New Temple in Spanish Fork

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Camp: Radha Krsna Mandir, Spanish Fork, Utah

Tel : Temporary Mobile : 516-647-2417

 

A beautiful new Radha Krsna ISKCON temple was opened on June 13th in Spanish

Fork, Utah for the glory and pleasure of Srila Prabhupada.

 

I was very inspired to see Utahans of all different ages congregate in the

thousands to see the temple that the press all over the state has been

profiling for months.

 

Built from the ground up this new house for Radha Krsna, Sita Rama Laxman

Hanuman and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai is the fulfilment of the dream of Caru das

and Vaibhavi dasi both wonderful disciples of His Divine Grace Srila

Prabhupada.

 

Vaibhavi dasi is famous for her interior temple building in Berekely, San

Diego and Melbourne.

 

She and her dharma pati have struggled for many years to see this monument

reach fruition and in the last year and a half Vaibhavi battled successfully

against Cancer saying that she refused to leave unless the project was

complete.

 

Among many dignitaries speaking at the function, Senator Oren Hatch from

Utah was most notable. I believe he is the highest ranking US Government

Official to attend the opening of an ISKCON temple in America. Everyone

showered tribute to the beauty of the edifice and a repeated theme was the

pride of Utahans everywhere to have this temple as a neighbour in their

Valley. (neighbours - that was the mood )

 

I hope everyone of our leaders will extend congratulations to Caru and

Vaibhavi through his email carudas (AT) earthlink (DOT) net or the GBC man Badri

Narayana prabhu.

 

Your on the spot global reporter

Sridhar Swami

 

KC is alive and well in North America. Thats two beautiful temples last year

in Gita Nagari and Alachua and now Utah this year.

 

Needless to say there was wide and positive media coverage on all TV

stations and in every major and local paper.

 

An article follows from the Salt Lake City Tribune

 

 

http://www.sltrib.com/06242001/utah/108322.htm

 

BY IRENE HSIAO

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

 

SPANISH FORK -- The 500 pairs of shoes -- old sneakers, new

high heels, worn sandals -- piled at the entrance represented the

range of people and religions at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple

opening Saturday morning.

Barefooted adults and children glided across the white marble

floors inside the temple to start the fire ceremony. Others

padded across the Oriental rugs in their socks and sat

cross-legged, observing the beginning of the daylong celebration

that opened the first Indian-style Krishna temple in the United

States.

While Utah seems an unlikely place for the Krishna faith to

survive, temple officials predicted 3,000 people would show up by

the end of the day. After the initial ceremony, visitors watched

Indian folk dancing, listened to traditional Indian music and

tasted vegetarian dishes.

Anuttama Dasa, the director of North American communications

for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON),

came from Washington, D.C., and said the temple opening signifies

the tolerance of different types of religions.

"It just demonstrates that America is a religiously

pluralistic society," he said. "That says a lot about the people

of Utah in particular."

The Hare Krishnas worship the god Krishna and practice their

devotion through chanting, called bhakti-yoga. They also follow

the Hindu scriptures Bhagavad-Gita or "Song of God." There are 50

Krishna temples in North America and about 350 around the world,

Dasa said.

While pushing his 9-month-old daughter Maya around the temple

in a stroller, Srikanth Jammulapati said he is not surprised that

a temple opened in Spanish Fork. The Salt Lake City biologist,

who is Hindu, said he has seen temples in even more remote places

in his native India that have attracted thousands of followers.

"The beauty of religion itself is it's there and somehow people

are drawn to it," he said.

During the fire ceremony of purification, about 25 mostly

Indian participants sat around a fire tossing grain into the

flames while the priest poured ghee, or clarified butter, with a

silver spoon into the fire.

The maroon, sea green, red and yellow saris some of the women

wore punctuated the crowd of jeans, white T-shirts, and the men's

white and tan traditional Indian outfits.

Participants later feasted on about 20 dishes, including

mixed curries with cheese, pita pizza and Bhasmati rice with nuts

and vegetables.

Mike Steed, a computer programmer from Orem, had driven past

the grounds over the past year and watched the temple get built.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints member was

impressed with the building and watched part of the opening

ceremony.

"Temples are important to LDS people, they're equally

important to everyone else," he said. "We're happy that they've

opened this up for everyone."

About 500 people belong to the Spanish Fork temple. A

foundation of the LDS church donated $25,000 to the temple

construction fund.