IndiaParentMagazine

Hundreds of Devotees Attend the Reopening of the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple with Tears and Reverence

Story by Meena Yeggina
Pictures by Sunnyvale Hindu Temple

Sunnyvale Temple's reopening with a week-long Maha Kumbha Abhishekam attracted hundreds of devotees who flocked the temple to see the new structure and vigrahas (idols). The celebrations started on May 8, and continued until May 12. The ceremonies enchanted the devotees who were drenched emotionally with feelings of nostalgia and reverence.

"I was so overwhelmed with the sight of the temple and vigrahas," said 55-year-old Vishala Kumari, who is coming to the temple after two years. "I am visiting my daughter after two years (from India) and now there is so much change and it is so beautiful."

The temple reopened to its devotees after a year with a complete new structure, Gopuram, and 32 new vigrahas. All the vigrahas are from Puri, Kanchipuram and Jaipur.

"Each vigraha is carefully selected and ordered in detail, both from South and North India," said a proud Raj Bhanot, co-founder of the Sunnyvale Temple in a special interview with India Parent Magazine. "We wanted to make sure that both parts of India are represented well in the temple. Both communities are well represented in our temple and have been very generous with their donations."

The temple started renovation in March 2012 with Bhumi Pooja. From its humble beginnings in 1991 in a 3.5 acre facility right in the heart of Sunnyvale city, the temple grew as a solid structure of support to the Indian community. It acted both as a place of worship and as a place of social gatherings and cultural events. Founders Raj Bhanot and Naranji Patel took immense pleasure in devoting their life and savings to this temple in its early stages.

"It was not easy," said Bhanot with misty eyes. "It was hard but the temple received tremendous support from its devotees. It was only with the communities' support that we were able to come up with this beautiful temple within a year."

The renovation of the temple is estimated to have costed about $3 million. While more than half of it was raised through cash reserves and donations and the rest as a lon from Well Fargo. "This was possible only because of our devotees and community support," reminisced Bhanot.

The temple inaugural and week long pooja ceremonies were handled by 15 priests that were invited from all over the US and India for this special occasion. Each day would start with poojas to Lord Ganesha, the remover of all obstacles, followed by several homas invoking the blessings of all gods including Lakshmi, Chandi, Rudra and so on. The week-long celebrations reached its pinnacle with the Vigraha Sthapana or official placing of the idols in their respective places.

"The temple is beautiful and it's an honor that my students performed at the opening ceremonies," said Vishal Ramani of the Shri Krupa dance Company.

Other performers included the students of Indumathy Ganesh, Jaya Sharma, Anuradha Nag, Himabindu Challa, Gayathri Joshi and Asha Ramesh. The crowning moment of the cultural programs was the exquisite performances of Padma Vibhushan Balamurali Krishna and Anup Jalota.

"My God, I was mesmerized," swooned Lakshmi of Sunnyvale. " It was awesome. Seeing legendry Bala Murali Krishna performing is such a rare treat. It was like a dream. I simple love his classical renderations and even at this age he is so masterful."

Special guest Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves was thoroughly charmed with the event. "I loved the culture, color and respect people exhibited. It's beautiful," he said to India Parent Magazine.

"Overall its a proud moment for us," said Raj Bhanot. "Now we have a huge dining area, a place for the priests to take a break, top of the line kitchen and restrooms, a huge hall, a yoga hall and so on. It is all God's blessing."

For Temple's pictures of the opening please visit www.indiaparentmagazine.org. For more information on the temple call 408-734-4554 or visit www.sunnyvale-hindutemple.org.