I knew we were going to India. Before we went, I tried to get our friends to work on some family stories and interviews. As I spoke to my friend, he emphasized his mother’s great devotion. Daily she visited the temple near her home and then would return home feeding the stray dogs on her way back. Or, at least that was all he knew. He hadn’t actually gone with her before or asked her about it. I knew that I wanted to help him do that.
I have found that sometimes those that live with us are quite foreign to us. We take for granted that they will always be there and we don’t stop to ask them about their lives, their dreams, or their devotion.
I wanted to learn more about this great woman and following her to the temple was the way. We arrived early (at 6am) and she was gracious to wait an hour for us. She normally left at 5 am. It was dark and we were in a hired van. She was going to walk and everyone was going to follow in the van. Although completely out of my element, I insisted on walking with her. I wanted to feel and experience what she did. Arm in arm, we walked, down the street to the Hare Krishna temple. It was a small space at the bottom of an multi story building. There were about 10 others there, prostrated, chanting, and showing their devotion. I was touched by her great respect, by her touching of the threshold on entering, and her relationships with the fellow devotees. After her devotions were finished, they shared their offerings of food with us. It was interesting how each was alone in their devotion, yet it was still a shared experience. We took a photo of all of us. Before we left they gifted us a beautiful Bagavad Gita.
Then she surprised us and said that she also goes to the Hindhu temple a few blocks away. So down the street we went again.
It was still dark and very few people were up. I loved that her son was with us. He was seeing his mother love and her care of her Gods. He was seeing his heritage of faith. He was experiencing a large part of his mother’s life for the first time.
At the temple there were several displays of Gods and a place to cleanse the representation of Shiva. This was a larger, richer temple, and she made a careful devotion at each god and many other places. She had rituals, prayers, actions and the culmination was the bathing of Shiva. We all had time to witness several others doing similar actions, although she seemed to take more care and time than others. Each in turn would take the plastic tub, walk over and rinse it out, then fill it up. Walking over to the black stone representation they would pour the water over it. It looked like some also had brought milk. There were bells to ring, chants, actions, rituals and prayers to perform. She enjoyed the whole process. And she loved sharing it with us. We felt like we were interrupting a little bit, but all the worshipers were gracious and kind, allowing us to witness and photograph it all.
Then it was out in the street again with a stop at a sacred tree and then to feed treats to the dogs outside the temple. I had seen dogs with coats on and dog beds in the road but I hadn't understood that part of the devotion was to take care of these dogs. They didn't belong to anyone, but were cared for collectively.
Back at her house we sat down to record some stories of her life. We asked some basic questions while her family listened. She cried and laughed as did her loved ones. And then OF COURSE, she made us the most delicious breakfast!
As we left she hugged us and cried. This amazing woman who had cared for her children and house and husband had not thought herself anything special. She felt so loved and respected and important. Important enough for someone to follow her, video and photograph her and to listen to stories of her life. Her son commented that he never knew these things about his mother and it made him love and respect her all the more.
Enjoy the photos of our morning together and please today talk to an older family member and ask them questions about their life.
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