Description
The announced topic was the breath, but Mohanji, speaking live from the US, switched to a question he keeps being asked: if God is inside us, why go to temples or on pilgrimages like Kailash? His answer is that Hindu temples were never meant as places to beg for favours. They are places of energy built for rejuvenation and stabilisation, so that we can live more effectively until we come to know, through our own experience, the energy that keeps us alive.
He then explains what a temple actually does, element by element. The deity is an idol into which life force has been induced through prana pratishtha, sized to hold that energy and pass it on within moments. Walking around the temple soaks you in the deity’s energy field. Bells made of five metals vibrate through every cell and wake the mind. Arati, camphor and mantras clear the space and bring your own vibration into alignment. Sandalwood, sacred ash, prasad and holy water purify the body, and the decoration of the idol lifts the spirit through the eyes. He also explains the 33 crore deities as forms drawn from formless consciousness, each with its own function, programming and animal, which is how the culture kept nature protected. The difference between knowledge collected from others and wisdom gained through experience runs through the whole talk, ending with: “If you can find yourself, you are already guru.”
In the Q&A he says protecting nature and protecting temples are not opposites, since sacred worship began in the forest. He talks about why Shiva is so easy to please, about Shakti as the nurturing energy behind motherhood, and about letting go of expectations to be free. The MCB Nonoti team in South Africa also shared their tree-planting and environmental restoration work.