Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple aka The Golden Temple

I couldn’t get to this piece of writing before I left due to time constraints and wanted to write about it before I wrote about my vipassana experience…

What I did on my last day in Varanasi was talked about as being something I should be doing as one of the first things (sorry Matthew :-). I did not hire a guide and relied on my mobile phone and the generosity of gathering information from others with various degrees of success. It is definitely a story worth telling.

The story of Kashi Vishwanath Temple or the Golden temple goes back centuries in the Hindu faith. It is one of the most famous temples in India dedicated to Lord Shiva, one of the principal deities of the Hindu Shaivism tradition (in addition to Vishnu and Brahma. Shiva is known as “the destroyer and the transformer” who creates, protects and transforms the universe. His counterpart Shakti, the goddess, is said to be the energy and the creative power behind of each. I don’t want to digress too much and get into the stories of all the gods/goddesses that the Hindus worship because there are LOTS of them and I do love the stories.

During previous excursions into the streets of Varanasi I noticed there are hundreds if not thousands of people lined up in the streets, not just one line but several lines. Most of the people carried flowers, milk, coconut, sandalwood and other things in their hands waiting for hours to get into somewhere. I knew they were devotional objects being offered to one of the gods/goddesses at one of the temples but I wasn’t sure which one. It was time to find out.

Come to find out it was the Golden Temple which was now run by the government after terrorist attempts in the past. The temple has been destroyed many times over and over based on the country being taken over by different religions/politics and this iteration of the temple has been there for over 200 years. The current temple was built in 1776 by Ahalya Bai of Indore; the 800kg of gold plating on the tower and dome was supplied by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore 50 years later.

There are several gates to enter into and only one of them will allow tourists with passports bypassing all the other lines with so many people waiting for hours to get in. You cannot bring anything in with you and are patted down upon entry to be sure nothing is in your pockets. It took a while to find the appropriate gate after being misdirected a couple times and finding a locker to put our stuff into. Persistence pays off.

Once in, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Devotion. BIG devotion. Thousands of people every day making their way to this temple to offer gifts to Shiva and the Shiva Lingam. One by one, all day long people come to say their prayers and offer homage to this god. There is a place online where you can view the live darshan. The gate I had entered was not the one where the thousands of people come to give their offerings and yet I had a chance to sit in the temple and watch. I was overwhelmed with the vibrations in the place. For centuries people have been coming to this temple here in Varanasi and pray and be devoted to Shiva and I can feel it. SO I sat there inside the temple for about an hour until my emotions subsided so I could see the other temples in the same police secured area.

Do you find it a little strange? People worshiping a rock that represents a deity? I can really appreciate the devotion that is demonstrated. Something I ponder is in regard to faith. Having faith in something is a good thing. When does faith become blind? Are we having faith out of a craving for a wish to be fulfilled or our own fear which is not from our own wisdom and not something experienced for oneself?

Now it’s off to a 10-day vipassana meditation course… 10 days of noble silence…