Revealing the Temple

My friend invited me to India for his wedding between Christmas and New Year. Leela Palace hosted the wedding reception of 750 guests. It was a dazzling Bollywood dancing spectacle.
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I had one day free, so I drove south with one of the guests and his two children. We visited the Mahabalipuram Shore Temple. A mouthful to pronounce and one of India’s oldest structural temples that overlooks the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal. We learned that the shifting sands of a large tsunami in 2004 uncovered a significant portion of the temple. The weather calamity exposed temple features built entirely of granite blocks, including ancient rock sculptures of lions, elephants, and peacocks that decorated the walls and temples during the Pallava period of the 7th and 8th centuries.

Last year was tough for many people, not only in our local community, but globally. Perhaps it felt like a tsunami for some. Difficult times can reveal something greater of ourselves just like the tsunami of Mahabalipuram. The temple remained hidden, forgotten by the people who lived alongside its buried treasures. It took a tsunami to reveal its splendour. Life’s challenges can be like the sands of Mahabalipuram that burden us, often confusing and concealing our true potential. I wonder if some see their existence as akin to being covered by sand, unaware of the tremendous temple that remains hidden. Sometimes it takes a tsunami to reveal the temple.

The universe mysteriously seems to reveal hidden treasures in ways we may never fathom. If we allow ourselves to embrace this uncertainty, life becomes a perpetual journey of self-discovery.

The tsunami has passed. A new era dawns. What have you discovered about yourself? What had you ‘forgotten’ about your true identity that were hidden from you? Fear, anxiety and confusion are just the sands that hide what is wonderful about you. You have proven that you can weather the storm. The sands can be washed away to reveal the temple.