There is this small in size,large in the number of visitors temple near my house.I usually go there primarily because I like the scent of flowers mixed with the fragrance of the insence sticks.
At the time of the aarti, there are about thirty people there.While the stuti plays on the tape recorder(most probably donated by someone), one of the devotees volunteers to ring the temple bell to the tune of the prayer song.
Then, a thought strikes my mind.
If world were a temple, people would cheerfully volunteer to do things knowing the long term benefits of the act.
People light the lamps and the insence sticks.I wish everybody in this world, strived to bring fragarance and light everywhere.
Some people distribute paper bowls of rice or sweets as prasada.I wish the able individuals of the world worked to feed the little unfortunate others.
I was grateful to the temple for the thought it gave me.
A beautiful, fragrant, illuminated world, devotees of humanity, lamps of hope, insence of peace, prasada of love!
I was overwhelmed with the thought.The tape recorder became silent.I realised that the stuti was over.Then, it was the time for everyone to offer prayers and flowers individually.
People started rushing into each other, pushing each other and using their get-through-the-crowd techniques.
All thoughts were shattered.I takes less than a moment for the world to transit from selflessness to selfishness.
Conclusion: Because people make temples, temples are part of the world and the world cannot be a temple.
But still, I wish temples were temples and the world were a temple!
