India Festival

Waiting to get henna tattoo's.

 They served an organic vegan meal which was much appreciated by me. The brown stuff was SOOO yummy, I ate mine and Rick's. It was kind of like a bread pudding with raisins. No one but me was very impressed with the food. It's usually the other way around, I am unimpressed with their food and sit there not eating and hungry. So it felt good to be eating for once.

                  

These girls were so pretty.

 T.K. had so much fun running around, rolling down the big hill, petting the farm animals and playing in the sandbox. 

 Inside the temple. 

 Sitting on rugs, singing; 
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; These sixteen names are destructive of the evil effects of Kali (evil).

 You are suppose to experience elevation and joy when chanting "God's" name.

"When the sixteen names and thirty-two syllables of the Hare Krishna mantra are loudly vibrated, Krishna dances on one's tongue."

The Maha Mantra.Is believed by practitioners to bring about a higher state of consciousness when heard spoken, meditated upon,or sung out loud. According to Gaudiya Vaishnava theology this higher consciousness ultimately takes the form of pure love of God.

It was kinda weird to just sing it over and over and over and over. 

 They had some really pretty art work in the temple. 

                  
                  

 It's kind of funny because, they have these llamas (which are from Peru) and so in their store, they have all sorts of stuff made from llama hair, which also comes from Peru. I bought a few pieces of clothing (from Peru). I would say more than half of the stuff in their Indian store comes from Peru. :) They have a very similar style. It was like visiting two countries at once. 

Blessed Bovine

As the sheep is to Christianity, the cow is to Hinduism.Lord Krishna,was a cowherd, and the bull is depicted as the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Today the cow has almost become a symbol of Hinduism.

India has 30 percent of the world's cattle. There are 26 distinctive breeds of cow in India. The hump, long ears and bushy tail distinguish the Indian cow.

Cows are everywhere in India. Because the cow is respected as a sacred animal, it's allowed to roam unharmed, and they are pretty used to the traffic and the rhythm of the city. So, you can see them roaming the streets in towns and cities, grazing unmindfully on the roadside grass verges and munching away vegetables thrown out by street sellers. Stray and homeless cows are also supported by temples, especially in southern India. As opposed to the West, where the cow is widely considered as nothing better than walking hamburgers, in India, the cow is believed to be a symbol of the earth - because it gives so much yet asks nothing in return. Because of its great economic importance, it makes good sense to protect the cow. It is said Mahatma Gandhi became a vegetarian because he felt cows were ill-treated. Such is the respect for the cow, that Indians had offered to take in millions of cows waiting for slaughter in Britain as a result of the crisis in beef production in 1996.

These cows were so sweet, they were just calm as could be and just sat there while we petted them and they were so pretty too.

The temple is so pretty on the outside. You take your shoes off inside, which Rick was not happy about. 

 Watching some of the performances.

                  

  My henna peeling off.

                    

                 

 At the end of the reenactment that they put on, they use bow and arrows to light this guy on fire. We didn't stay to see it, the reenactment was getting a little long for us.