Datta Temple

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This is an excellent temple to visit, epecially when the guru, "Swamiji," who is based in Mysore, India, visits. Unfortunately, he is generally there only about one day per year. He spends a few weeks per year in the Dallas, TX area (Frisco), in the summer, so interested persons have a better chance of catching him in Dallas. To be in the guru's presence is an extraordinary experience that shouldn't be missed by anyone with an interest in spiritual development. Being in his presence, however, must be distinguished from receiving spiritual guidance from him---I thought he did a poor job answering a question I put to him. I met him for the first time in August, 2015, at this temple in Baton Rouge, although many years earlier I had visited his headquarters in Mysore, India, at a time when, unfortunately, he was not there. The devotees who run the Baton Rouge temple do an adequate job, although they are not particularly interested in attracting new members. I was less pleased by the people running his temple in Dallas. I contacted them a few times by phone, and they always seemed to think that my inquiries were some sort of imposition. The people answering the phone at the Dallas temple didn't seem to know anything about anything, and I think they should be replaced by helpful, well-informed people. Part of the problem is that the devotees are about 95% Indian immigrants, and they seem to have some difficulty dealing with US native-born non-Indian Americans. The difficulty is partly command of English, but goes beyond that. Persons with a Jewish background, such as myself, will have a serious problem with the claim made by many devotees at the Baton Rouge Datta Temple that Swamiji is God. Persons with a Christian background will probably have less difficulty with that claim, for the idea that a human being can be God is a fundamental teaching of Christianity. I find that I can ignore odd doctrines that I object to at various religious centers and still get a great benefit from those centers despite the odd doctrines. The primary practice of the Baton Rouge Datta Temple is chanting and the performance of rituals involving physical objects regarded as deities. I found the devotees very weak in the area of theory. A devout Jew would know a lot about the Talmud and the Bible (minus the New Testament, of course), but the devotees at the temple, who are very devout, didn't seem at all interested in Hindu Scriptures. There may be some scholarly people around, but I didn't run into any. Those who are interested in Hindu scriptures should try some other organization, such as the Chinmaya Mission.