The Temple Etiquette : Is it too hard to know ?

Recently we were in Livermore Temple after a 5 months duration. The serenity and sanctity of a temple attracts us more than anything else. We go to temple  spend an hour or so in meditation or prayer and we feel relaxed and calm. Now, this has became a debatable topic and i ask my self, "Do temples these days give you that calmness and tranquility ?". Its not the issue in only US or in India... but is a common problem everywhere.

In this post, i would like to request everyone to pay attention to the basic issues (related to common sense) when you visit a temple. 

Clothing/Dress sense

In the year 2010 we may not expect people to wear the traditional Saree (for Women) and Dhoti (for Men). But it is a great idea to cover most of the body. Women wearing modern cloths (skimpy) which reveal a lot seems to be a fashion but i quite not understand why to a TEMPLE ?. There are some, who argue that you came to Temple and you should have concentration to pray but the issue is we do not want to have distractions either. We want to preserve the Temple atmosphere by helping others. At least none of us have become a Saint, Saadhu or Rushi yet to over come some distractions. Unfortunately some people wear cloths which makes you think that they are on a run from a local pub. 

Of course this also applies to Men who wear night dress or sports wear to Temple thinking that it is fashion. Some even want to advocate their modern thinking by saying that "You should have Bhakthi in your mind and cloths does not matter". We look at them and say "poor souls".

Phones 

Everyone is busy in life. Everyone has some or the other work in life. This does not mean that you keep on talking over the phone even when you are in a Temple. Yes, one can understand the "real urgent" issues but it seems to be incomprehensible to see people talk pleasurably over the phone as though Temple is the "public telephone booth". 

Be considerate that other visitors/devotees are getting disturbed by your long conversations.

Smart Phones

The proliferation of the smart phones made it possible for people to do real time updates and see other updates too. There seems to be an ever increasing "seductive act" of smart phone that people spend more time on the smart phone than with their Wife or Kids. Games, Social Networking, Office Mail, Personal Mail and News seems to be irresistible. People don't mind if something is relevant for them or not but they just want to follow it if "other" people do it.

The act of working on a smart phone is absolutely addictive but not in a Temple. Not when you are standing in the Line/Queue to visit god and then suddenly you hear a Facebook update. While there is no real law or rule that is written that avoid such kinds of acts but one should "at least consider the fact that they are in Temple". 

Social Networking

Temples have always been the place for people to meet and start an acquaintance. But the modern day temples are not really so huge that people can talk out side and come into the temples. People start talking or networking when they are walking around the temple (pradikshina) or they are in a Queue. You see people talking about the Java NullPointerException in their last deployment and how they got screamed by the Boss.

Yes, social networking is very important but please be considerate about your Temple surroundings.

Do you have any other concerns and do you feel this way too ?