US Senator Inaugurates Radha Krshna Temple

[Guest guest]

Thousands Gather For The Dedication Of The Krishna Temple

 

BY CARU DAS

 

SPANISH FORK, UTAH, Jul 21 (VNN) — After ten years of planning and

three years of construction, the ISKCON Radha Krishna temple in

Spanish Fork, Utah, opened its doors on Saturday June 23. Though many

decorative domes and arches are yet to be added, the building

officially received the first members of the public with dedicatory

rituals, entertainment and vegeterian cuisine. By the end of the day,

an estimated 5,000 visitors had toured the temple in a mood of awe

and wonder.

 

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch was the Chief Guest.

 

"I am so proud of the people who have spent their time to work on

this beautiful edifice, who have dug into their pockets to pay for

it,"said Senator Hatch. "I am so grateful for people of deep devotion

and deep belief-and I've got to tell you, you have to look long and

hard for people to be the equal of the Krishna people. I am just

asking everybody in Utah to treat this place with tremendous respect.

It is a place of refined spirutality. I hope all of us will always

revere this temple and revere the people who worship here".

 

Key to the construction of the temple was the help of hundreds of

Mormon volunteers in an exemplary display of interfaith cooperation

and the generous donations by the Indian and local communities

including a gift of $25,000 from the LDS (Mormon) Foundation.

 

Installed were the deities of Radha Krishna, Sita Ram Laksmana,

Hanuman, and Chaitanya Nityananda. Many Indian families traveled from

California, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico to participate as

yajamanas (sponsors) at this historic event.

 

Roshan Khandpur of Los Angeles, a temple trustee and donor of the

deities, altar and doors, shared the duties of yajamana with Gopal

Bhatta, Los Angeles based businessman, and Salt Lake City residents

Dinesh and Kalpana Patel. Other temple trustees who participated in

the fire sacrifice and the abhishek were Asim and Sujata Mukherjee,

Yogesh and Pragna Shah, Jai Krishna Das, and Vaibhavi Devi, temple

Presidentand designer of the building.

 

"This is one of the most magnificent temples which have been built in

this country. It will not only serve the needs of the Hindu

community, but also educate non Hindus about Hindu beliefs", said Dr

Dinesh Patel." We've spent about $800,000 on the building thus far,

and hope to raise the final $400,000 to complete the final arches and

domes within a year".

 

Anuttama Dasa, the director of North American Communications for

ISKCON said the temple opening signfies religious tolerance ."It just

demonstrates that America is a religiously pluralistic society," he

said."That says a lot about the people of Utah in particular".

 

For more information, call (801)798-3559/787-1510

 

Visit our web site at http://www.iskcon.net/utah.

 

Please note our new email address is caru.