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Questions from
Neela Saraswati - 4th Grade |
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Question: If God is
everywhere, why do we go to the temple to pray? |
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Answer: Even though God is indeed everywhere,
we often find it difficult to recognize His presence in all
places. God is just as present in the middle of a busy
highway as He is in the temple. But do you feel God's
presence driving down the highway? Probably not. On the
other hand, when we enter a temple and see the Lord's sacred
form on the altar, we can certainly feel God's divine
presence. So, going to the temple makes it easy for us to
feel God's presence.
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Question: Why are there so
many forms of God if there is only one God? |
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Answer: We have many forms in which we worship
God because it allows people to choose a form of God they
prefer. If you went to a restaurant, would you be happy if the
menu had only one item, and that item was creamed spinach?!
Wouldn't you prefer a restaurant with a large menu of items
from which you could choose? The menu has many forms of food
because different people prefer different dishes. In the same
way, Hinduism has many forms of God so people can choose the
form they prefer for prayer and worship.
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Question: When we worship
God, why do the priests sometimes sit around a fire, and
sometimes sit in front of deities on an altar? |
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Answer: Just as we can choose the form of God
we worship, we can also choose the manner in which we worship
God. We have two basic kinds of worship: puja and yagna. In
yagna (also called homa or havan), we offer ghee and other
things into a sacred fire. The fire consumes our offerings and
symbolically transports them to the Lord. In puja, we invite
the Lord to be present upon our altar and then we offer
flowers, fruits, incense, arati and our prayers to Him. Both
kinds of worship bless us by invoking God's grace upon us. |