Weekend Sightseeing, Part 2

Today we went to the ISKCON temple and Humayan's tomb. We also drove past Akshardham (which I'm convinced now that I don't need to see except from the outside, after ISKCON). It was an interesting experience, not just for the cultural/historical experience, but just to see where people's money goes and why.

The ISKCON temple was an elaborate affair with really interesting architecture. There were lots of people there to worship their statues in the temple. ISKCON stand for International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and at the entrance to the area (where we had to pass through airport-ish security) an eager man informed us that "You may be conscious but you're not really conscious until you're Krishna conscious," or something to that effect. There were garlands of marigold outside too; I thought they were for us to wear as tourists, but really, they were to buy as offerings for the Hindu gods.



It was amazing to me how much money was spent on this ISKCON temple. I wish I were able to post more pictures here right now to show the disparity between the temple and its surroundings, which were the same dilapidated buildings you see everywhere else in town. And I'm not cracking down on temples alone; there are so many monuments, like Humayan's tomb (below; he was a 1500s Muslim ruler), masjids, etc. that show this vast display of wealth that could be used for much more practical purposes. The juxtaposition of socioeconomic extremes is really striking.



I guess that's just how human beings are. We promote our egos and things that feed our egos, and plan to do the nice stuff later on. The problem is, egos are generally pretty hungry, and life is short.