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Evans
Brayden Evans
Professor Dibble
HUMA 1100
04/13/19

PRE-REFLECTION

I have decided I would like to see how people of the Hindu religion worship. I decided this
because one of my old neighbors is a family from India that are of the Hindu faith. I messaged
him and asked where the nearest temple was that he went to for worship. He directed me to
the one in south jordan right of of south jordan parkway. He sent me a link to a website for it
and I saw that Saturday there is going to be a celebration so that is when me and my wife are
planning on visiting. I have always been curious as to what they really do. I have gone down to
the color festival twice that they do down in Spanish fork but I never really understood why they
did it. Deep down I have always wanted to go out and see how others beliefs may differ from
mine. I think I will see a lot of different things that I am not used to when I go. I think I will learn
a lot and be surprised by a lot of things they do. I think this will relate to our class from when we
learned about Hinduism and what they believe in. I do not anticipate any obstacles because I
already asked my neighbor what I need to wear and if we can go to the celebration. I am very
excited to have a different religious experience.

YOUR EXPERIENCE:

Following your activity, you will write a 600-700 word, paper on your activity. Include
the following:
1. What event did you choose for this activity? (Include place, date, time, activity,
etc.)
I chose to go to the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple of Utah. It is located at 1142 West, South Jordan
Parkway, Utah , 84095. We attended the Sita Rama Kalyanam at 10:30 a.m. April 13th, 2019
which was followed by Sundara Khand Patan.
2. With whom did you speak and what did you learn from them? Be specific.
First I spoke with my neighbor Manu about this school assignment and how I would be very
interested in learning more about his religion. He told me all of the information about the Sri
Ganesha Hindu Temple and that was very close. I had no idea that there was one so close to us.
I thought everyone had to go down to Spanish Fork each time. He also informed me on what we
needed to wear which was long pants and a shirt. No tie was needed he said and that we could
wear jeans if we wanted to.
When we got there they have this beautiful huge tower next to their place of worship. We went
over to where everyone was going in which were these huge gold doors. There was a man that
looked like he was somewhat in charge and I asked if we could go in through the next doors. He
kindly told us we could as long as we took off our shoes and socks. We did that and then
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washed our feet before going in. I'm not really sure if we were supposed to do that but we did it
anyways as a gesture of respect. Then while we were inside where all of the shrines to the
avatars were we were approached by a man named Belagi. He was very friendly and was able to
answer all of our questions that we had about what was going on. He was the former president
of the temple there so he had a lot of knowledge. As the ceremony started for Rama’s Birthday
who is the seventh avatar of Vishnu there were these Pujari’s who came around with a plate of
these white looking berries and leaves and each person would participate separately by putting
their hands on the plate and the Pujari would say some stuff asking for their name and there
class. They even came to me and my wife and we did it but we had no idea what they were
saying because it wasn’t in english. They we sat down with everyone as they did a bunch of
different ritual looking things as they chanted things over and over again. There was quite a lot
of people there. We were all sitting there indian style and I never had sat like that for so long, it
started to hurt pretty bad after and hour. They pulled out books and had people singing that
could read Hindi. Then before we left they were getting ready to do burning sacrifices
3. What does civic engagement mean to you?
I think that civic engagement means to be engaged in what’s going on in your community. To be
aware of beliefs people practice and their culture. Diversity is widespread among us in Utah so I
think it is important to become familiar with beliefs and cultures around us. Once we are
familiar with the different cultures and beliefs around us I feel like that helps to create a safe
environment where we can all be friendly and co-exist.
4. How did this assignment help you to be civically engaged? Be specific.
I had no idea the amount of people we had in the valley that pertained to the Hindu religion. I
think this was important to learn because I can now understand a lot more of what they do now
that I have been there myself to experience it. The only things that I had ever learned about the
Hindu religion have been in school so this was a whole lot different of an experience. I feel like I
can carry out a conversation with those of this religion now and have a better understanding.
5. Did you enjoy this experience? Why or why not?
Yes I really enjoyed this experience because I had never seen anything quite like this. It was
beautiful inside with all the different shrines. The people were friendly to us and we felt
welcome thanks to Belagi who helped give us an introduction to everything. I wish I could’ve
understood everything they were saying but I didn’t understand anything they were chanting.
6. Would you do it again? Why or why not?
Yes I would do it again but I would want to go with my neighbor so that he could sit by me and
translate everything so I could have some idea of what is going on. I would maybe want to come
at the end of the celebration/worship next time since they can last 3-4 hours so that I can see
the whole thing. I was very intrigued the whole time because of how interesting everything was
because I really had never seen anything like that.
7. How did it relate specifically to the course? (Please relate it directly to at least
one theme covered in class by using specific readings or other relevant materials
we have covered during the course. This last question should be at least 250
words).
I think that I could relate this to happiness and the good life because everyone there seemed
happy to be there. They all seemed very humble and that this has been apart of their life since
they were young. Living there culture seemed to be a part of their happiness and part of their
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good life. It doesn’t seem like their search is to find the good life through riches and material
objects but through God and family. Everyone in the Hindu religion is usually trying to become
better every day so that when there time comes to die that they can make it to the next class so
that they can get that much closer to enlightenment. Achieving Moksha or enlightenment is
considered the most important meaning in life because of all of the rewards that it offers. I
believe that we will all be happy when we find what makes us most happy. For those of the
Hindu faith that means being the best they can be and hoping that they can reincarnate and be
better in their next life. We all in some way want to become better each and every day. We all
also want to be happy and so through religion and culture we usually can find that peace and
happiness. Everyone truly seemed happy as they were there at the temple today and seemed to
hold such a high respect and honor for their beliefs and shrines. They were also all wearing very
beautiful clothing but it wasn’t worldly.

POST-REFLECTION

Prompt 1: What did you learn by creating this signature assignment? Be specific
with respect to your work on the assignment and the topics/skills/concepts you
learned in the course. What problems or obstacles did you encounter in
completing the signature assignment? How did you troubleshoot them, if you
did? How did this activity specifically relate to another course you have taken (or
are currently taking) at SLCC?
I learned that there are many ways to find happiness. I also learned a lot about different ways of
worshipping. I had never really seen people worship idols or have shrines dedicated to gods like
they have. I learned that we have a pretty large population of Indian families here in Utah. I
learned that there are a lot of different Hindu temples here in Utah. I learned that everyone is
welcome to visit and worship in their temples. I learned that in order to go into the temples you
need to remove your shoes. I learned that it is all done in Hindi. I thought it was going to be
done in english but I don’t know what I was thinking. I had to have people skills in order to go
and talk to someone I had never met. I had to be willing to walk into a new place where I had
never been which really can put someone out of their comfort zone. I learned the concept of
sacrifice because they all sit there for multiple hours and it was painful. Not only do they do
that, they also take time out of their busy schedules to go there. I didn’t come across any
obstacles other than not speaking Hindi. I feel like if I spoke Hindi I would’ve gotten a lot more
out of the experience. I wasn’t really able to relate this to any other classes.