Hindus believe that their lives are merely stages in the progression to ultimate enlightenment (in a way same as Buddhists).
The temple is a place where God may be approached and where divine knowledge can be discovered.
When the devotee enters a temple, he is actually entering into a mandala and therefore participating in a power-field.
The many deities - The Hindu religion also believes in many celestial entities, called Devas. The feminine of deva is devi.
Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world. And it has often been coined as a "environmental friendly" religion.
Malaysia has thousands of Hindu temples and shrines, many built on private or plantation land by Indian migrant labourers before the country gained independence from Britain in 1957.
The land has since then been acquired by local councils or state authorities, who argue the temples are illegal buildings and have been knocking them down.
The land is said to be belonged to the government and the government has to build roads, schools and bridges. This had primarily gone unnoticed due to the fact that the caretakers of these temples are mainly downtrodden, poor, uneducated, ignorant and defenseless citizens of the Indian community within Malaysia.
The latest incident happened on 12 June 2006 where a 110-year-old temple's three Hindu deities were smashed to pieces and destroyed with sledge hammers right before the devotee's eyes.
Simple government intervention would have prevented this from occurring, but was this not done ? Is there violation of freedom of religion ?
