The national flower of India is the lotus, and today our team of spiritual reporters literally stepped inside one. Built with over 10,000 slabs of white Italian marble, the Baha’i House of Worship, here in Delhi is modeled after India’s symbol of worship and religion.

Past the immaculately manicured lawns, dissected by red brick pathways and carefully tended flora, our group was met by guide Subha Mohan, one of the many volunteers that live and work on the premises. With her was fellow Baha’i member Munireh Bayly, Mona, as she is called by friends, who took special interest in our arrival and was eager to meet us.

“Buenos dias,” she said in nearly perfect Spanish, which she perfected in her time working in Latin America. Mohan and Bayly had initially assumed that our delegation was from Colombia, the South American country.

Mona joked that her name in Spanish means monkey. After she spoke a few more Spanish phrases, our bewildered group realized the misunderstanding.

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Known commonly as the Lotus Temple, the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi is more visited than even the Taj Mahal. A little more rested—though still jetlagged from a marathon first day— we were among the 35,000 visitors expected to walk through the well-secured facility today, explained Subha.

Following our brief, but enlightening introduction we sat under the vaulted ceiling of the open prayer space in time for the 10:00 a.m. service. From behind the simple podium a man chanted words from the Qu’ran.

In keeping with Baha’i practice, each of the three younger men who followed took a verse from a different religious book. The last to the podium, Manu Chandran sang from the Baha’i book, “God is sufficient unto me. He is the all suffering…” His angelic voice bounced from the marble slabs filling the immense space, each verse trailing in echo forming its own chorus.

“My mother told me that to sing is to bring people closer to God,” Chandran said.

Baha'i chanter Manu Chandran, outside the Lotus Temple's visitor center. (Sophia Chang)

For Chandran, singing is a family affair. On each visit to Kerela, the southern city where his family is from, his uncle takes him to a pool of water where he stands submerged to his collarbone. There he practices the breathing that helps him sing. “Singing comes from here,” he says pointing just below his ribcage to his diaphragm, “…but you must stand very still [in the water],” explaining that it is easy to tip over.

Manu’s mother is also a singer and devotee of Baha’i. One of 8 siblings, his mother was the first in her family to learn of the religion. And together as group, the entire family, including her parents, converted. Chandran is the first born as a Baha’i.

Quiet and beautiful, it seems the universe conspired to impart us with a mellow morning. “It’s the first sense of calmness I’ve felt since we got to Delhi, in contrast to the frenetic crowds in Delhi,” Aili shared on the bus ride to our next destination, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cathedral.

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On the steps of Sacred Heart, renowned Indian journalist, Satish Jacob, met our group to share his thoughts on the convergence of Indian tradition and religion and the society’s history of religious tolerance. Where Christmas is nationally recognized, so are holy days for religious minorities such the Zoroastrians and Muslims in a country that is 80 percent Hindu. “India is a country of religious holidays,” he said, garnering a collective chuckle.

A remnant from the British Raj (the period during which India was a colony), Sacred Heart was built in 1930, but was banned to natives, as Jacob explained. Still, the Catholic Church has created a legacy of providing an elite education for many of the Hindu students enrolled in their schools.

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What was a decidedly less strenuous day of visiting religious sites, the class parted ways to pursue story leads. Erik watched his first match of cricket, India’s national pastime and passion. Bruce and Michal interviewed Shabnam Hashmi of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), a social advocacy group promoting religious unity. Ari Paul met with a human rights lawyer working to secure the rights of Muslim women. Aili and Amanda returned to the Jain Bird Hospital, while Mariana feverishly pursued Tibetan refugees, after unexpectedly stumbling upon their protest, proving that at any turn in India, a story awaits the ready and intrepid reporter.