Source: Hinduism Today
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, September 30, 2001: Stephen Huyler’s other-worldly exhibit “Meeting God, Elements of Hindu Devotion” (see Hinduism Today, Dec 1996) which began five years ago at the Sackler Museum in Washington, D.C., has been taken to new dimensions at its present location in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. The renowned venue, considered the root of modern anthropological science, boasts some of the most highly skilled presentation designers and craftsmen in the world. When the exhibit arrived for installation, 100 museum staff members turned their creative powers from dinosaurs to spiritual display — showing to the world the ways of Hindu worship at home, village, temple and in personal experience. New York Hindus are full of praise. Jyotirmoy Datta wrote in India Abroad, “After visiting the stunning exhibition, one is …. inclined to murmur, ‘Why travel to Tirupati or Hardwar when you can spend enchanting hours at this great institution in Manhattan getting glimpses of the world’s most ancient religion still practiced today by almost a billion inhabitants of this planet?’ ” Stephen Huyler, the visionary behind the exhibit, has managed to convey his own “awe that the Divine permeates the daily lives of hundreds of millions of human beings in almost every aspect of their existence.” He even had the exhibit consecrated by a priest. After the events of September 11, people are coming not only to see but to pray, for solace and to make offerings.