Darsan or Seeing

In her book, "Darsan, Seeing the Divine Image in India," Diana Eck writes:

A common sight in India is a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard of a temple or at the doorway of a street side shrine for the darsanof the deity. Darsan means "seeing", or the visual perception of the sacred. When Hindus go to a temple, they do not commonly say, "I am going to worship," but rather, "I am going for darsan." They go to "see" the image of the deity…present in the sanctum of the temple, and they go especially at those times of day when the image is most beautifully adorned with fresh flowers and when the curtain is drawn back so that the image is fully visible. The central act of Hindu worship, from the point of view of the lay person, is to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one's own eyes, to see and be seen by the diety…

Our first encounter with darsancame as we were leaving Junagarh Fort in Bikaner. We had stayed at the fort until almost dark and as we exited, we heard bells clanging and someone chanting. On either side of the massive gate, two temples were now open. Priests were performing the rites and the deities were visible to be seen by the worshipers.