Darshan

I do not really know a whole lot about this topic yet. I have a book about it, but I haven't started it yet. All I do know is that it is an important part of Hindu worship. It is basically the concept of seeing god and being seen by god. This is why idols and temples are so important. You go to the temple or do puja to your idols at home so that you can present yourself before god to see and be seen. I am not exactly sure how this fits into the religion, but I will.

What makes me think about this is recently, (sort of, this was like a month long project) got some pictures of some Hindu deities. Currently I have Sarasvati, Vishnu, and Natarajan (Shiva, essentially) on my wall. At first I loved them. They complement my room so well. I mean, I still love them. Overtime I have slowly become aware of their eyes. It is hard not to look at them, especially in the eyes. You are drawn to them. I think I look at each of them accidentally several times throughout the day. Yesterday however, I sort of became aware of the fact that they are always looking at me. It kind of creeped me out. Every time I looked up from my book these three gods were staring right at me. It doesn't matter what angle you are at from them, they are always looking at you. I mean, I know they are not actually the idols. Erm, I mean, I am not converting here, but what I mean is, from a Hindu perspective, a god only comes and "lives" in an idol if the idol is created in the proper way. I am almost certain that the proper precautions, rites, and mantras have not been taken in the creation of these pictures, since they are published by some random American company.

Where am I going with this? It has been an interesting experience living under the eyes of gods for the past few weeks. I am so curious to learn more about how this relates back into Hinduism. I am slowly starting to piece the religion together. Random snippets I have been told or have looked up are starting to come together.

I find my religious thinking impacted more and more from what I read about Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Indian flavors of Christianity, and to a smaller degree Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. It has actually been fairly enlightening of how I perceive and interact with God in my own religion.

Edit: as per Rachel's suggestion I have uploaded a picture of the trio. Hopefully Brahma doesn't mind me substituting him out in favor of his estranged wife in my little trimurthi. Forgive the awkward angle/not really having everything in the frame. I need to get a wide angle lens. I also need to get money to get a wide angle lens, haha. Also, knowing what I am doing would help. This picture is grainy as hell up close, but the iso is only around 400. I am not sure what I need to change.