Canteen in Flushing

Though living in New York City, finding incredibly good South Indian food is shockingly a lot harder than I expected since there are more North Indian food restaurants around the area. After having a nice conversation with a South Indian woman on the train, she suggested I go to this Canteen in Flushing, Queens.

I decided to go last weekend to treat myself with Dosas. Next to this Canteen was a huge Ganesh Temple. The architecture and sculptures were absolutely stunning. As I was walking past it, a man walking out of the temple waved my friend and I over. He was sharing his experiences at the temple as well as talking about the open variety of people that come and join their services. He ended up showing us around the temple and explaining Ganesha to us (since the main statue there was of Ganesha).

The openness of this man to share his faith and open us up to the beliefs of Hinduism was a lovely experience. He took us inside the temple as well. Before going inside, we took off our shoes but he explained to us how footwear was technically allowed inside the temple, it just couldn’t be modern footwear with leather or rubber due to the dirt that it tracks. This also isn’t a custom or tradition in the religion itself, it was just a sign to show respect. He said it helps “let yourself free with the practice of ritual and feel the vibration of the divine.”

Though talking about this temple may have been a cliché choice for this assignment, I appreciated the open and welcoming atmosphere it brought. Just like most retreats and ceremonies that are religious affiliated, they were more than happy to allow people of any religious belief come and join them in their holy practices.

The thing I wanted to bring up was the contrast between the openness of this temple and the people I ran walked past before getting on my train back to Fordham. At this subway station, there were many Catholic women chanting at random people passing by that we were all going to go to hell if we didn’t believe in their faith. I think the contrast I wanted to say was the belief due to fear versus the belief due to feeling a deep connection with your inner spirit and the divine.

Relating this to Peace of Mind by Joshua Liebman, Liebman talks about a harmonial approach. One of the points he talks about is the knowledge of a “secret meaning” of scriptures. It’s pretty much the key to happiness and being in the same tune as God. Liebman also talks about energies and cosmos flowing, which I feel directly relates to this man talking to my friend and I about feeling the vibration of the divine. They are both beautiful and harmonic.