Swami Trigunatitananda gave a universal dimension to the concept of temple worship by building a Hindu Temple in San Francisco

• Founded by Swami Vivekananda on April 14, 1900, what was known as the first Vedanta Class grew into its present organized form in which Vedanta philosophy is flourishing

By Swami Tattwamayananda

Vedanta philosophy first arrived in northern California in February of 1900 with Swami Vivekananda, the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He lived and taught like his master, as did later leaders of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco, like Swamis Turiyananda and Trigunatitananda, and Swami Abhedananda. The organization thrived under the leadership of other Swamis who followed in the footsteps of these spiritual giants, becoming one of the best-established Vedanta centers in the country.

Founded by Swami Vivekananda on April 14, 1900, what was known as the first Vedanta Class grew into its present organized form in which Vedanta philosophy is flourishing under the stewardship of the Vedanta Society of Northern California and its offspring the Vedanta Societies of Berkeley and Sacramento.

Read: What is Vedanta?

The wisdom of the ages ties the history of God and religion to the evolution of the human consciousness of the divine, as expressed in our ideas and concepts of God. The history of Hinduism reveals that temples were centers of religious life after the Vedic age. However conventional temple worship was far removed from the religious universalism as understood today. Swami Trigunatitananda gave a universal dimension to the concept of temple worship by building a Hindu Temple in San Francisco; this picturesque landmark has graced the city’s urban landscape for more than 100 years.

Temple Worship in Hinduism

Temples in India have always been central to the Hindu way of life serving not just as places of worship but also as centers of culture and arts, as well as religious and philosophical literature. They played an important role in the lives of sculptors, florists, musicians, priests, and the common people. In the Hindu tradition building a temple was considered a sacred act that gave spiritual merit to the builder and sanctity to the surroundings.

To a pious Hindu, a temple is the abode of God and a representation of the omnipresent, cosmic, and transcendental dimension of the creator. The Brihat Samhita states that a temple is a microcosm of creation, conceived as everlasting spiritual symbols of human effort and devotion “Yaavat chandraarkamedini…” (As long as the moon, the sun, and the earth exist”). From the standpoint of the individual spiritual seeker, a temple represents the subtle body with the seven psychic centers mentioned in the Tantric texts.

In Hinduism, a true devotee sees a temple as a source of divine energy, symbolizing in essence, the link between man and God that helps humans to evolve from the earthly level to the transcendental divine realm. The temple plays a key role in the tradition of religious practices in Hinduism because it is conceived as a symbol or combination of various symbols, much like a human being.

In Hinduism, a true devotee sees a temple as a source of divine energy, symbolizing in essence, the link between man and God that helps humans to evolve from the earthly level to the transcendental divine realm

The diversity of India’s temple architecture, its aesthetics and art forms, legends and storytelling, and the aesthetics and art forms associated with the temples – are foundational to the preservation of Hindu heritage. As religious institutions, temples have always played an important role in the history of religious practices in Hinduism, where traditionally a temple is conceived to be a symbol or a combination of various symbols, much like a human being.

Realization in Rituals

A temple’s sanctity is rooted in the idea that it manifests the body of the Divine in visible form, as presented by texts such as ‘Aparajitaprichcha’ (a well-known Sanskrit text on traditional Hindu architecture by Bhuvanadeva). The Agni Purana, views the sanctum sanctorum alone as the body of the presiding deity. Temples and image worship represent the intermediary stage between the immanent and transcendental levels of the realization of God.

Through ceremonial rituals, accompanied by chanted mantras, austerities, and meditation, . The idol created by the sculptor becomes the deity and the rituals symbolize stages in devotees’ spiritual journey to discover God in their hearts.

The pattern of worship in Hindu temples is based on important principles of spiritual psychology – the mind takes the form of the object on which it meditates.

The Bhagavata Purana states: यत्र यत्र मनो देही धारयेत्सकलं धधया ।

स्नेहाद्द् वेषाद्भयाद्वाधि याधि ित्तत्स्वरूििाम् ॥ २२॥ (The Bhagavata Purana: XI – 9 – 22).

Religious symbolism

Each of the items used to perform a Puja has a specific spiritual symbolism.

Water represents Sraddha; flowers – devotion; light – knowledge, and cooked offerings, the body. The conch stands for ‘OM’; the bell for the principle of sound and incense symbolizes sensual pleasures. Namaskara represents ‘prapatti’ or self-surrender and offerings of fruit, the results of actions, while circumambulation around the temple symbolizes experiencing the Divine Presence everywhere.

Read: Heavenly Temples and Towers – A Bouquet of Mystic Poems from China

The intent of worship at a temple is to make the devotee spiritually conscious of the omnipresent Divine presence within (inside the heart) and without (in the outside world.)

The puja rituals correspond, symbolically, to taking the Deity out from the devotee’s heart to deposit in the image so that the worshipper feels the divine presence within, in the image, and everywhere. The process is meant to exert a shift on worshipper’s subjective state, consciousness and outlook on the journey to achieving realization of the Divine.

A Devotee’s Characteristics

In the Bhagavata Purana, Hari, one of the Navayogins, describes the characteristics of the highest devotee of God:

“The highest devotee of God experiences the presence of God in himself as his own divine Self and, at the same time, experiences the presence of everything and everyone in God. He sees his own Divine Self in all beings. He looks upon the whole of humanity as spiritually non-distinct from himself. He will have love for God, friendship with other devotees, mercy for those who are less accomplished in their spiritual aspirations, and total indifference towards enemies.

सर्वभूतेषु यः पश्येद्भगवद्भावमात्मनः ।

भूतानि भगवत्यात्मन्येष भागवतोत्तमः ॥ ४५॥

ईश्वरे तदधीनेषु बालिशेषु द्विषत्सु च ।

प्रेममैत्रीकृपोपेक्षा यः करोति स मध्यमः ॥ ४६॥

अर्चायामेव हरये पूजां यः श्रद्धयेहते ।

न तद्भक्तेषु चान्येषु स भक्तः प्राकृतः स्मृतः ॥ ४७॥    ( Bhagavata Purana: XI- 2- 45-47)

This article is the first of a three-part series on Swami Trigunatitananda, the Missionary of Vedanta & Builder of the First Hindu Temple in the West. A version of this article was first published in the June – July – August issues of Ramakrishna Mission’s English journal ‘PRABUDDHA BHARATA’

Read: Shikarpur, once known as The City of Temples

_________________

Courtesy: India Currents (Posted on February 1, 2025)