Thread by @ArunKrishnan_

1/ I went to a Hanumanji Temple today. Had darshan, circumambulated thrice and then sat down.

The sounds were soothing, reassuring. There were three ringing of bells. The chants of Rama Rama Hare Hare, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.

There was a mother with her two young kids...

2/ She had a 8 yr old boy and perhaps a 2 year old girl and was trying to teach them some mantras.

I closed my eyes. I could then hear sounds more distinctly. The sounds of anklets on the feet of girls, the whispers and murmurs of the crowd, the sounds of feet ...

3/ brushing against the floor as people walked around the shrine.

I could hear the mantras that the mother was teaching her kids.

And I realized that I was actually outside time.

What do I mean, you ask?
I felt like this could have been any time, over the last 5000 years.

4/ Like I was transported outside time. Like the sounds I heard could have been anywhere over the last 5000 years and there was no way to say which century it was, purely based on the sounds I was hearing.

It was a stunning realization, of the continuity of our civilization.

5/ and then I also felt, what I shall call, for want of a better phrase,"positive vibes".

Folks on my TL know that I am an avowed agnostic and rationalist. But there is a certain sense of calm and peace that settles over me when I visit temples. And the older the temple...

6/ the more that feeling.

The End.