COWS

Part One: Iskcon Temple

Part Two: Cows

Part Three: Vacation from the Trip

Part One

At 4:45am, I heard an alarming beeping noise sounding throughout the room. Looking at the time, it took me a while to come full circle as to why my alarm was going off. Naturally, I snoozed it for about twenty minutes before waking everyone else up. Prerna picked us up, while it was still dark outside, and we made our way to the Iskcon Temple. As we got closer, the sky turned purple as the sun rose. The temple is up on a small hill, which is now surrounded by the busy city. As you may imagine, it was very peaceful up there, and the temple is beautiful. It overlooks the city, and in the morning fog, it was mystical. Monks were walking around the temple worshipping, and we sat down to take it all in. A few monks came over to talk to us and were nothing but kind.

At 7:15, Darshan began. Monks began playing the drums and singing. Afterward, three monks blew seashells and then opened the gates to the Deity. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of, and I felt my body fill with chills. It was beautiful to watch, as the monks and others worshiped Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are redressed everyday by the monks, resulting in each Darshan being a unique experience. We were not able to take pictures in the temple, so I have pulled some from the Internet, so you can see.

Following Darshan, one of the monks walked us around the grounds a bit, showing us where the living quarters and worshiped cows are kept. Then, he pointed us in the direction of where some soup was being served. The soup was dished from a large pot into little bowls made out of leaves. To eat the soup, we simply drank it from the bowl made of leaves.

Part Two

Cows appear to be everywhere today. The theme of the day is cows. At the temple, the monk showing us around explained how the worshiped cows are cared for. They are on a very strict schedule that must not be deviated from: twice a day they receive baths, they are fed at a particular time, they are taken out to graze at a particular time, they are milked each day for offerings to the Lord, and they go to bed at 8:00pm each night.

In contrast, driving home from the temple, we saw a few cows on the sides of the road grazing the trash that was dumped. The busy city and streets surrounded them, and they simply rummaged through the trash spread across the road. Down a little ways further, there was a traffic jam. I was thinking it was due to the amount of activity from the festival, but rather, it was cows walking down the street. Several cows were being herded down the street, walking between all the cars and putting traffic at a standstill.

Part Three

The other day, Joelle, Mom, and I were discussing the difference between a trip and a vacation. A trip is when you go somewhere new, have busy days full of new experiences (often tourism), and are exhausted by the end of the day. A vacation, on the other hand, is when your days are free to relax, spend at the beach, lounge around, and read a book. Currently, we are on a trip, and sometimes a vacation is needed. Today, despite the early morning, we took that vacation. We lounged around the hotel, ran on the treadmill, swam in the pool, and (maybe) stopped by the spa. After all of our busy days and tourism, we took a mini vacation before resuming our trip tomorrow.

Bangalore in the morning

Iskcon Temple

Iskcon Temple

Iskcon Temple

Deity

Iskcon Temple

Temple food

Prerna's favorite breakfast

Prerna's favorite breakfast

Cow's grazing garbage

Traffic hold-up: Cows

More festival decorations

Mini vacation