Today is sunday and i normally wake up at around nine. But, i was up and ready by 7.30, the reason being that my In-laws were here and I had to take them out for a bangalore darshan. Usually, when any of my relatives are here, I prefer to take them out to some temples in Bangalore rather than to some museums or shopping malls. I assume that these elderly people would always prefer that. And in Bangalore, its always to ISKCON temple at Rajaji Nagar. To add a bit of philosophy, according to me, Temples reminds us that there is a Supreme power above us, an Infinite reality, which controls every entity in this universe and our goal in life is to understand that ultimate truth.But instead, we spend time to worship this reality in different forms only for our material growth in this earth..Ayyo, this blog seems to head towards some heavy writing, better i ll avoid this for now..

Ok, coming back to the topic, I, my wife and her parents got ready for out temple visit. We left our home at koramangala and caught a bus to Majestic bus stand. It was quite unusual for me to travel in BMTC as i prefer travelling in auto or a bike to Bus. The reasons being one, i cannot read kannada, so, i dont know which bus i should catch and two, because of crowd. But the one i took now was not that crowded as it started from koramangala and also it was sunday morning. Once we reached majestic, it was an harrowing time, until we found the platform from where we could catch bus to ISKCON temple. Even though there was information about the buses plying from each platform, there was no centralized information. what this means is, one has to have the knowledge of which platform to take or go running around all platforms checking for the right bus. But the easiest way is to ask someone. Not knowing kannada added to our woes. but, finally we found out the right bus..that was quite a relief for us!!

After reaching Rajaji Nagar, we walked from the bus stand to temple. before going to ISKCON we went to Guruvayoorappan temple which was located right opposite to ISKCON. There were a lot of small shops outside the temple selling tender coconut juices, flutes made of wood, women selling flowers et al. There was also amarriage procession going on in front of the temple. Suddenly, my memories flew back to sepetember first of this year, the day I got married. I could see the groom getting the attention of all and passerbys. He was getting his "fifteen minutes of fame" of his life and i was in a similar situation few weeks before.

From there we went to ISKCON temple. ISKCON, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness are followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnava faith, a devotional tradition based on the teachings of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. The tradition traces its roots back to 5,500 years. The precepts and practices of the members of the present day ISKCON were taught and codified by the 15th century saint and religious reformer Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his principle associates, the six Goswamis of Vrindavana.

Now, this temple is really a pleasure for eyes. its gigantic and marvellous. its looks every bit like a monument of 21st century. As per my belief, temples are centers which promotes spiritualism by shunning materialism. But this one seemed to be different, where Materialism was manifested at its best. The temple was clean and well maintained, which was quite different from what we have seen of lot of our century old temples. ISKCON, promotes krishna cult all over the world. Inside the temple, everywhere you hear the chants of "Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare : Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare".

There are Santcum Sanctorums for Lord Narasimha, Lord Venketesawara and the main deity Lord Krishna with his consort Radha and his divine brother, Balarama. There is also an Idol of Prabhupada who is the founder of ISKCON Movement. Once you are done with your worshipping, then you have to cross a lots of kiosks, selling all and sundry starting from spiritual books to small trinkets like key chains. All products are for promotion of Lord Krishna. You have to pass through so many shops that it is highly unlikely that you come out from the shop without purchasing anything. We too purchased a few pictures of Krishna. We had our breakfast there at temple and then we headed towards Commerical street for some shopping. so that was how our temple visit went that day. i am pretty poor in finishing my blogs...so i ll leave it like this for now!!!!!