South Capitol Street Frederick Douglass Mall

Friday, October 03, 2008

My Temple Should Relocate

Washington, D.C.'s oldest Jewish Synagogue moved several blocks in 1969 to accommodate WMATA subway construction
and placed next to I-395

Regarding the Sept. 15 Metro article "Temple Traffic a Mixed Blessing," about parking problems for residents around the Rajdhani Temple in Chantilly:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092503875.html

I worship at this Hindu temple, and I have been involved in altercations with rude, dismissive drivers when I asked them not to park on the grass in a neighboring yard. It is great that the temple has grown, but the board and worshipers are missing an important lesson of Hinduism: tolerance and acknowledgment.

If your religious pursuit disrupts another's peace, you have learned nothing. The temple must move and implement better planning.

All this talk about the idols becoming "enlivened" through the process of "prana pratishta" is misguided. Hindu history is replete with examples of idols and temples being painstakingly disassembled and hidden during the many Muslim invasions and then being reassembled once the threat had passed. There are also examples of irrigation projects resulting in the moving of temples to new locations, so deities becoming "rooted to the spot" is just a matter of mind-set.

RUPASHREE MAJALI HICKS

Ashburn

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092503875_Comments.html

I agree with Rupashree Hicks.

I am a Hindu and a frequent visitor at the Rajdhani Temple. I love the serenity of the temple and find it calming to have darshan.

But, it is important that we are good neighbors. An alternative location, away from residential localities (I was actually surpised that zoning laws permitted a temple in the midst of the residential neighborhood). About moving the idols of the temple to a new spot, I am sure Hindu Dharma and Agama Shashtras will provide an answer to that.

9/28/2008 3:58:18 PM

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calexo wrote:

India's national highway systems, dams, irrigation canals have relocated many places of worship of several religions including those of Hinduism. It is silly to use any religious tenet to stand in the way of maintaining communal peace and harmony. Yes, all places of worship when they become nuisances to neighbors' preservation of peace and tranquility, ought to relocate.

9/26/2008 12:55:27 PM

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ramakrishnahosur wrote:

I agree with the comments of Rupashree Mjali Hicks. Many temples were submerged when dams were built and these are historic and sacred temples that went under.Temples have been relocated and worship started all over again at the new spot

9/26/2008 8:08:57 AM

Contrast that with the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church officials regarding the St Vincent de Paul Church not being moved to accommodate the South Capitol Mall.