First Stop: The Bahá'í Temple aka The Lotus Temple

 

The moment I reached my destination (I'll let you guys figure that out thru my posts), the first place where Riju brought me is the Bahá'í Temple. It is a huge place of worship that is shaped like a blooming lotus flower hence it as also called as The Lotus Temple. People from all walks of life can come and visit this magnificent creation free of charge.

The Bahá'í Faith is a religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in Persia during the 19th century. It promotes unity and harmony among everyone no matter what race, status and religion you are from. Anybody can come over in a Bahá'í worship temple, worship and pray in the way he knows and nobody will question him. It is based on the three major principles of the Bahá'í Faith which are unity of God, unity of religion and unity of mankind.

From the entrance, you will have to walk for some time to reach the temple. I think it will take you about 10 to 15 minutes average to reach the temple. That is without the picture taking and pauses to enjoy the scenario.  A little long walk won't hurt. Just think about it as a mini workout. Riju and I went there during the summer season and it can get really uncomfortable so it is advisable that you just come and visit during the winter season or if it has to be during the summers, go there when the sun is close to setting so that you can avoid the strongest sun rays.

Before you can climb the stairs to the temple, temple officials will ask you to remove your footwear and dump them in a designated area in order to avoid dirtying the holy temple. It makes sense if you ask me because there are so many people visiting this place both local and foreigners and it is so huge that cleaning it everyday will definitely be a big pain in the butt. Since I really do not want to walk barefoot, after removing my footwear, I put on my socks. Yes, socks are allowed. Both Riju and I brought our own pair of socks for this trip and it was worth it. The socks did not only protect our feet from the dust and dirt outside the temple but it also functioned as some sort of heat protection since the stairs and the floors are quite hot. That is why if you will look at the picture above, there are carpets installed on the floor so that people can walk on them and not feel the heat from the ground. We did not take pictures inside the temple out of respect. But if I am to describe how it looked like, it is simply beautiful. It does not have any kind of altar inside it to make sure that it does not show preference to a certain form of God. There are plenty of seats inside that it can house up to 25,000 people in one prayer session. There are four prayer sessions a day for those who want to get a glimpse of the full Bahá'í Faith. Faithful to its principles, the prayers are recited in all kinds of religion.

It does not really show in the picture how my socks became so dirty after all the walking that we've done with just my socks on my feet but boy was I so thankful I had them on me.

Look! Someone came to welcome me! It was my first time to see such animal that's why I got so excited when I saw it!

What an entertainer! While we were taking some rest after all that walking that we've done, this squirrel and his buddy were playing around. If only I can take them home!

Well, that's about it.

Hope you enjoyed my post!