We Just Got Back from the Temple

Ravin's parents go every Saturday and he asked before if I would like to go but never felt up to it...so today I got dressed and went off with them. I didn't take any pictures as I felt most uncomfortable doing it, so I will do my best to describe the place physically and then my feelings while there. It is not a temple as you may imagine it...not a real edifice...it is right on the street and more like a partially closed off courtyard...first you come to a kind of passage way roofed over but open on all sides where a person, don't know what is title is, waits for you...further in is a closed off area where there is a statue with flowers draped over it...you see it from the distance...and then he goes in there and comes back with a lit flame and red stuff and grey ashes from the fire inside I guess, and you put it on your forehead...don't know what the significance is and no one offered an explanation, so just accepted it...anyway...then inside another oil flame was lit and I saw them doing some praying and then each walked around from one niche with an idol (idols) draped with flowers etc in it to the other...guess each had some different significance and were quiet and some praying at different niches...it was like a three sided area long on two sides and narrower at the top end which faced the entry I mentioned previously....I did not do this circuit but just stood in the center and tid to sense the energies emanating from the place...they were quite powerful...most peaceful, warm around me, I could feel spirit there, feel something holy, feel this was a place where there was the presence of God...whoever he is to different people...but it was very easy to relax into this place and feel my own connection to God...it was quite pleasant and I am very pleased, and peaceful that I experienced it.
Ravin's Dad has just explained a few things to me so I will fill in here as well. The fire that is lit is considered the most sacred and powerful of the elements which is why it is used in all ceremonies, including death...whatever you give it, it consumes completely.
The niches which I described at the temple represent the nine planets and in the center is the sun. Depending which day of the week you go to the temple, you pray at that particular niche...for example, today is Saturday so you pray at the Saturn niche...the prayers you say are your own, not determined by any particular prayer book etc., and so worship becomes a very private individual matter...that's about it..