Virtual Ethnography 101: Spiritual Journey to a Hindu Temple

Last summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


Ethnography By Dyan Barrion

During my first two years in college at the University of the Philippines Manila, I got the chance to visit several religious sites such as churches and temples. When I was in first year, we had a field trip in one of our History subjects. Since our professor wanted us to take first hand-information about other religions, he decided to bring us outside the classroom and brought us to various religious temples.

The first temple we visited is a Hindu temple. It was not surprising to see images of Hindus’ gods (Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu). We sat down on the floor and listened to the lecture of the head monk. For some reason, I was pretty surprised when I come to know that the head monk was a foreigner. He is British and not a sort of Indian descent. Honestly, the images of the gods of the Hindus kinda creep me out sometimes. It’s amazing to see how different cultures perceive their gods.

During the lecture, I came to know that most Hindus are vegetarians. The head monk said that as much as possible it is better to avoid eating meat. One of the beliefs in Hinduism is the infinite cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Hindus prefer vegetable diet. There is this infinite cycle called Samsara (continuous flow) – that you’ll never know if a pig you have feasted was your father reborn as a pig after he passed away.

The head monk also talked about the good and bad deeds of a person in his previous life that has still an impact to him in his next life. If one was possessed by bad karma in previous life, then it would not be surprising if in his next life he’ll experience a lot of misfortunes. This ‘payback’ time does not directly inflict you but you can still suffer from it when bad karma inflicts suffering to people you hold dear to you.

Also, he said that people who practice Hinduism live a free life. Hindus live a life believing freely that is why blasphemy is immaterial to their religion. The high priest told us that Hinduism is actually a very open religion – very open that they can believe in Jesus Christ, Allah, and Buddha, and to other gods. This makes Hindus live freely and happily because of this much freedom to believe.

After the insightful lecture, they showed us how to sing and dance to their joyful mantra of Hare Krishna. We watched ladies as they dance in circles. The rhythm and beat turned to be lively; it did not take long for us to have it memorized and follow the tune.

Soon the ladies encouraged us to join them and I must admit that it was totally refreshing and fun. As I think about it now, I might have sung Hare Krishna with more feelings compared to when I sing along with the choir in the church when I hear masses. In the temple, they taught us to greet and wish each other a good life by saying Hare Krishna to each other.

When we left, they gave us booklets about Hinduism and shared us some food. I remember it was like a mashed potato.

In out religious immersion, we also visited Taoist and Buddhist temples, including a mosque of Muslim believers. But as I reconstruct my visits to various places of worship to write about ethnography on religion, the Hindu temple struck me most. Hence, I always deem that despite of different faiths around, I think like Hindus, we should be more open to various beliefs to live freely and happily.