finished up their work in one of the other hostels. Those schools only take them through the elementary grades. Through this hostel they now have opportunity to continue on into high school.

Then we headed south to Puri. This part of Orissa is known for it's many temples. We passed a Buddhist center as well as many Hindu Temples. We also were touched by the presence of Muslim mosques as we heard the calls to prayer being called out across loud speaker systems.

Puri is a major center for Hindu worship. It is believed that if you die here, at the major temple, you will go straight to heaven, avoiding the multiple stages of reincarnation. We went to the roof of a nearby building and were able to observe so much of the religious life of those who were coming to this temple. Only Hindus are allowed to enter.

People were entering the temple to worship. Others were just stopping on the street, removing their shoes and praying, and then putting them back on and continuing on their way. The scene displayed the phenomenal devotion of people to a religious system that I believe is false. Yet they give themselves totally to this worship.

We pushed on to Konark and another temple. This one was built in 1200 and took some twelve years to build. This is not an active worship site as the earlier temple, and yet it is a place where many people come to see and experience what has been part of Indian culture for these many years.

It is into this culture and great need that we come to bring the message of Jesus and his offer of salvation, not by what we do, but by receiving his saving work for us by faith. The grace of Jesus is sufficient for every situation and need.