527 Old Hickory Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
(615) 356-7207
www.ganeshatemple.org
Public tours take place on the second Saturday of every month at 3pm. No appointments necessary.
Private tours of 5 or more can be arranged based on availability of tour guides and temple hours by calling 615-356-7207 or emailing admin@ganeshatemple.org.
One of the most beautiful Hindu temples in North America is right here in Nashville, and they would love to have you come for a visit!
I must have passed the temple dozens of times, maybe even a hundred times. Always marveling at the detailed white carvings on the roofs, wondering what lay beyond the gates and inside the doors. Ultimately, curiosity and my love of Indian culture spurred me into action. I corralled my husband on a beautiful Saturday and made the short drive to the Sri Ganesha Temple; as it turns out, not for the last time.
Driving through the gate and into the parking lot, I finally got a closer view of the amazing architecture of the building. According to their website, Sri Ganesha Temple was officially opened in 1985 and resembles the temple architecture of the Chola dynasty (900AD-115AD). It is uniformly made from one type of rock from India and took more than two years to complete the building and ornamentation.
For some time now I have been curious about Hindu temples in India and the ancient study surrounding the design and practices that go into creating these Sacred sites. Vastu Shastra, the science of Vedic architecture, has been around for many thousands of years, predating Christianity. In this science, a temple is not simply a structure; it is a sculpture and a monument. The building itself integrates its functions, nature and ancient beliefs, while utilizing geometry, symmetry and directional alignments. The temple represents the earthly seat of one or more deities and is an aspect of God. This makes the building worthy of worship in itself! For Hindu devotees the temple is one of the single most powerful entities in one's life. It is where the arts of dance, music, painting, sculpture and architecture merge with worship, and where community plays a very large role. I purchased a beautiful coffee table book, Hindu Temples in North America: A Celebration of Life * that has pictures not only of Sri Ganesha Temple, but also a wide variety of temple styles represented all over the US and in Canada. I learned that Sri Ganesha Temple follows the more traditional Northern India style that has a series of pinnacles, with the tallest centered over the inner sanctum. (In Southern India, there is usually a tower that is carved with the gods over the main sanctuary with smaller ones in the cardinal directions.) Sri Ganesha’s tallest pinnacle is 48 feet tall with five tiers, and the other pinnacles are 24 feet tall.
We entered the temple through carved wooden doors, passing porticos and a large outdoor stairway leading to the second floor. Carvings of elephants and figures depicting religious stories from Sacred texts adorn the walls and stairway, with beautiful details throughout. Once inside, we were greeted warmly by people behind the desk who helped us understand the layout and process. The canteen is on the ground level and is open on Saturdays 9am to 3pm (and Sundays for devotees and special festival events). We arrived early so that we could start our experience by having a lovely lunch of Indian food, served with Chai tea by volunteers from the congregation. Inside this room you can see a model of what I was told was the original concept for the temple, and it is very beautiful but quite different to what now stands.
Around the corner is the Shoe Room, where you must remove your shoes and can bathe your feet prior to going upstairs to the Inner Sanctum. At the top of the stairs, you could turn right to enter the Prayer Hall worship area, or you could turn left to visit the Gift Shop (open Saturdays and Sundays) and the classrooms. We turned left and were led to a classroom where a very friendly guide gave us an introduction to Hinduism.
For those of you new to Hinduism, it is a complex religion that is approximately 5,000 years old and has no founder or prophet. According to Eerdmans’ Handbook to The World’s Religions, the emphasis is on how one lives through eternal truths or laws (vedas) rather than how one thinks and is very closely tied to its culture. There is a belief in One Supreme Being who is infinite, all-pervasive and eternal and the source of all creation; this Supreme Being is given different names and worshipped through different images. For example, someone may believe in one deity (such as Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, Parvati or Lakshmi) or several gods as a manifestation of one god, such as Krishna and Rama (who are incarnations of Vishnu). Ganesha is the son of the gods Shiva and Parvati and is easily recognized by his elephant head, (which denotes great physical strength tempered by gentleness, wisdom and peace). He is worshipped as the remover of all obstacles and as the god of wisdom and success.
There are three basic tenets of Hinduism: dharma (duty), karmayoga (the discipline of action) and moksha (spiritual deliverance). When it migrated to the Western hemisphere, it adapted itself and became part of our culture and others; for example, Yoga and meditation practices have become widespread among those of other faiths who may not recognize the roots of these practices in another religion. (See my post on Sadhguru’s Isha Center for Inner Sciences as an example of a modern blend of cultures.) One universal belief across devotees is reincarnation, where individuals will live many lifetimes until transcending the pain and suffering of this world (samsara). Movements that have emerged from Hinduism include Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and the following of Sai Baba, who is believed to be an avatar of Shiva.
DAILY HINDU PRAYER:
You alone are the Mother and the Father,
You alone are the Relative and the Friend,
You alone are the Knowledge and the Wealth,
You are everything to me, O Lord.
So let’s explore the Prayer Hall and see how this temple celebrates its beliefs and cultures!
Our guide this day prepared us for the prayer room with rules of etiquette. First, silence (or at least whispers) is requested in the prayer hall. Secondly, no pictures are allowed to be taken without express permission. There was a wide variety of people there that day, and all of us were offered brochures to give us greater insight into the temple and Hinduism. I highly recommend you grab these if you go, so that you understand better the layout of the room and the deities represented.
Let me just say that this room is stunning! Unfortunately, I am unable to show you just how amazing the statues and Prayer Hall space are, but pictures also won't show you the energy that you feel inside the room – this you must experience for yourself. I can tell you that sitting in this space is a wonderful place to meditate, and gazing upon the statues is an incredible treat to behold. The attire of each god, and the decorations placed around and on them, are specific to that deity and are quite elaborate. I am told that in India most temples are dedicated to one god, but because there are relatively few temples in the US the ones here are intended to serve a multitude of deities.
The inner sanctum is oriented from East to West, and the room is designed so that you move around the room from left to right. In addition to the large Ganesha who is in the center of the room towards the rear, there are nine other displays with deities (this is when your Visitor’s Guide brochure will really come in handy). In addition, as you approach the rear of the room from the left you will see 16 forms of Ganesha placed on the outer wall of the sanctum! All the statues in the prayer hall are covered in incredibly gorgeous materials, surrounded by flowers, decorated with gold, and have offerings of food. In fact, offerings of food are highly suggested by the temple when you visit, as these are distributed to those who need it as part of their humanitarian outreach to the community. There are also boxes for cash donations in the inner sanctum.
One thing you will notice is that there are hardly any chairs in the space except in the back for those who cannot sit cross-legged on the floor. The second time I visited the temple, on a midweek morning, I was the only one aside from the priests, and enjoyed a quiet meditation on the floor facing Ganesha. I was there to witness a ritual performed daily called Abhishekam, where Ganesha is bathed in water and milk while prayers are chanted by the priests. This was incredibly moving to me, and I found the beauty of the ritual Sacred on a deeply personal level that I cannot describe.
The third time I visited the temple was for the week-long celebration of Ganesha’s Birthday called a Chaturthi festival, which takes place in August or September. This time the Abhishekam was much more elaborate, with many more liquids, powder, and even what looked like honey poured over Ganesha and rinsed off with water in between each step. Finally, the curtain closed in front of him, and when it reopened, he was covered in garlands of flowers. I once again found my eyes welling with tears over the beauty of the ceremony. Then a pooja/puja offering was made, special to this occasion. 108 shells, each filled with water and a red carnation, were beautifully displayed under a pagoda in the prayer hall. Priests chanted and offered the shells first to devotees who sponsored the event, then to the rest of us. We carried the shells up to Ganesha, where a priest took the flower out and bathed him with the water. It was amazing to be a part of this ceremony and to see Ganesha up close, looking so regal, his gaze seeming to look right at you!
This ceremony was followed by a litter carrying a Ganesha statue through the chanting crowd and down the front steps to where a brightly painted cart awaited. The statue was placed inside, and devotees grabbed heavy ropes in front and behind the cart and pulled the cart around the parking lot several times while singing happily. At one point a statue was taken to a pool, prayers were chanted, and the statue was bathed in the water and dropped inside carefully. Everyone was splashed with water as a blessing, much to their delight. Children dropped in small clay Ganesha statues, and garlands of flowers floated peacefully above other submerged statues. I felt so blessed to have seen this incredible morning of celebration with most women dressed in their best saris and many men in their kurtas. So much joy, and I felt so welcome through all of it!
I should also mention that on the weekends the Gift Shop is open, and there are brass statues, jewelry, books and colorful clothing for men, women and children.
I hope you’ll make the trip to the Sri Ganesha Temple to see for yourself a community of people devoted to faith, spiritual growth and community, in a temple that is one of the very finest in all of North America! It is located in Bellevue on Old Hickory Boulevard, between I40 and Hwy 70S. The website has information on when to visit, a calendar of events and the history of the temple. Enjoy!
DAILY HINDU PRAYER:
Lead me from the Unreal to the Real,
Lead me from Darkness to Light,
Lead me from Death to Immortality,
In the name of the Eternal,
Let there be peace, peace, peace everywhere.
* I am an Amazon Affiliate and hope you'll purchase this book with my code so that I can keep this blog going!
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