IndiaPost.com - 113 temple executives meet at Michigan

NEW YORK: Hindu Temple executives representing 113 Temples and Hindu Organizations from more than 25 states of the US and Canada and Caribbean converged in Romulus, MI to attend the Third Hindu Mandir Executives Conference (HMEC), from Sept 26 through Sept 28. They traveled from as far as British Columbia in Canada, Hawaii, California, Florida, and the heartland of America, with a mission to nourish, protect and sustain Hindu Dharma in America.

The conference resolved to help in all material ways possible to accelerate the restoration process of Hindu heritage sites world over. Condemning the brutal killing of a revered saint in Orissa, Swami Laxmananda, the conference attendees also urged the governmental authorities in India to expeditiously bring the culprits to book, and undertake requisite steps to ensure that the practice of peaceful Vaidik traditions in the sacred land of Hindus continues uninhibited.

This very successful HMEC-2008 follows the second HMEC held in Edison, NJ in August 2007 and the first ever such Conference of Executives of Hindu Mandirs(Temples) held in Atlanta, GA, in June 2006, which were attended by representatives of 99 and 57 temples respectively from all over North America. Participation by several large organizations like Art of Living, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Arya Samaj, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission, Gayatri Pariwar, ISKCON, Sanatan Dharma Mahasabha of Trinidad, Yogi Divine Society, Kauai's Hindu Monastery, Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat, Devotees of Narayani Peetam, Nithyananda Vedic Temples and many others made HMEC an inspiring experience for the attendees. The temple executives represented a wide cross-section of the Hindu community.

These attendees who numbered over 225, were physicians, scientists, business persons, homemakers, engineers, etc., besides being temple executives with deep commitment to fulfilling the spiritual and social needs of Hindu-American community. The group was diverse in terms of age, race, generation, as well as national origin.

The conference had some parallel sessions for the youth representing temples from across the nation. Deven Patel, a 30-something, President of Shri Mandir San Diego, CA, said, "This platform will serve the purpose of furthering our cause in preserving Hindu Dharma for our future generations in the US." In this conference there was a strong participation of youth. The youth group decided that they will facilitate execution of Seva (service) activities on a single chosen day to coincide with a festival such as Holi or Ugadi, across the country.

The temples would be involved in these Seva activities vigorously. The range of these activities could be diverse including soup kitchens, helping low-income inner city communities, recycling, helping the elderly, etc. Addressing the temple executives from across the country, keynote speaker Swami Dayananda Saraswati of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam emphasized that Hindu temples should be halls of learning for the Hindu youth besides being the altars of worship.

At HMEC 2008, the temple executives collectively deliberated on the evolving social, religious, cultural and spiritual needs of 2.5 million strong, confident, diverse and vibrant Hindu-Americans. Deepak Kotecha, author of 'Hindus Awake'said, "Hindu Temples are now rising above their denominational confines and presenting a unified face of Hinduism to which the world can look up to, admire and be inspired by."

This conference was marked by the use of multimedia presentations. A multimedia video presentation by Arumuga Swami and Swami Bodhinatha Veylanswami, of Kauai's Hindu Monastery on 'Indian History Text Book Supplement #2' as a successor to last year's 'Indian History Text Book Supplement #1' was one of those. Another awe-inspiring presentation was made by Cathy Wenuk a devotee of Narayani Peetam of Sripuram Golden Temple fame.

Washington DC finally ran away with the honor to hold the 2009-Hindu Mandir Executives' Conference (HMEC), after a tough competition between many cities who were interested in replicating this years' success. In the concluding session of the Conference, the delegates agreed on a series of Action items which emerged as a consequence of the deliberations and presentations.