UNITED STATES, April 29, 2020 (Market Watch): Practicing Hindus across the United States have almost seamlessly transitioned worship to home and virtual settings, finding comfort and guidance through digital means amid pandemic-induced temple closures. At the same time, temple leaders are plotting how to reopen safely — especially leading up to major fall holidays that traditionally draw big crowds. BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a global Hindu spiritual and humanitarian organization founded in Gujarat, India, suspended public activities at its roughly 100 U.S. temples on March 13. But the organization quickly supplied devotees with a raft of online resources, including weekly religious services for different age groups in English and Gujarati, special prayer ceremonies for the resolution of the pandemic, live streams of swamis performing ceremonies and instructing viewers on how to take part at home, daily darshans, and a daily livestreamed aarti, said Darshan Patel, a volunteer for BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a temple in Robbinsville, N.J.
Despite temples having closed to the public, certain rituals must still be carried out every day. “The murti is seen as a special, living, divine presence, and so this requires a regular round of daily rituals to be performed,” Anantanand Rambachan, a professor of religion at St. Olaf college in Minnesota, said. To that end, priests have continued to come and go from the temple premises while cameras transmit the visuals to devotees. Rambachan, said the very nature of Hinduism allows for a good measure of flexibility — and, now, the capacity to adapt to pandemic conditions. While temples serve as important social spaces and many Hindus are in the practice of visiting them, particularly for major religious occasions, temple-going is “not a requirement of Hindu identity,” he said. Hindu worship is not structured in a congregational fashion as some other religions are, he added, and a significant part of worship takes place in the home — typically in a designated section of a room, where religious icons are displayed.
Much more on how several U.S. temples are adapting to the challenges of COVID-19 at “source” above.