On the subject of prayer, Swami Vivekananda wrote,
“Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this practice alone; do not sleep in that room, it must be kept holy; you must not enter the room until you have bathed, and are perfectly clean in body and mind. Place flowers in that room always; they are the best surroundings for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing. Burn incense morning and evening. Have no quarrelling, or anger, or unholy thought in that room. Only allow those persons to enter it who are of the same thought as you. Then by and by there will be an atmosphere of holiness in the room, so that when you are miserable, sorrowful, doubtful, or your mind is disturbed, the very fact of entering that room will make you calm. This was the idea of the temple and the church, and in some temples and churches you will find it even now, but in the majority of them the very idea has been lost. The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes and remains illumined.”
What is a prayer room, and why is it sacred? Is it an innately holy place because God’s image resides there, or do we only ascribe it holiness because of the effect it has on us? Before we can consider what should and should not happen in a prayer room, it is imperative that we first define what produces the atmosphere we are trying to preserve, if that is indeed our goal.
Arguably, the reason we have prayer rooms is, as Swami Vivekananda pointed out, because they are places that can calm us or help us focus our minds. They are removed from the hectic shuffle of the everyday, and remain peaceful and undisturbed. If only prayer takes place there, the mood will always be a restful and spiritual one.
So theoretically, it seems reasonable that we should not allow things like cursing and gossip in the prayer space, because these things would ruin the mood. But how much does this translate to in practice? Let’s take a look at some hypothetical situations: Applesauce and Broccoli are talking about the drama in their love lives while Chimichanga and Dunkaroo are trying to pray. Clearly, it is more difficult for Chimichanga and Dunkaroo to focus on God with the ridiculous banter about the cute cereal jocks in the background. But now, let’s say Applesauce and Broccoli are talking about Captain Crunch’s biceps in the prayer room alone for a little bit, and then go for dinner (the dinner has no significance to this metaphor). Half an hour later, Chimichanga and Dunkaroo come in for some evening meditation. Are they going to have more trouble focusing because of what went on in the prayer space thirty minutes ago? I am inclined to believe that they are not, because they believe that the space has been kept holy. The sanctity of the prayer space, then, is just a human construct (or at least this is what I believe).
That being said, I absolutely think that this is a construct that needs to be respected. This means that Applesauce and Broccoli need to hold their tongues when Chimichanga and Dunkaroo are praying, but does it mean that they shouldn’t be talking about Captain Crunch when there’s no one there? Maybe, but maybe not. You could argue that there’s no reason for them to be talking about that in the prayer room — why can’t they discuss it at Quincy Grille or in the Pusey Library stacks, or in just about any other place on campus? And this might be valid, but the line becomes more blurred when we broaden our question to things like eating, sleeping, and studying.
- Eating: We eat prasad in the prayer space, so how much changes if I’m crunching on a bag of Doritos in there too?
- Sleeping: What if my roommate is throwing a crazy party, but I haven’t slept in days because I’ve been participating in the largest cultural show on campus, and I just need a place I can count on to be quiet to crash for a few hours?
- Studying: It’s after twelve, and my group and I need a place to work on a project. We’re really behind and need a decent place where we can work in peace. The prayer space does help me focus my mind…
And what about Dharma Board meetings? Dharma helped create this prayer space, so shouldn’t we be allowed to discuss events and activities that raise awareness of Hinduism in the prayer space whenever the Women’s Center is closed? This sounds appropriate, but is it appropriate only while we’re talking about Board business? Should we not allow the conversation to veer off more casual things? Because if that’s the case, I would argue that Board meeting should not be in there at all, since we’re also a group of friends and are bound to go off track.
Finally, I pose this question: if Eggnog curses in the prayer space during a discussion because Fruitcake completely destroyed his argument, Eggnog might feel bad. But twenty minutes later, when they go to enjoy a collective dinner (again, no metaphoric meaning), Eggnog trips on an overgrown root, and curses again. This time he feels nothing, and continues along his merry way. Is it a little hypocritical to be observing a set of rules only sometimes, but being entirely unaffected by them the rest of the time, or is this acceptable because the difference in his actions in the prayer room is out of respect for others?
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Before I share my thoughts, I must say that the metaphors you used were quite humourous, yet they served their purpose in sending a message
As for the question at the end of your post, it very much depends on the situation in order to determine whether it is hypocritical or not to follow a set of rules in a certain environment and then not follow those rules in a different environment.
Since your usage of metaphors was very helpful, I figured I’d use them as well.
Be it noted that the following examples have just been made up. Please do not feel that I am sharing stories from my own life or those of anyone else’s life.
Say that Watermelon attends a cultural school every weekend. And at the school, he is told to not cheat, lie and curse. Now if you think about it, all Watermelon needs to do is to not lie, cheat and/or curse when in the cultural school environment. However, when he is with his friends, Watermelon curses, lies and cheats to his heart’s desire. Is that right- living a double life where one life is entirely an act to please the elders at the cultural school and maybe even his parents while the other life is the real true Watermelon that no one but his friends know?
Now let’s look at another example. Let’s say that Squash, Watermelon’s classmate at the weekend cultural school, has a crush on Baked Potato, who goes to her high school.
Now, the purpose of the cultural school is to enlighten young minds and to teach them how to advance themselves spiritually. The environment in the school is spiritually uplifting. Any thoughts straying from spirituality would ruin the environment for everyone. These straying thoughts include Squash’s thoughts about Baked Potato. This doesn’t mean that Squash shouldn’t have a crush on anyone, but that she should control her thoughts so that thoughts about Baked Potato don’t interfere with her learning and spiritual development at the weekend cultural school. As long as Squash bifurcates the jumble of thoughts in her mind into two categories, Spiritual and Non-spiritual and maintains that separation while at the cultural school, she will be able to spiritually uplift herself and not keep others from uplifting themselves.
As you can see, it varies from situation to situation. In Watermelon’s case, it is imperative that he observes the set of rules inside and outside his cultural school environment. However in Squash’s case, the difference in her thoughts when she is in the spiritual environment and outside the environment is justified by her goal to spiritually uplift herself and to not hinder the spiritual growth of others.
Lots of excellent questions raised here. I don’t have many answers, but I do feel much hungrier after reading this.
I’ve used the prayer space as a quiet place to read & study on occasion, precisely because the sanctity I assigned to it would help me focus.
You do raise a good question about hypocrisy, and whether it was hypocritical to avoid certain activities a group would otherwise partake in simply because the group was in the prayer space. We had quite a discussion about this last year. Ask any former board member about the Taco Bell controversy.
We’re only human in the prayer space, and only human outside the prayer space. Yes – it is hypocritical to require one sort of behavior outside the prayer space and another inside the prayer space.
Hinduism says that God is everywhere– yet we have a prayer space. The prayer space exists for the same reason as our study table or common room. Just because we have a study table doesn’t mean we can’t study sitting on the floor of the common room, but the study table is more conducive to studying given that we have a chair, a desk and a well-positioned lamp. Similarly, there’s no rule that says that praying is the only thing that we can do in the prayer space. However, it is a shared space, and while you might think it’s okay to eat/gossip there, another person may not. Using to the prayer space only to pray has more to do with respecting the other people who use the prayer space than anything else.
I think it’s also about acknowledging that when we are in the prayer space, we are sitting in front of our Gods. In the prayer space, the gods deserve our complete attention. It’s called “devghar” for a reason. Translated, it means “House of the Gods”. For me, gossiping, making jokes or eating junk food in the prayer space is offensive because it’s like we are disrespecting our Gods, forgetting that they’re sitting right there. So yes, you’re right, holding board meetings in the prayer space is a mistake.
However, somehow the idea of sleeping or studying in the prayer space doesn’t bother me half as much, and I’m not sure why. When I was younger, my mother encouraged me to sit in front of the prayer area at home to study. That may explain the way I feel.
I think that the intention of your actions of the prayer space is what matters. If you go to sleep or study in the prayers space with the idea that you find that the prayer space will make you feel at peace or make you focus, then I think it is wise to go to sleep or study there. While I agree that we shouldn’t be hypocritical, striving for purity has to begin somewhere, and I think that the prayer space serves that purpose.
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