Scott Sommerkorn

Social Science and Diversity

Health 1110 Social Health & Diversity  -- Prof. Jackie Farnsworth 

For this course the students were required to write a personal reflection paper after doing ten service learning hours at an institutuion which is for the benefit of a minority or oppressed group.

Personal Reflection Paper

Personal Reflection Paper

Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple

            Along the near hour drive to Spanish Fork, I was unsure of what activities and things I’d be doing in my service hours at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple.  I had never seen the temple or knew that it even existed, and of all places to locate in Utah County among so many Latter Day Saints.  Would I be working with children? Yard work? Observing?  Dishes? I had images and stereotypes in my head of what the monks and temple might look like.  I imagined many statues of Shiva, with multiple arms that is seen in many Hollywood movies based in India.  I expected all of the monks to be small Asian men with close cropped or buzzed hair.   I could not have been more wrong.

                Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed of the beauty of the building.  A tan colored temple, with balconies and ostentatious and elaborate carvings adorning every surface.  The temple sat atop a small hill, and almost looked to be surrounded by a farm.  Cows, geese, peacocks, and other animals roaming the grounds.  Upon entering and removing my shoes, I met Vai, the supervisor for the volunteers contributing service.  An elderly British woman with white hair greeted me and introduced herself.  Quickly I was finding all of my preconceived stereotypes to be quite far from the reality.  Vai was quite warm and kind to our small group of four.  Keddie (a member of my service group project) had invited two friends with her to volunteer service.  There were also a large group of thirty or so students from BYU also donating service for a course.  I got the feeling that Vai was tired of the BYU students, and gave our group a bit more attention and supervision which we welcomed. 

        First, Vai explained to us that we were to help to prepare the temple and the surrounding ground for the upcoming Festival of Colors.  An annual festival which celebrates the arrival of spring and the end of winter with tens of thousands from the state and abroad attending.  Our first task was to fold tee shirts that were to be sold.  During this time, the four of us discussed our opinions on the temple, BYU students, and our preconceived stereotypes.  We all quickly realized that our stereotypes were very much mistaken.  Next, Vai took us outside to do some yard work and to help prepare some tents and kiosks for the festival.  During this time, we had an opportunity to ask questions and discuss various things with Vai.  First, it is not a Hindu temple, but a temple devoted to the worship of Krishna, a kind of Hindu founder/prophet.   I myself find it difficult to wrap my head around any religion being an atheist.  But, I did find all of the simplicity of the lifestyle these monks practiced to be appealing.  They simply cared for the temple and the grounds, meditated, and even sang praises to “God.”  I expected elaborate answers backed by doctrine or scripture like that of local Christian religions to many of the questions we asked Vai.  But, many times a simple answer relating to the celebration and praise to God and following Krishna were given.  As an atheist, it is interesting to see a religion that does not seem to place much pressure on its members.  If you did not succeed in this life, you would have another chance through reincarnation.  With the other members of our group being LDS, I contemplated how their bias may interfere with their comprehension of many answers Vai was giving us.  Being raised LDS, I used to view reincarnation with a great deal of skepticism.  The answers and way Vai communicated with us, I began to find the lifestyle of Vai and the other monks appealing. 

           During part of my service hours, in which I was simply raking leaves and doing yard work, I began to think on how all these tasks we were doing were not at all increasing our understanding of this religion.  I then realized I was approaching these tasks with the same attitude I used to have as a kid when my father would force me to do yard work.  It was a challenge for me to not have negative feelings during the few hours when we simply did menial tasks with little supervision.  After yard work though, we were served lunch with many diverse foods, and then we had the opportunity to sing and meditate with some of the other monks. 

         Initially, I viewed completing the service hours as an annoyance.  But, after lunch and listening to others sing and meditate, I very much began to enjoy my experience there.  While the language of the song was foreign to me, it was still altogether beautiful.  It is extremely rewarding to me when ideas or people are in harmony.  Of all the things I had heard, asked, and contemplated about concerning the religion and the Festival of Colors, the deep underlying theme was that they were celebrating life.  I find when people harmonize for something as simple as this to be beautiful.  Care for all living things, and an appreciation of the gift of life and consciousness was central to their lifestyle.  I find this to be something that everyone needs to realize or consider.  During the last half of the day there, I really enjoyed preparing bags of chalk, folding tee shirts, and other tasks.  After the Festival of Colors, seeing many of my friends who had put pictures of themselves covered in chalk on Facebook and such, I had a strong sense of pride.  I was proud that I had helped prepare a festival which simply invites any person to come and celebrate life.  Although I did not attend the festival, I feel that I gathered some insights that were much more meaningful during my service hours.  The simplicity of life, celebrating and nurturing all life is a universal theme that can be shared by all people and in all places.