3,500 Attend Lakshmi Temple Kumbhabhishekam in Massachusetts

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3,500 attend rare temple event

Kumbhabhishekam sees special poojas, bhajans

 

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Issue 9/19/2005, Posted to online website on: 9/28/2005

India New England News (U.S.)

 

By Meera Rajagopalan

 

ASHLAND, Mass. — Subba Bhattar was working on

less than two hours sleep. He was taking care of the

yagnashalas (fire altars) after eight hectic days of poojas

and ceremonies. The lack of sleep did not dampen his

enthusiasm in the least, though. "A lone eagle flew by the

`gopuram' when the kumbhabhishekam (reconsecration)

was taking place," Bhattar, a priest from Australia, said,

visibly excited. "It signifies God's presence, and is very

auspicious."

 

The eagle was seen as by many as a divine sign that

things had gone well at the kumbhabhishekam of the Sri

Lakshmi temple, leading to a well-attended finale on Sept.

5.

 

More than 3,500 people attended the grand finale, with

over 2,000 people attending the ceremonies on the seven

days preceding it, according to temple officials.

 

Narendara Pandeganti of Framingham, Mass. visited the

temple for four days. "It was done just the way it would

be done in India," he said, and his daughter Nikita said

that she liked all the dances that she saw those days.

 

The kumbhabhishekam, or reconsecration, of a temple is a

ceremony that usually takes place every 12 years. This

year's kumbhabhishekam was a well-planned affair, with

32 priests from across the globe participating in the event.

Around 150 volunteers, many from different community

organizations in the area, took up duties in and around the

temple.

 

Dhananjay Jhawlekar from the Hindu Swayamsevak

Sangh was at the temple since six a.m., trying to

streamline the vehicular traffic in the temple. "It's very

well organized, and it's great to see so many devotees at

the function," he said, as he ran to get a car parked in the

wrong spot to move.

 

"Everything went very well, and we (the organizers) felt a

mixture of relief and happiness after the event," said

Kumar Nochur, chairperson of the temple's board of

trustees. "The dominant feeling is that of great joy."

 

The highlight of the event was the pouring of holy water

on the deities of the temple. At around 9 a.m., priests,

who had climbed the rajagopuram (grand entrance to the

temple), recited the mantras invoking various gods.

 

A large group, waiting below, chanted with the priests.

Cries of "Govinda Govinda", "Hara Hara Sankara", and

even "Ganapathi Bappa Maurya" were heard as devotees

forgot distinctions of region and gods.

 

The priests then poured holy water on the seven kalasams

(domes) atop the tower, and sprinkled some on the

devotees below.

 

Priests also showered flowers to the crowd below, caught

by devotees with enthusiasm.

 

"I want shower," cried young Akshay Raman of

Framingham, Mass., as his father tried to explain to him

that that part of the ceremony was over.

 

After the ceremonies, all the deities of the temple received

a salutary bathing (abhishekam), and the line for the

darshan formed quickly. The line snaked through the

lawns of the temple premises.

 

Kathy Brobeck of Lincoln, Mass. was waiting in line near

the very end, and estimated it would take her a couple of

hours to enter the temple. Brobeck, who is very interested

in Hinduism, also attended the consecration of the

rajagopuram in 1996. "This one is much better organized,

and is excellent," she said.

 

While people were waiting in line at one end, at the other

end of the temple, Kamala Sampath of Shrewsbury, Mass.

and her friends were resting on the lawn, and were in no

hurry to get to the line. "I'll just go later, after the crowd

has decreased," Sampath said. "It's a nice event to attend.

We don't know where we'll be for the next one."

 

The week preceding the finale was a busy one as well,

with cultural programs, book sales, talks and special

programs taking place, in addition to the yagnas infusing

divinity to the pots (kalasams) of holy water.

 

One of the days, a special pooja, Hautraprashansa,

invoking all the deities of the pantheon into the yagashala,

was performed. "It's a very rare and special pooja, and we

were happy to be able to perform it," said Nochur.

 

A major undertaking of the temple was the raising of the

peetham (pedestal), on which the idol of Goddess

Lakshmi rested, by 17 inches, and changing of the

peetham of Lord Ganesha from cement to granite.

 

The new peetham for Lakshmi, which weighed around a

ton, was deemed to be a problem, as it was thought that

special forklifts would be required to install it.

 

Three artisans from Chennai worked together to get the

work done without the special equipment. "The artisans

were sure that it could be done easily, and accomplished

the task in less than two days," said Nochur.

 

Avu Chockalingam, former president of the temple's

board of trustees, helped out in the installation of the

peetham and said of the effort, "We did it just like the

Egyptians built the pyramids. Had people lift it up, and

using simple ramps and levers, got it up there."

 

The artisans are employees of Muthiah Sthapathy, the

architect of over 40 temples in the United States,

including the Sri Lakshmi temple. They also made the 24

yaga kundams (sacrificial pits) in different shapes — lotus

shaped, square, rectangular and pentagonal.

 

They too, were operating on little or no sleep, and three

days after the finale, were still working on some minor

repairs in the temple.

 

Of special note was the bhajan program by Bhanumathi

Narasimhan, sister of Sri Ravishankar of the Art of Living

foundation. "She also got the audience involved in

singing, which the people really enjoyed," said Nochur.

 

Arvind Sharma of McGill University in Montreal,

Canada, through his talk, sought to answer the question,

"Why be a Hindu?" He presented a three-part framework,

stressing on subtlety, charity and creativity to explain the

evolutionary processes of the religion.

 

The celebrations at the temple are far from over, as a

special poojas called "Mandala Abhishekam" will be

performed everyday for 48 days, leading to the

concluding ceremony on Oct. 23.