Hindu Temple Open to the Devout or Curious

In Southern California, land of such incongruous things as Thai hamburger stands and Zsa Zsa Gabor, there is perhaps nothing more incongruous than the ornate snow-white Indian architecture of the Venkateswara Hindu Temple--whose towers and shrines have jutted starkly into the Malibu-blue skies of Calabasas since 1987.

It’s probably about the last thing that one would expect to encounter on Las Virgenes Road, about halfway between the Ventura Freeway and Pacific Coast Highway, smack in a grove of oaks, rolling hills and rocky precipices.

And yet. . . .

The temple is also in the same pastoral setting that for decades has offered saltwater taffy to passing motorists, provided the Korean War backdrop for the TV show “M*A*S*H” and was home to the famed “Pink Lady”--the painting of a nude woman towering high above the Malibu Canyon tunnel in the 1960s.

So maybe a Hindu temple isn’t quite so out of place after all.

“We have two holiday celebrations this month--Vijaya Dasami, a 10-day festival which we observe Oct. 15, and Dipawali, which we observe Oct. 29. It does not matter if you are Hindu or not--everyone is welcome,” temple manager M. Parthasarathy said proudly.

“Call me ‘Pat,’ ” he added.

Venkateswara stands as the only temple of its kind in Southern California--and one of a very few in the country. Anyone taking Pat up on his invitation to drop in at the 4 1/2 acres housing the 26,000-square-foot temple need hardly fear indoctrination. Those who come for the holidays--or for daily morning, noon and evening services devoted to the “welfare of humankind”--are free to act as spectators or seekers of knowledge--or simply to admire this spectacle.

Designed after the ancient Chola architectural style of southern India, the temple resembles--through squinted eyes--nothing if not a series of enormous, elaborate wedding cakes rising from the Malibu Canyon chaparral. Some 20 silpis --Indian craftsmen specialists--built the house of God and its various shrines over five years, beginning in 1983. No blueprints were used; the silpi building techniques are memorized (adjustments were made to meet local building codes) from instructions written on palm leaves and passed down from generation to generation. From the perfectly symmetrical cupolas to the columns and pillars supporting the shrines, every cranny is alive with hand-sculpted Hindu deities, swans, lions and lush flora.

“Yes,” Pat said, “the temple is almost complete now. How soon we finish depends on contributions.”

Almost complete? Indeed, the bulk of the work is finished. Venkateswara temple officially opened Oct. 11, 1987, but there are still minor finishing touches to be made--such as gold-lettered names of the many manifestations of God on shrines marked in chalk script--and those are expected to take several more years, officials say.

The temple was conceived in 1977 when the nonprofit Southern California Hindu Society purchased the chunk of California landscape and borrowed $1.3 million from the State Bank of India to cover construction.

Almost $4 million later, Venkateswara is open. Services take place in small groups at various shrines on the grounds. Weekday attendance is spotty, and the larger number of people who attend on weekends is hard to gauge because, Pat says, worshipers trickle in all day long.

About one-third of the temple’s congregation is non-Indian, with the bulk of financial support coming from the about 13,000 Indian Hindu families in Southern California, Pat says. Their donations paid for much of the construction and support the four employees--including Venkateswara’s three priests, who were recruited from India three years ago. The affable, saffron-robed holy men share a small house on the temple grounds.

Pat sat in the air-conditioned downstairs office one recent Sunday afternoon, discussing the upcoming holidays, the state of temple affairs and various rituals. Outside, several Hindu families visited the various shrines devoted to deities. Some participated in rituals conducted by priests, whose rich tenor voices are often heard singing prayers. One decidedly non-Hindu middle-aged San Fernando Valley couple joined in a blessing ritual, receiving an anointment of oil and powder from a chanting spiritual leader. The couple giggled afterward, thrilled at a Sunday drive that turned into a veritable cultural adventure.

“Vijaya Dasami is the first holiday of the month. It runs from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9--it means nine nights--or 10 days,” explained Pat, an energetic, quick-spoken 67-year-old who joined the temple five years ago after managing an East Coast temple and, before that, spending a career in the Indian diplomatic corps. Venkateswara, for convenience’s sake, is celebrating Vijaya Dasami today. “This holiday marks a time when special offerings are made to God in her aspect as the universal divine mother.”

Kind of a cosmic Mother’s Day?

“Yes. Why as a universal divine mother? Because God is supreme, and we are all God’s children. You see, God has to bifurcate himself. . . .”

What’s that?

“There are 150 countries on Earth. The universe is much larger. So he has to bifurcate--or divide--himself, function-wise, into many different aspects. In his aspect in the creation, he is called Brahma. In his aspect as world sustainer, he is called Vishnu. In her aspect as universal divine mother, she is called Sakti, which actually means ‘energy.’ ” Sakti sustains all other manifestations of God.

And Vijaya Dasami--Sakti’s Day--does indeed bear a certain similarity to Mother’s Day. Instead of roses, rose water (as well as milk and honey) are offered to Sakti in the form of ablutions, or baths, given to the statue of the goddess at the temple. And what else does one do on this holiday?

“You try to control your impulses for the elevation of the soul,” Pat said. “Even in the body, there are so many non-cooperative elements. The mind goes one way, and you are not able to concentrate--so you try to control yourself and bring out the real soul inside.”

Bringing out the real soul, it turns out, is not as metaphysical as it sounds. There will be “lots of dancing, music, entertainment, dramatic presentations and the like,” temple officials said, as well as daily offerings to the various shrines--intriguing rituals featuring offerings of fruits, coconuts, fire, and priests singing scriptures.

“But many of these events,” Pat cautioned, “are unstructured and spontaneous.”

On weekends, temple grounds are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; the temple itself is closed only between 2 and 4 p.m.

To be sure, visitors stopping in on any weekday will probably encounter prescribed rituals and prayers, but those wishing to catch the larger events of Vijaya Dasami--the dancing and music--should attend today or next Sunday. The other major holiday of the month--Dipawali (pronounced dee-pa-VAL-ley ) -- is a bit less abstract. In fact, this Oct. 29 celebration has something in common with Hanukkah and Christmas--at least in terms of decor.

“It is a festival of lights,” Pat said. “ Dipa means lamp. Avali means row of lights. Just as Christians decorate for Christmas, we put up lights. In India, people make small mud lamps and put them out around the periphery of the house. We will have this at the temple. It is very beautiful.” And, Dipawali exults, something that few people would object to.

“It is in celebration of the banishment of evil,” Pat said. “You see, it started in a time when people were caught up in demonic elements--giving trouble, victimizing the innocent and the good people. So God had to relieve them. When they went to pray, the evil came out! It is today a time when all the innocent people ask for help. We have a feast, like your Thanksgiving, and there is a special offering to Laksmi,” who is a manifestation of God sometimes called the goddess of wealth.

All are welcome.

“Yes, all of the services and prayers are offered for the benefit of the whole humankind. It does not matter if you are Indian or Hindu,” said Pat, who noted that groups from churches and such educational institutions as UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge frequently stop in to ask questions about the architecture, the philosophy, the religion.

Indeed, small groups were gathered on the temple grounds discussing such wide-ranging topics as the nature of Siva (a manifestation of God sometimes called the god of destruction--”but not in the negative,” Pat prompted, “rather the destruction of the ego and physical body”) and the significance of using tamarind paste, coconuts and flower petals in religious rituals.

“You see, most of all, the temple is a place of knowing ,” Pat continued. “Especially for those who study religion--you know, comparative religion--or anthropology. By posing questions, one will be able to know things. Certain things are explainable only as a dialogue between people. You pose a question; the answer comes. What questions do you have?”

Well, for one, why do they call you “Pat?”

“Oh,” Parthasarathy laughed. “It is easier for Westerners to say.”