TEMPLE

TEMPLE is the place where statue of Deities is placed.

In Sanatan Culture (Hindu Dharma) number of deities is 3,300,000.

Some philosophers cum statue-maters (Saints) tried to sculpt some characteristics of God, like Jagan-nath (juggernaut). He can also be degraded to the level of Deity and placed in TEMPLE.

Anything or character or characteristic cannot represent the complete God    

God has created a number of characters to help survival of life; they are called Deities. (According to knowledge available on date, life is on Earth only).

Any character existing to help life is Deity. Life includes mankind and others like animals and vegetation. This article is limited to mankind only, as we know about us only.

Primey Deities are Sun (Surya), Moon (Chandra), Air (Vayu), Rivers (Sarita) Rain (Varsha), Ocean (Varun). Water is not in the list, as it is part of river and ocean.

There are other characters, to help in development of mankind like Gana-pati, 

Shankar, Hanuman etc. They are also counted in Deities.

Then there are planets in our Solar system, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, 

Saturn etc.; as they are also keeping the system stable, they are also counted 

in Deities.

There are some stars also, which are beyond the Solar system.

Further any other character helping mankind is Deity. That means the germs 

and enzymes converting, milk to yoghurt, Juice to wine or vinegar, Fruit to pickle 

are Deities.

TEMPLE is the place where we worship the Deities. Worshiping is like thanksgiving 

to Deities for the kindness they bestow upon us.

In Srimad Bhagwat Geeta, lord Krishna says, one worships any deity, he worships me only. But by worshiping Deity the result are fast as well as for short period.

Factually our God or Deity (whom we worship) is inside us only. When we go to 

TEMPLE we move the God or Deity into the statue, to facilitate the concentration 

and then worship.

These Deities are there to help mankind and do not require anything in return, 

not even thanks. But we dedicate offerings in TEMPLES thinking we are offering 

to Deities. This is our ignorance. We actually make these offerings to the temple 

as it has to be maintained. The Gold and Jewels go in reserve.

Maintenance of TEMPLE is a big job, it includes salary of priest, keeping it clean, organizing and safety of crowd of worshipers, taking care of repairs and expansion.

Quite a few big TEMPLES run Orphanages, Shelters, Schools, Colleges and Hospitals. Some of them arrange food also for devotees as well as poor.

Again there are Honest as well as Dishonest TEMPLES.