In a first of its kind event organized by the Sri Lakshmi Temple, leaders from local community organization gathered at Dakshin restaurant to explore ways of working together to better serve the community. The event held on Friday July 22, 2005 marked the beginning of what the temple hopes will be an on-going dialog within the community.

Temple Chairman, Kumar Nochur described the Kumbhabhishekam (reconsecration) as a process of infusing divinity and spiritual power into the vigrahas (images of the deities) of a temple. “This is a special event that is done once every 12 years.  It is a large scale event and we need the support of the community to make it a success” said Nochur.

T. A. Balasubramanium, chairperson of the master plan committee and trustee of the temple spoke about the future plans for the temple which will include a “Prakaram”, a cultural center and an educational center.

 Nochur said that the temple intends to expand its services. He stressed on education and emphasized the need for teaching the meaning of all the rituals and mantras to the younger generation since the responsibility of carrying on the temple’s work will eventually fall on their shoulders. The event was the brainchild of Kumar Nochur and K.G.Narayana who is the President of the temple.

 The theme of education resonated well with Dr. Mona Khaitan who along with Dr. Abhaya Asthana represented the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. A poster explaining Hinduism in simple terms so that the children can understand and explain to the world was one on the list of the many well thought out suggestions presented by Dr. Khaitan. . Dhananjay Javlekar from HSS also spoke about the educational activities in the HSS run Balagokulums and promised to provide volunteers for the Kumbabhishekam.

Ram Nehra of the Ekal Vidyalaya foundation which provides education to children in the tribal villages thanked the committee for arranging the event. “I now feel that the temple is our temple rather than belonging to just the South Indians” said Nehra.  Sangeeta and Sanjay Saxena of Gayathri Parivar pledged to conduct some of their events at the temple and provided several valuable suggestions on fundraising for the Kumbhabhishekam.

 Shekar and Vanita Shastri of the Meru Foundation described the work they have done to bring awareness about the Indian culture in the Massachusetts school system. The Meru Foundation has succeeded in changing the Indian history part of the Social Studies curriculum to present Indian history and culture in a positive light. “I hope that everyone will have a very personal experience of the Divine at the Kumbhabhishekam which will change their life for ever” said Shekar Shastri as he pledged his support for the event.

Dr. Amrut Patel, founder of the Namaskar Foundation in Rhode Island and his wife Champa, thanked the temple for reaching out to Rhode Island and promised to bring volunteers from his state to be part of the event. Dr. Ravi Sakhuja, President IAFPE felt that just as the Churches are centers for mobilizing political action the temple can play an important role in uniting the Indian Americans so they can become a powerful political force

Other speakers included Dr. Anupam Wali from IAGB, Mr. Manjunath, from New England Kannada Koota, Pandit Ramadeen Ramasamooj from Saraswathi Mandiram, Lata Rao from Saheli , Pradeep Shukla and Bhanu Jayaraman from Learnquest.

Most speakers emphasized the importance of reaching out to the youth and the Harshavardana, a student at Boston University urged them to fulfill their promise to support the youth by supporting the youth run Hindu Student Councils at various Universities.

 â€œI was touched by the event. For the first time I really felt there was a wonderful coming together of the disparate groups in the community and I hope they can work together to make a difference” said Shiv Kapuria of Air India who participated in the event.

 For more information on the Kumbhabhishekam, please visit http://www.nehti.org/weblink/Kumbabishek.html

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