{"id":8617,"date":"2012-09-27T12:23:37","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T18:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?p=8617"},"modified":"2012-09-27T12:23:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T18:23:37","slug":"meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Iowa (Lori Erickson photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Seeing the picture at left, you\u2019re probably thinking that I\u2019ve been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic, yes, I have. Two weeks ago my husband and I were\u00a0driving on a country road north of Des Moines when lo and behold, this building appeared. It wasn\u2019t a mirage, but rather the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Iowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The door was open and as we peeked inside, the smell of incense wafted our way, luring us to explore further. We removed our shoes in an anteroom (and someone please tell me why we don\u2019t do this in Christianity, because it\u2019s such a good idea, both for cleanliness reasons and for spiritual symbolism). Then we entered the worship space in the temple, a central square room whose sides were lined with shrines containing statues of various Hindu deities. There was Ganesha the elephant-headed god, Durga with multiple arms, a regal-looking Rama and beautiful blue-skinned Krishna. \u00a0Before each there was an offering of fresh food and lit oil lamps. A handful of people were either sitting on the floor or quietly moving around the room doing various tasks. The room\u2019s reverential silence was punctuated by the periodic ringing of a bell.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Iowa (Lori Erickson photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIs it O.K. for us to be here?\u201d I whispered to a man wearing traditional garb, someone who had that indefinable air of being a priest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, please stay,\u201d he said, then added, \u201cbut no cameras.\u201d (Which explains why I don\u2019t have pictures from the inside of the temple.)<\/p>\n

For a half hour we sat there, absorbing the sights, smells and sounds of a tradition very different from our own. Gradually more people entered, mainly women in saris with children in tow. I never did figure out exactly what was going on, but it didn\u2019t matter. It was a fascinating experience just to sit and observe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wonderfully disorienting thing, isn\u2019t it, to be dropped into the middle of someone else\u2019s religious rituals? It makes me think of how a non-Christian must view the ritual of the Eucharist, which is so familiar to me now I don\u2019t even realize how strange it must seem to someone not used to concepts like bread and wine being proclaimed as the body and blood of Christ. But while being in that Hindu temple was a very different experience from being in my home church, there was much there that felt the same. The quietness. The peacefulness. The sense that this was a place set apart and holy.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The view from the front of the Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Iowa (Lori Erickson photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we left the temple, I stood for a few minutes by the entrance and marveled for a few moments at how amazing it is that this Hindu temple is located in the middle of Iowa cornfields. While the U.S. has occasional problems, prejudices, and strife relating to religion, we do religious pluralism better than any other country I know.<\/p>\n

So stop by the temple if you happen to be in the Des Moines area. Breathe in the incense. Pay your respects to Ganesha and the other deities. Just remember to take off your shoes first.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seeing the picture at left, you\u2019re probably thinking that I\u2019ve been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic, yes, I have. Two weeks ago my husband and I were\u00a0driving on a country road north of Des Moines when lo and behold, this building appeared. It wasn\u2019t a mirage, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[413],"class_list":["post-8617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hinduism","tag-hindu-temple-cultural-center-of-iowa"],"yoast_head":"\nMeeting Ganesha in Central Iowa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holy Rover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/09\/IMG_1029-682x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/\",\"name\":\"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\"},\"description\":\"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\",\"name\":\"Holy Rover\",\"description\":\"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\",\"name\":\"Lori Erickson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lori Erickson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa","description":"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa","og_description":"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/","og_site_name":"Holy Rover","article_published_time":"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/09\/IMG_1029-682x1024.jpg"}],"author":"Lori Erickson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lori Erickson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/","name":"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-27T18:23:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933"},"description":"Seeing the picture at left, you're probably thinking that I've been traveling to some exotic destination again. Well, if you consider central Iowa exotic,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/09\/27\/meeting-ganesha-in-central-iowa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meeting Ganesha in Central Iowa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/","name":"Holy Rover","description":"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933","name":"Lori Erickson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lori Erickson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}