Authority and Sanctity at Divya Dham

Written by Vikas Malhotra: June 16, 2003

INTRODUCTION

As Doug and I ascended the subway station steps into Woodside Queens, I became excited at the prospects of visiting the Hindu temple which was to be the focus of our project. The temple, known as Divya Dham (“Divine place of pilgrimage”), conjured up images of elegant and majestic temples that I had seen in India. We arrived at the corner of 37^th and 56^th, the street the temple was on, and happened to meet the third member of our group, Glenn, driving his SUV. We hopped in and Glenn told us that he had already gone around the block and was unable to find the temple. I thought to myself that we must be on the wrong street, or that we had the wrong address, because finding a Hindu temple on a street with nothing but factory and warehouse buildings should be no problem. We continued down the street slowly and I continued searching for some highly ornate Indian- styled building, with pictures and statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. We saw nothing but blank warehouses. Soon we realized from the addresses of the buildings, that we must have passed the building. We stopped the car and looked

around, feeling utterly lost, when by chance we caught a glimpse of a bright yellow sign on a building we had passed. We looked closer. It read “ Sri Divya Dham,” written in English and Devanagari. Save the sign, there was no other external indication of the building being a Hindu temple.[1] We all looked at each other and chuckled.

I decided right then to throw any pre-conceived notions I might have had out the window. Not knowing what to expect, we entered the temple, and I was struck first by the immense size of the building and then by the beautiful 28-ton Shivalingam, bordered by 1008 smaller lingams which stood directly facing the entrance. I took a quick glance around and immediately felt as if I had been transported to India, the smell of incense, listening to “Om Namah Shivaya” sung over and over again on the speakers, and surrounded by spectacular and beautiful images of the Divine Lord in all its manifestations.

The Hindu temple strives to be an environment that brings the devotee out of the mundane activities of day-to-day life and into a realm which evokes the Divine. In order to accomplish this, a Hindu temple offers an environment that is distinct and memorable to the visitor. Each temple, the world over, is a unique experience for the devotee. To create such an environment in Divya Dham, was precisely the intention of Swami Jagdishwarananda, the founder. Swami Jagdishwarananda also sought to create an actual holy place of pilgrimage on American soil, transforming the space of a former electronic building in to a house for the Divine.

This paper is an examination of the Hindu temple Divya Dham. I will began by exploring briefly the history of the temple, why it was created, by whom and for whom. Being a Hindu temple in the United States, Divya Dham in various ways has adopted an “ecumenical” approach, as many Hindu temples have in the Diaspora, in order to accommodate the diverse Hindu communities here. I will explore this term and some of the different ways Divya Dham has adapted to life in New York. The name Swami Jagdishwarananda chose for the temple, Divya Dham, which means “sacred or divine place of pilgrimage”, is significant since this is exactly what he wanted the space to be. It is different from a traditional temple, and is rather, in the words of Swami Jagdishwarananda, “a collection of temples, murtis (idols/deities), and holy sites all under one roof”[2]. My main focus in the paper will be to investigate the ways that Divya Dham has been able to create this “divine place of pilgrimage” by examining how it has established sanctity and authority in what was formerly an electronic warehouse. As we will see, the temple has maintained traditional methods, but due to its residence outside of India, new and innovative methods have also been used to transform the space physically and spiritually into a sacred Hindu center. Authenticity, which will also be discussed, is closely intertwined with this subject and plays an important role in conferring sanctity and authority. Besides examining the space, I have conducted interviews with the founder of Divya Dham, Swami Jagdishwarananda, and also some of the new administrators of the temple.

BACKGROUND: THE HINDU DIASPORA

The phrase “Hindu Diaspora” is used to describe the Hindu population that has left India/South Asia and scattered all over the world. For the past three decades Hindus in the U.S. have been creating temples and other places of worship for their community. Although Hindu Indians/South Asians have been in the United States for quite some time, it was not until the great migration of 1965 and subsequent years, due to changes in immigration laws, that the U.S. saw significant numbers of this population.[3] This was due to a need for qualified professionals to fill new and expanding industries. Skilled workers and wealthy migrants were given preference for migration and consequently this second wave of South Asian migrants vastly differed from the earlier immigrants who were largely unskilled laborers. The majority of this second wave was well educated, professional and/or highly skilled, urban, often English speaking, entrepreneurial, and generally belonging to the middle or upper classes of Indian society. Due to these advantages, it has generally been migrants from this second wave who initiated the building of temples in the U.S. in the early seventies.

A large percentage of these migrants ended up in New York City, due to its many economic opportunities. More recently large populations of South Asians have spread out to nearby Jersey City and a bit further to Edison. Most of these migrants came directly from South Asia, but there is also a sizeable number in New York City of twice – and even thrice – migrant Indians who came especially from the Caribbean, mostly from Guyana and Trinidad, as well as a small percentage who came from such diverse places as Europe, Africa, and even Fiji. A recent estimation of the number of the Caribbean Hindus in New York City places them at 100,000.[4]

In New York City, the borough of Queens became a major center for Indian immigrants. In 1990 there were 56,600 Indians, making it the single largest concentration of Indians in the city.[5] Queens, more specifically Jackson Heights, is also home to the famous “Little India”, a street full of Indian shops and restaurants, which Lessinger describes as “the symbolic heart of the Indian population in New York City”.[6]

GEETA TEMPLE

Nearby this bustling “Little India” in Elmhurst, Queens is the Geeta Mandir, founded by Swami Jagdishwarananda, who also started much later Geeta’s sister temple, Divya Dham. Swami Jagdishwarananda arrived in the U.S. in the sixties, part of the large second wave of migrants mentioned earlier. Swami Jagdishwarananda told me in an interview that at that time, he, like many new Hindus who could not find any place to worship and practice their religion, had to start in a basement. Here, he performed his worship, studied/discussed Indian scriptures, and taught yoga to a small group of Hindu and non-Hindu friends. His group became larger over time, and he realized that within the larger Hindu community there was a growing need for a temple. In response, and with the help of a Jewish friend, he found a space that was originally an A & P grocery store, and converted it into a Hindu temple.[7] He named it the Geeta Mandir, after the Geeta Mandir in Amhedabad, a temple and organization that Swami Jagdishwarananda was associated with when living in India. The organization was so called because of its dedication to the Bhagavad-Geeta.[8]

The Geeta Mandir, Hawley states, was established “in the first wave of post-1965 Hindu activity in Queens”.[9] Swami Jagdishwarananda was one of the first to respond to the growing need to create Hindu places of worship in NYC. Over time many Hindus in the U.S., for various reasons and different motivations, began to feel a temple was necessary. Radhika Sekar, a scholar on the Hindu Diaspora, believes, however, that “Temple attendance is not a mark of religiosity in Hinduism”[10], one reason being that private worship can be performed within the home. However, for some Hindus, the temple was an extremely important part of life back in India, providing among many others, a social, and spiritual center. Many take seriously the Hindu axiom that one should “not reside in a town where there is no temple”[11]. For others, though, the temple did not have the same importance in their past lives in India. With their new life in the United States, however, the temple often took on new meanings, and new motivations for the creation of temples arose in the diaspora.

WHY TEMPLES?

One reason Hindus began to create temples was that a growing need for, and sense of, Hindu identity began to emerge in the late 60’s and early 70’s. A temple acted as way to bring together and unite the community, being a “concrete embodiment of the community”.[12] The temple was also a way for Hindus to connect with their motherland, linking them to their days in India. Narayanan writes, “The umbilical cord, the spiritual life line, tying the Hindus to the mother land is strengthened and reinforced with every temple built in this country.”[13] This is part of what is described in Waghorne’s article as the “process of becoming at home on the foreign soil of America”.[14] The temple helps in making the new land familiar and making America feel more like home, a “home away from Home.”[15] This was especially important for recent and future immigrants from India, who would find a large and welcoming Hindu community on their arrival, making their transition to the United States a little easier.

However, the temple not only acted in familiarizing the land, but served to advance what Waghorne calls “the ‘transplantation’ of Hinduism into American soil, and of the process that makes God ‘immediate; this land, holy’”.[16] By building a temple, the community transports the Divine from India to U.S. soil. It is the intention of the temple to transform this profane “American” space into the sacred space of “India” by transporting sanctity. I will be discussing this idea in greater detail in the next section of the paper.

Another important reason for temple building was that the temple, besides being a place of worship, was an important social and cultural center for the community. Not only was it important for general socializing as well as Indian holidays and festivals, but it was also used for religious teachings, music, dances, performances, etc., thus strengthening and passing on Indian culture. For many families the temple is the only place, besides the home, where parents can impart Indian culture, religion, and tradition to their children. This is extremely important to many parents, especially today, who are afraid that their children are losing their Indian heritage and becoming too “American”.[17] Divya Dham often takes up this educational role, as we will see, in a number of ways.

A more practical reason for a temple is that particular samskaras (life rituals) and rituals such as havan, which involves a lot of smoke, may not be able to be done in the home. The large space of the temple is often necessary. Many people also created temples as a marker of their success and the success of their community. In India, the majority of temples were built by kings or wealthy merchants. Building a temple here in the same way served to raise their status or just make them well respected within their community

DIVYA DHAM

As stated above, the Geeta Mandir was part of this first wave of Hindu activity in Queens – which involved temple building – and in 1973 the temple was officially incorporated as a tax-exempt religious entity.[18] Due to the success of the Geeta Temple, its founder, Swami Jagdishwarananda, wanted to create a larger, more elaborate temple to accommodate the growing number of devotees. Twenty years later, in 1993, Divya Dham was established as a project of the Geeta Temple. The temple was opened in Woodside, Queens, about 10 to 15 minutes from Little India, in a large warehouse space that was formerly an electronics factory.

When Divya Dham started it was primarily Swami Jagdishwarananda along with a small committee who ran it.[19] In 2001, Swami Jagdishwarananda, felt that running both Geeta Mandir and Divya Dham was “too much for me to handle by myself,”[20] implying that he was doing most of the work at the temple. In addition, he said his health had deteriorated at the time, and that he felt he was getting too old to handle so much work. He decided to hand over the management to some other organization and began searching for a suitable successor.[21] After some time he was advised to meet with the Bharat Seva Ashram (BSA), founded by Swami Pranavananda. The reputation of the organization was good, he had heard, and he was satisfied with the lineage of Swami Pranavananda. His lineage, which traces itself back to the Nath Sampradaya, an order of sannyasis (ascetics), was appealing to Swami Jagdishwarananda, since he to is a sannyasi. Eventually, he offered Divya Dham to Swami Vidyananda, who had founded the American Sevashram Sangha (a branch of the BSA) in Jamaica, Queens. After receiving approval from his headquarters in India, Swami Vidyananda accepted and steps were taken to hand over management to him.[22]      

Swami Vidyananda is originally from Guyana and in 1987 joined the huge migratory flow out of the Caribbean to New York.[23] The American Sevashram Sangha itself is composed mainly of Hindu devotees from Guyana. At Divya Dham Swami Vidyananda began his own committee[24] and more recently he brought over two Guyanese brahmacharis to live in and run the day-to-day activities of Divya Dham. Govinda, the older of the two, came to the U.S. a year and a half ago, and Vidur, who is basically second in charge after Swami Vidyananda, came to Divya Dham a year ago. They, along with the pujari of the temple, Pandit Sharma, who is from India and has been with the temple since its creation, perform the daily pujas and handle the daily needs of the devotees and daily maintenance of the temple.[25]

“ECUMENICAL” AND “AMERICAN” HINDUISM

The Hindu diaspora in the United States is far from being a homogenous community. It is made up of an extremely diverse and varied population, coming from all regions of India with different languages, beliefs, customs, traditions, etc. In the U.S. there has been a trend among many of the Hindu communities to put aside regional and religious differences and instead build on the similarities that unite them. Many scholars have begun to use the terms “American” or “ecumenical” Hinduism to describe the adaptations made in Hinduism to fit the specific context of American life and culture. Ecumenical adaptations have been described by Raymond Williams, as follows:

           An ecumenical Hinduism is developing in the United States that unites deities, rituals, sacred texts, and people in temples and programs in ways that would not be found together in India…emphasis is placed upon all-India Hindu “great tradition”.[26]

            Indian immigrants who come to the U.S. encounter a pan-Indian Hinduism that serves to unite and socialize Hindus from various regions and belief systems. According to Kurien, those who belong to the so-called “’little traditions’ are here socialized into a pan-Indian Hinduism”.[27] One should, however, be careful with classifications such as “Great Traditions” and “Little Traditions”, given the close relationship between the two. There are temples in the U.S., built by specific communities, that follow their local traditions back in India, for example the Sri Meenakshi temple in Texas. What is important, however, is this idea of unification, which was a natural response of the Hindu diaspora in America as Hindu identity began to emerge. Sekar writes,

            Committed to ideal of Hindu unity, the temple attempts to blend the various regional customs into a single Hindu culture…Emphasis here is on synthesis although diversities are accommodated to a certain extent.[28]

            In Divya Dham, this ecumenical spirit can be seen in the wide variety of murtis that are present (these will be described in detail below). This was a deliberate attempt by Swami Jagdishwarananda to accommodate the diverse Hindu community of New York City. By providing an entire spectrum of deities, Swami Jagdishwarananda hoped to bring in a wide audience and make sure everyone was represented. In an interview with Swami Vidyananda, I was told that

            Swami Jagdishwarananda has put murtis here from everywhere, so when people come from India, they will come and find what their heart is attracted to, their particular murti. This is the beauty of Divya Dham. It is like a temple where you can find everything you want. It also helps to bring together different Indian communities. Indians here are also now beginning to understand the Caribbean Hindus, which are now coming here. This is a place where Indians from anywhere can come.[29]

            Swami Vidyananda also told me an interesting story regarding this idea of ecumenism in reference to the Caribbean Hindus. He explained to me that when the British brought indentured laborers to the west, they were all placed in boats, which in Hindi, they called “jahaz”, or “jihaj”.

            Indian Hindus, Muslims, and Christians were all placed together in these boats. They called themselves “jihajis” and became like blood families. The Hindus that came, came from all different places and backgrounds, Vaisnavs, Saktas, some worshipped only Shiva, some Ram or Krsna. They all came into these boats and found themselves prisoners. They began to embrace one another as friends and relatives, brothers and sisters. They brought with them their murtis from different places and different temples.[30]

            When they arrived in the west, the jihajis had a close relationship, and when they set up their temples or places of worship, everyone brought their respective murtis and placed them within. In this way the temples began to have an array of different murtis. Although the history of many of the immigrants was different here in the U.S., an interesting similarity exists here with variety of murtis seen in many U.S Hindu temples.

Although there is this “pan-Indian” approach in most temples in the U.S., many temples still adapt to accommodate individual communities, usually when they are the majority. This “something for everyone” approach, which Sekar describes, is followed by Divya Dham. One of the ways the temple has accommodated its varied community is, as mentioned before, by including many different pan-Indian and regional deities. Since Divya Dham’s constituents are largely North Indians, almost all the murtis are North Indian or of North Indian style. Divya Dham also tries to accommodate certain regional customs if there is high enough demand. The largest and most vocal group at Divya Dham has been the Gujarati community. In an interview with Kuldip Bahl, a man from India who is staying at Divya Dham and helping with daily activities at the temple, I was told that following the Gujaratis in number are the Punjabis, Bengalis, and Maharastrians. There are also a few Nepalese and South Indians who come, and the occasional Latinos, black, and white Americans.[31] Also with the recent switch in management, some Guyanese Hindus are beginning to come to Divya Dham, although their numbers still remain relatively small. As this population grows at Divya Dham it will be interesting to see what changes Swami Vidyananda, himself a Guyanese, will make to accommodate them.

The Gujaratis, being the largest population at the temple, have had considerable influence and are responsible for many functions at Divya Dham. Some Gujarati devotees requested the installation of an image of Jalram Bapa, a famous householder saint from Gujarat who preached and practiced Krishna Bhakti (devotion) about 150 years ago. A rich Gujarati man donated the image, along with another specific image of Krishna (known as Ranchora Dev), and the two were installed. The Gujarati community also started Jalram Satsangh, which involves devotional singing to the saint, and takes place at the end of every month. Additionally, every full moon the temple holds a garbha, a traditional Gujarati style of dance, which has been sponsored by the well-known Gujarati businessmen, the Patel brothers. Finally, also due to the influence of the Gujarat is, puja is performed every Tuesday for Lord Hanuman, using a well-known text called the Hanuman Chalisa. About 50 devotees come each week, the majority being Gujaratis, and sing and recite these verses to Lord Hanuman.[32]

AUTHORITY AND SANCTITY

There is a unique situation and challenge for the Hindu diaspora that has arisen in the creation of temples, which brings us to the heart of this paper and the lens that we will use to examine Divya Dham more closely. As mentioned previously, by building a temple the community quite literally transplants Hinduism to American soil, “sanctifying the land they live in.”[33] However, since Divya Dham is a temple in the United States, outside of what many Hindus consider the naturally sacred land of India, new and innovative methods have been used to confer authority and sanctity on it. For example, many temples in India have some ancient legend attached to them that makes the land or temple sacred. In the United States there is no such historical connection; rather, the land or space has to be made sacred.

It was the intention of Swami Jagdishwarananda, as evidenced by the name, that Divya Dham was to be a sacred place of pilgrimage. He explained that it is not just a temple, but a collection of temples and sacred sites all under one roof.[34] According to Swami Vidyananda, “He (Swami Jagdishwarananda) did this because no one in their lifetime could visit all the holy places in India. By coming here, it is like going to these different places of pilgrimage in India.”[35] This link with the holy land of India at Divya Dham is extremely strong, and I will continually show throughout the paper that this is one of the methods used by the founders to give the temple its authority and sanctity. This connection exists not only on a physical level, but also on a mental and spiritual level. The sacred lands of India are almost literally transplanted here on these many levels, making Divya Dham itself a sacred space. I will begin by giving a visual tour of the temple, describing the murtis and other elements of the temple, and exploring their significance. After that I will explore other ways authority and sanctity, according to the founders and administrators of the temple, have been conferred to Divya Dham.

Entering Divya Dham

Upon entering Divya Dham, one leaves the streets of New York City, and steps into an entirely new universe. The temple, as mentioned, hopes to bring the visitor out of the everyday, and into the realm of the Divine. The Divya Dham publication itself mentions this intention of the temple:

            …some such peaceful place is needed where mind can free from pollution and may get pleasure and peace after leaving the huly-burly of the crowded places even for certain moments. The creation of such extraordinary place of worship is possible to be established only through tapas (penance), where one can feel himself free from the mundane life and may absorb in the Almighty. Divya-Dham is such a holy place where the distance between the Individual self and God is abolished and the person forgets the external world as soon as he enter the Gate of this Asrama. A new atmosphere and a new scene presents itself and the person feels that he is in some holy Asrama of India. Divya Dham is really divine.[36]

            The tract implies that Divya Dham is a “holy place,” calling it “The Heaven on the Earth,” where one can get closer to God. It also states that the visitors feel themselves to have been transported to “some holy Asrama of India”.[37]

The space inside the temple is enormous, being a former electronic factory, and as one walks down the ramp, there are wooden shelves where devotees leave their shoes before going any further. Next to these shelves, the administration has recently constructed a small store where various religious items from India are sold. Every item and decoration in the temple is related to India, most actually coming from there, which makes the visitors feel as if they have left American shores. All of the murtis were created in different areas of India and were shipped here to the U.S. This was important for Swami Jagdishwarananda, who has gone to great lengths to make sure the temple is as authentic as possible. Authenticity, as we will continue to see, is a way of creating a tie with India and seems to be essential in giving the temple its authority and sanctity.
Let me began the tour of Divya Dham by starting with one of its most renowned and ambitious projects, which Professor Hawley describes as “Divya Dham’s most distinctive contribution to the sacred geography of New York”.[38] Closed off in a room to the right of the entrance is a large room that houses a gigantic diorama of the entire Himalaya range, complete with working model trains and railway tracks snaking around the mountains, tunnels, pilgrimage sites, houses and other buildings, little model people, animals, cars, etc. One of the brahmacharis, Vidur, told us that the creators of the model made it using Swami Jagdishwarananda’s vision of how the Himalayan Range might look like in 5 to 10 years.[39] The model foretells the use of modern technology in the future at this sacred pilgrimage site, allowing pilgrims to have better and easier access to the Himalayas, a region which is otherwise quite difficult to get to. This massive model, with Mt. Kailash looming in the center, has a walkway which circles the entire structure, making circumambulation of this holy site possible in minutes rather than days or weeks.

The building of the sacred Himalayas is one of the many examples of the temple’s effort to re-create India’s sacred geography here in New York, bringing the Hindu center of the Universe into the walls of Divya Dham. The intention of recreating the Himalayas here is not only to enable visitors to see the mountain physically, but also to bring this holy site into the minds and spirits of the devotees. Most Hindu devotees have some connection with Himalayas – they know or have heard about these sites, the legends and stories connected with them, and some may have even visited this holy site. All of this, along with a mental image of these sites, arises within the pilgrim’s mind. As Kuldip put it, this experience “evokes the holy and the Divine into our hearts and minds”.[40] Seeing the Himalayas, devotees reflect on all their associations and experiences with place. Swami Vidyananda explained that when Hindu devotees “look at the Himalayas, its like looking back into history, looking at the Himalayan Mountains as a holy site where great saints and sages did their tapasya (penance).”[41] Their penance, Swami Vidyananda believes, is what makes places of pilgrimage holy. “For the religious minded,” Swami Vidyananda continued, “it (the structure) brings back stories, memories and feelings. Visiting pilgrimage places causes physical and mental changes in people.”[42] Divya Dham’s publication additionally writes,

            Visitors are requested not to take camera photos of these scenes. They may, however, freely use their mental cameras and take, within them, as may pictures as they wish and carry them indelible memories that will help them transform their inner beings.[43]

            It is in this way, then, that the sanctity of these sites is transferred here to Divya Dham and the visiting pilgrim not only physically or visually, but also mentally and spiritually. In this instance it is the Himalayan mountains, but this is same, as we will see, with all of the holy sites represented here as well as the murtis. This is, however, not reserved only for those who have some experience of, or who may have visited, the original site. It is also for those who have never seen the Himalayas and, as Hawley found out in an interview, it is “something for the kids”[44], a way for children to experience their Indian heritage. Swami Vidyananda told me

            There are many Indians from India who have not visited the Himalaya mountains and they are very much taken and very satisfied with what they have seen here. Some will write back to their parents and tell them “I have seen the Himalaya mountains here.” It is also building an interest to those children who are born here. For a new person, they will come and have a new experience.[45]

            The model is thus being used also as an educational tool. The hope is to educate those who know little about these sites, giving them the proper history, background and context so that they to will develop a connection and have their own experiences. The Himalayan structure, Swami Vidyananda explained to me, was not yet completed and he plans on having regular audio tours of the model, explaining the history, legends, and religious significance behind the different parts of the mountain. As of now the room is not usually open, except on certain occasions, although many people request to see it and one of the brahmacharis is usually more than happy to give a tour.

An equally staggering site can be found if one follows the stairs in the same room to the right of the entrance. Past the marriage ceremony room at the top of the stairs, is another room housing Divya Dham’s second most ambitious project after the Himalaya mountains. In this room you will find five longs rows that enshrine the famous 51 shakti-pithas of India. The sakti-pithas are sacred power centers located all over India, created from the scattering of the dismembered body of Lord Shiva’s consort, Sati. She had taken her own life for the disrespect given to her and Shiva by her father Daksha, who had organized a sacrifice without inviting the couple. Lord Shiva, enraged by her death, brought forth his army, destroyed the sacrifice, and beheaded Daksha. He then placed the body of Sati on his shoulders and began a deadly dance known as Rudra Tandava all over the land of India. The fury of his dance was threatening to destroy the entire cosmos. Lord Vishnu, in order to stop Shiva from dancing and thereby saving the universe, hurled his chakra at Sati’s body, while Shiva was lost in his dance, and it cut her body into 51 pieces that landed in different spots throughout India. Each location became a famous pilgrimage site, imbibed with the shakti (powerful energy) of the goddess.

Each pitha is represented and embodied here by a murti of the pithas respective manifestation of the goddess, each labeled and housed within its own booth. They are all elaborately dressed and Vidur, one of the brahmacharis, told us that the clothing is sent to laundromats periodically.[46] Divya Dham takes pride in the fact that there is only one other place in the world, Mt. Abu,[47] which can claim to house all 51 shakti pithas under one roof, making the two of them unique in all the world. Swami Vidyananda explained to me the importance and significance of the 51 shakti-pithas at Divya Dham:

The 51 shakti-pithas are all pilgrimage sites, scattered all over India. Shankarcharya himself wanted to build a divya dham in India, but died before he could. Someone else has built one, though somewhere in India [Mount Abu]. It was the first of its kind. Now why did they want to do this? They did this because no one in their lifetime could visit all the holy places in India. So at this Divya Dham, seeing the different forms of the Mother upstairs, is like going to these different places of pilgrimage in India. Here this Divya Dham is the second of its kind… when people come, for the Indians from India, it is like a reflection, going back into their past, and for those that are born in this country or elsewhere – with a Hindu background – this is a new experience for them. So it is a place of learning, and people feel satisfaction when they come.[48]

By housing all of the 51 pithas together, the temple combines all the shakti (energy) and sacrality from all the pithas geographically in one place, allowing for the pilgrim to visit all of the goddesses under one roof. This is another example of the transplantation of India’s sacred land onto American soil. All of these sacred sites at Divya Dham, including the Himalayas and others, which will be mentioned shortly, are extremely important and hold a lot of authority to a Hindu devotee. When the sanctity of these important holy centers is transferred here, their authority naturally follows. The two are inextricably intertwined. It is in this way that the two concepts are used here in this paper, making the terms almost interchangeable.

Also, as Swami Vidyananda mentioned, Divya Dham serves as an authoritative place of learning and education. Swami Vidyananda told me that “Many people come and ask questions and to improve their knowledge about the gods and goddesses, about Hinduism, and about India. Coming here is like some introduction to making a visit to India.”[49] It is important to both swamis for devotees not merely to come and worship blindly, but to have the proper knowledge and education so that their visit to the various pilgrimage sites within Divya Dham is much more beneficial and fruitful. For this reason Swami Jagdishwarananda has written a book called the 51 Sakti-peethas, which explains the histories and stories for each pitha. In addition, Swami Vidyananda has organized a yearly pilgrimage: “Every year we have a group that goes on pilgrimages to India, this year we are going for Durga puja with about 50 people. So when they come back they are able to feel what we have here and to relate with India and relate with these pilgrimage sites.”[50]

We shall now travel back downstairs and begin again at the entrance, which leads to the main rooms where devotees come. Before walking into the large room there is overhead a large bell, a common feature in most Hindu temples, which devotees ring in order to announce their arrival to the deities and to help clear the mind before beginning worship. Immediately to the right of the bell, one receives the blessed vision of the great God, Mahadeva, Lord Shiva, in his unmanifested form- a beautiful giant 28-ton Shivalingam, which is carved with representations of the 12 famous Jyotirlingas of India. This lingam embodies within it all of the 12 sacred pilgrimage sites into one form. Again the Swami undoubtedly chose this form of the lingam so pilgrims could envision and visit all 12 holy sites in this one lingam, similar to the idea of the shakti-pithas upstairs and the Himalayan range, which is scattered with such sites. But in addition to this I should briefly note something that I have thus far taken for granted; the lingam and all the murtis at Divya Dham are to devout Hindus an actual living manifestation of the Divine. This fact in itself serves to sanctify the space, which houses the sacred murti, and in turn gives the temple its religious authority. I will quote part of an interview with Swami Vidyananda, which speaks about the powers of the murtis before continuing on with the tour:

Each murti has been strengthened with Sanskrit mantras, by sadhus from India, and they bring them to life. So when we Hindus come to worship, these are living murtis to us… If someone without religious feeling comes here, they see it just as a museum; it has no meaning to them. But those that do have religious conviction go and sit in front of the murtis and attend the aarti (ritual worship). It brings out their inner feelings, it brings out their divinity within them, this is the beauty about it. Sometimes I have observed the Hindus that come here, they will sit in front of the murti and they will be shedding tears. They are speaking as if the murti is replying. They’re many people who speak of their [the murtis’] spiritual power. Recently a lady came who had a brother who was ill with cancer. She took prasad from here to her brother and two weeks ago she came to say thank you, pay homage to the murti, and take more prasad to send to him because he had been healed. Many people come and lay their problems here and they find peace of mind. This is why it is a place of pilgrimage.

Next to the giant lingam is a picture of Mt. Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, and another important pilgrimage site. Again the picture gives a image, a kind of darshan, of the sacred. Below this image is a model of a well that is supposed to represent the well at the original Kashi Vishwanath temple in Benares, the city of Lord Shiva, considered by many Hindus as the most sacred city within India. The well in Benares is known as the Gyanvapi Kupor well, the ‘well of knowledge’, which is much esteemed by the faithful. It is believed that this well contains the ancient Shiva-lingam which was removed from the original Vishwanath temple by a devotee and hidden to protect it from Aurangzeb, who destroyed the temple.

Behind the 28-ton Jyotirlinga are two large lingams, surrounded by a circle of smaller lingams. One of the larger lingams, I was told by Kuldip, is representative of the linga found at Pasupatinath, one of the holiest Shaiva shrines in Nepal, and one of the most important pilgrimage sites to Hindus in India.[51] In front of the Lingas sits, as usually seen in Shaiva temples, a sculpture of Nandin the bull, the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Next to the Lingas, a whole wall containing 1008 small shivalingas (1008 being a sacred and auspicious number to Hindus) sits, representing the 1008 holy names of Lord Shiva.

Near the lingas, and placed throughout this first room, are pots full of water brought from sacred tirthas (places of pilgrimage which almost always involves water). This is an example of Swami Jagdishwarananda actually physically transporting sanctity, here in the form of water from sacred rivers, from India to Divya Dham. He is literally bringing a piece of India, to America. Hawley writes, “A bit of Ganges water, especially from a place like Benares or Hardwar, is regarded as having sufficient sacrality that a mere drop can have a transubstantiating effect on ordinary water.”[52] Bringing a pot of water from the Ganges means that, as Hawley continues to write, “the Ganges really has come to Queens”.[53] These rivers are extremely important holy sites, and it is believed that bathing in these waters removes sins, and in some instances, promises liberation. There are seven pots in Divya Dham, each with a sign stating which pilgrimage site the holy water came from: Kailash Dham, Jagannath Puri Dham, Dwarka Dham, Rameshwaram Dham, Setbandh, Sangam, and the Ganga. Swami Jagdishwarananda briefly explained to me the importance of water and why he chose to bring them from these places:

Everything, and everyone has their own vibration. Water is everywhere. Water is used to clean everything, to purify. Different places of water have different vibrations. I collected water in these areas where the people feel the good vibrations.[54]

            Also scattered around the room are signs listing the “7 Sacred Rivers”, the “7 Holy Parvats” (sacred mountains) and the “7 holy Puris” (sacred cities), detailing the sacred geography of India. These were put up for educational reasons, especially for children, but also to mentally transfer these sites to Divya Dham. The seven sacred rivers are listed as follows: Ganga, Yamuna, Jagganath Puri, Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Kaveri, and the Sindhu. The seven holy Parvats are: Himalayas, Vindyachal, Mahendar, Malyagiri, Schayadri, Raiwatak, and the Arravali, The seven holy Puris were listed as: Ayodhya, Mathura, Mata, Haridwar, Kashi, Kanchi, Ujjain, and Dwarka. Most Hindus, regardless of regional, caste, or religious differences would recognize these sacred geographical sites, which are spread throughout India. These signs therefore act, in the ecumenical spirit of Divya Dham, to further unite Hindus of various backgrounds and promote pan-Indian identity. In addition to these signs, there are larger placards, which are placed throughout the temple containing a wide range of information related to Hindu religion, philosophy, cosmology, etc. These range from listing the four Vedas, the six limbs of the Vedas, the eighteen Puranas, the measure of time, incarnations of deities, the nine prominent serpents, the 28 hells, eight supernatural faculties, lineages, and a host of other information. All of these have been published in the Divya Dham book as well and serve to educate the community.

Directly across from the giant Jyotirlinga are two life-size brass sculptures depicting Lord Shiva as the requesting Bhikshadana: he is a holy mendicant begging alms from the Devi as Annapurna, goddess of both material and spiritual food. The goddess here is worshipped as the mother, ever nourishing and providing sustenance to her children. She is considered the queen of Benares, and it is believed that no worship of Shiva at Vishwanath is complete without visiting the Annapurna temple located nearby. It is also one of the 51 sacred shakti-pithas.

Further down, on the same side as the Lingas, is a giant murti of the well-known Trimurti of the Hindu pantheon- Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. This is the form of Brahman, the underlying monotheistic god of the Hinduism, manifested in his three functions- Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. The murti is a replica of the famous Trimurti seen at the Elephanta Caves, near Mumbai. It is one of the most amazing cave temples, architecturally and artistically, in India and according to a postcard from Divya Dham with this image photographed on the front, it belongs to the 6^th century A.D.

Past the Trimurti, one enters into the second area of the temple, where the main shrine is located. Before gazing at the shrine, however, one catches a glimpse of an entrance to what looks like a cave, which if facing the main shrine is located on your left and goes on behind the shrine and exits at the far right. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the stone-like material of the cave is actually fiberglass. The immense cave represents one of the most famous shakti-pithas in India, dedicated to Vaisno Devi. Like devotees here at Divya Dham, pilgrims in India must go through a cave in order to reach Vaisno Devi. Visiting here is much easier, though, for in the original cave in India the devotee must take an arduous hike up a mountain, and at one point has to crawl on all fours to get to the inner sanctum of the cave. Swami Vidyananda explained:

To see Vaisno Devi in India you must go through a cave, so we tried to create the same atmosphere. Pilgrimage is itself a type of individual tapasya, to burn up one’s sins. It is a tremendous effort to get to Vaisno Devi cave in India, and those who go repeat mantras such as “Om jai Mahalakshmi,” and they keep on repeating this mantra as they are going. And what sort of pain they go through to get there! They receive great satisfaction when they reach the end, an inner satisfaction, inner peace, inner happiness.[55]

            Swami Jagdishwarananda also spoke about this importance of action, of actually traveling through the cave as a form of individual penance. He mentioned, “Nobody reaches the Supreme Reality only through brain and logic. The body is the vehicle…of action and knowledge, it is the instrument and the cave is the space to reach the Supreme Power [shakti].”[56]

In the shrine area of the cave at Divya Dham are murtis of the goddess in three different manifestations- Maha Kali, Maha Saraswati, and Maha Lakshmi. However, staying true to the actual Vaisno Devi cave in India, Swami Jagdishwarananda has included a smaller shrine of the three goddesses in their original form as three stones. Swami Jagdishwarananda has been meticulous in making sure all his recreations of shrines at Divya Dham are authentic to their original counterparts in India. This is important in giving the shrine its authority.

At the exit of the cave there is an idol of Shri Bhairava, a fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva. It is unclear if this idol is representative of the Bhairava in the Vaisno Devi myth as the demon who chases after the goddess,[57] or if it represents some other temple. Being that it is so close to the cave, I thought maybe it was the former, but I do not know for sure.

Close to Bhairav, there is another remarkable structure, which seems to be composed of the same material as the cave. It is an enormous diorama of the Himalaya mountains, depicting the story of the descent of the Ganges River to earth. Seated in an ascetic posture in the mountains and praying to Lord Shiva is King Bhagiratha, who, through his tapas (penance), made possible the descent of the river. Standing in front of him is a huge statue of Lord Shiva as he, for the benefit of Earth and her inhabitants, prevents the Ganges River from crashing down and destroying the planet by having it flow through his matted locks. The Goddess is also represented, overlooking the whole scene at the top of the mountain, and on earth she flows from the Gomukha glacier, depicted in the diorama as the head of a cow (the meaning of Gomukha). For children and others who

may not know what is depicted, small signs written in English describe the scene. Upon request, a switch can be turned on which actually starts a flow of water from the locks of Shiva, down to Gomukha, and finally into a pool of water. To watch this ancient legend come to life is a truly unique experience not found anywhere else in the world!

To the left of the mountain we finally come to the main shrine of the temple. The main shrine contains a number of different deities, a characteristic of many Hindu temples in the U.S. This particular selection of deities was chosen by Swami Jagdishwarananda in order to beall-inclusive, the “something for everyone” approach I discussed previously.

I will list the murtis, which are divided from each other by small walls, from right to left. Starting at the far right is Lord Hanuman, followed by Lord Shiva and his consort Shri Parvati; then appears Lord Narayana (Vishnu) and his consort Shri Lakshmi; in the center, and which may be considered the main deity of the shrine, is the Goddess in the form of Maha Durga; to the left of the Mother is again Lord Vishnu, this time lying on the Serpent Sesha, and Lakshmi; we then see four deities placed in one shrine – Lord Rama with his consort Sita, followed by his brother, Lakshman, and lastly his greatest devotee Lord Hanuman, a manifestation of Shiva; last in the main shrine is Lord Krishna with his consort Radha. All murtis were carved out of the white marble of Makaran, created in Jaipur, and are heavily dressed in traditional Indian clothing and elaborate jewelry.

In front of the main shrine are smaller murtis of various gods, religious items, and offerings. There is also a unique item here, painstakingly brought by Swami Jagdishwarananda from India. It is a large oil lamp, with a flame enclosed in glass. This Akhanda Jyoti (continuous or eternal light) was brought from the eternal flame of the Vaisno Devi cave. There are many goddess temples in India, which have taken this flame and established them in their respective temples.[58] Swami Jagdishwarananda, following this same tradition, used a few lamps to take the flame, and returned to the U.S. by boat since the flame could not be taken on an airplane. He established one flame here at the main shrine, one in the replica Vaisno Devi cave, and one at the Geeta temple. The flame is a highly meaningful symbol in Hinduism; on one level it is representative of the light of the Divine, and on another, according to Swami Jagdishwarananda, the eternal flame “burns one’s sins”.[59] Transporting this flame from India is yet another example, like the pots of water, of physically transplanting elements from sacred sites, this time in the form of fire, to Divya Dham.

In front of the shrine facing the entrance is a small stage with a harmonium, drum and a microphone. This is used for religious discourses, bhajans, meetings, and any other event the temple may hold. Visitors sit in front of the stage on the floor. Next to the stage is a small shrine for Jagat Guru Acharya Swami Pranavananda, founder of the Bharat Sevasangh Ashram (BSA). When the management was changed, with the BSA taking over Divya Dham in 2001, this shrine of Swami Pranavananda was installed. Aarti (worship) is performed twice a day to this shrine. The image in the shrine is of Swami Pranavananda clothed in saffron robes, decked with rudraksha beads, and holding a trident. Directly in front of the image of Swami Pranavananda are a few religious objects used for the daily aartis. I was told by Kuldip that Swami Pranavananda took his diksha (initiation) in 1911 in Gorakhpur by Yogi Raj Baba Gambirnath Maharaj. Five years later he founded the BSA.[60] In 1923 Swami

Pranavananda took Sannyas diksha at a Kumbh Mela by Shri Govinananda Giri and became officially part of the Nath Sampradaya. It was one of Swami Pranavananda ‘s disciples, Swami Purnananda, who went to Guyana where he met Swami Vidyananda.[61]

Facing the stage, in front of the entrance to the Devi cave, is a second murti of the Trimurti, exactly the same as the first one. Next to this is a large murti of Ganapati, son of Lord Shiva, Remover of Obstacles. At the far end of the southern hallway is a murti of the great saint of Gujarat, Jalram Bapa. Next to him is Ranachora Dev, which is Lord Krishna as Vishnu, a unique murti that has four arms; two carrying Vishnu’s traditional chakra and conch, while the other two are playing Krishna’s traditional flute. To the left of these is a large circular shrine, which holds the nine manifestations of the Goddess: Shailputri, Brahmacharini, Chandigharta, Koosmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalratri, Mahagauri, Siddhidattri.

According to the Divya Dham publication, each murti is “made of the coveted Jaiselmer stone and engraved after the captivating sculpture style of the same secluded town…”[62] Implied in the publication is that it was not only important where the murtis came from, but also the material which they were created from, which further establishes the murtis’ authenticity, an important detail that Swami Jagdishwarananda observed for all the murtis.

Authority and sanctity according to the temple administration

In interviews I conducted with the temple administration, namely with Swami Vidyananda, Swami Jagdishwarananda, and Kuldip Bahl, I explored their perspectives on what they thought gave Divya Dham its authority and sanctity and why it was considered to be a sacred place of pilgrimage.

Swami Vidyananda explained to me that in India,

A place of pilgrimage is where great sacrifices have been performed by saints and sages. They make places of pilgrimages holy through their tapasya (penance). In this part of the world I consider Divya Dham a place of sacrifice that Swami Jagdishwarananda has made. He made this place.[63]

Divya Dham was therefore made divine by the penance performed by Swami Jagdishwarananda, “because of his tremendous sacrifice.”[64] Swami believed that in India, one is “naturally protected by the land, the land of the saints and sages.” In the U.S., the land needs to be transformed and sanctified, and in the case of Divya Dham, Swami Jagdishwarananda has successfully done this through his sacrifice. Swami Vidyananda continued,

Once Swami Jagdishwarananda said “While developed countries will send out atomic weapons of destruction, India will send saints and sages with a message of peace.” People are beginning to see this in this part of the world. India did not conquer lands or geographical boundaries with force, but rather religious conviction and belief. Divya Dham is one such project. What India is doing is creating more Indias out of India.[65]

Divya Dham can be seen therefore as an attempt to actually transform the American soil into the sacred land of India, “the land of saints and sages”.[66]

When I spoke with Swami Jagdishwarananda he stated that Divya Dham was “a storehouse, a reactor of positive vibrations”.[67] He viewed sanctity in terms of this “energy of positive vibrations”, terms he continually used throughout our short interview. He continued by saying that the authority of a temple comes from this sanctity, by “storing and spreading these positive vibrations” within a temple.[68] If a temple sufficiently and continually stores these positive vibrations, then the space becomes sacred. According to the Divya Dham publication,

The creation of such an extraordinary place of worship is possible to be established only through tapas (penance)…This fascination (of Divya Dham) is the result of the tapas and renouncement of a saint, unable to be achieved anywhere else.[69]

The publication implies here, echoing the words of Swami Vidyananda, that the divine nature of the temple has been established through the penance and renouncement of Swami Jagdishwarananda. Many consider him a great saint, and through his tapas, which is often believed to generate an aura of energy around the renouncer, he transfers his spirituality, his purity and his sacrality to all he comes in contact with, including the temple. He told me “that pure thought and pure devotion create these vibrations”, and that within a temple, it is the job of the pundit through his rituals, and the brahmacharis through their knowledge, penance, and purity to continually “energize” and thus sanctify the space.[70]

In a long interview I conducted with Kuldip Bahl, we discussed in general the ways sanctity and authority are conferred in temples. He explained to me four different ways, which I have listed below and which I have used to explore Divya Dham. The four points he made, and which I have expanded on, have helped me to combine the many ways sanctity and authority are conferred into four categories. In the case of Divya Dham, as we shall see, more than one are applicable.