Jai Shri Hanuman

The other day the idea came to me to visit the famous Hanuman temple here. I wanted to go today, because Hanuman’s day is Tuesday. And I wanted to go early so we missed the heat, the pollution and the crowds. 

My primary thought was, “If I ever do a retreat here with students, I’ll know whether or not to recommend the temple.”

We arranged to have Vijay pick us up at 6am. He arrived exactly on time.

“Which Hanuman temple?” He asked.

“Hanuman-ji.”

He brought us downtown to a small temple that was closed.  (The early-morning drive made me nostalgic for all of those long walks, bike rides, and scooter rides to the shala in Mysore).

“Which Hanuman temple?” He asked again.

“Kale Hanuman-ji”

He brought us to a larger temple. It still didn’t look like the right one, but we bought some prasad (sweets, a flower garland and incense) to offfer the deity and went inside; there was a huge Hanuman and some priests (?) dressed in yellow. We handed them the prasad, and they garlanded the murthi and gave us some Prasad and garlands that we’re already there (he actually put the garlands on us). Like the other devotees, we put a 10-rupee note on the plate. Then we sat for awhile in the temple; it had a very high vibration.

When we came out I looked on my phone and showed the listing for “the monkey temple” to Vijay. 

To be continued.....