I never usually visit the temple. Because I tend to look at other things rather than concentrate on the worship of God. Even when I have the darshan of God, I tend to notice only what he is wearing and how the priest is chanting mantras rather than feel him in my heart. God, it is so hard to concentrate in my prayers with all this crowd. I prefer to pray alone.
Its all so mechanical. Doing pranams, buying the archana token, doing pradakshinams(getting irritated with people moving slowly in the process). Thats why the word 'Algorithm' in the title. Visiting the temple is a standard algorithm. Where is the question of Bhakthi in this process?
INPUT: I, Enough Money, Full of worries, Temple.
OUTPUT: I, little or no money, Peaceful mindset.
CAUTION: Do not wear new chappals
Do not go during special occasions like Vaikunta Ekadasi or New Year unless you
want straight mokshaa.
Do not buy prasad from sellers especially if you have a weak constitution
PROCEDURE:
Step 1: The hardest part. Make up mind to go to temple.
Step 2: Clean up, dress neatly and modestly. Preferably Indian wear. Else you will spoil the other
person's concentration.
Step 3: Preferably don't take another person for company. Its always lovely to visit the temple alone.
Step 4: Travel and reach temple.
Step 5: Leave chappal/shoes outside at your own risk.
Step 6: Buy materials for archana like tulsi, bananas, coconut etc. Very clever business people will do the needful. Just pay the buck.
Step 7: Silently enter the temple. Do not step on the nilapadi. You will attract unnecessary attention.
Step 8: If there is a wash area and if its clean, wash feet and do not slip.
Step 9: Do pranams to Lord Ganesha, the beginning and end of all. Do > 4 pradakshinas if you want something from him. If you do 108 then you really facing a serious situation. May God bless you.
Step 10: There are lot of people ready and waiting to irritate like gossiping maami's, bulldozer women who literally push to get a better darshan, over enthusiastic freaks chanting or singing loudly creating a raucous. Ignore them. Look at the idol and only the idol.
Step 11: Communicate with the priest to get work done. It is better to take a small book and read the strotra silently rather than relying too much on the priest.
Step 12: Put the money on the thattu/plate, wait patiently for the deepardhanai. Apply kumkum, vibhuthi on forehead, carry some on a packet and time to leave.
Step 13: Before leaving do namaskara at the main entrance, sit for a while in a shady place and then out you go.
A temple is not a bad place to visit. It is very important to choose an appropriate time. Since it is a public place it tends to be very messy but one must learn to tolerate it. Nevertheless it does give you some amount of happiness, a collective consciousness-that all turn to the One and a strange peace of mind.
Some of my favorite temples are Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple, Adyar, Karpaga Vinayagar temple Adyar, Maruntheeswarar temple-Thiruvanmiyur, Paarthasarathy temple-Triplicane, Irresistable Kapaleeshwarar temple-Mylapore, Nanganallur Anjaneyar temple, Madhava Perumal and Kesava Perumal temple near Mylapore, Breathtaking Prithyangara Devi temple, Chollinganallur, Massive Madurai Meenakshi temple, Kamakshi temple Kanchipuram, Powerful Chamundeswari temple, near Mysore.
If you have any other names of must visit temples, add them on the comments below.
