Ground breaking ceremony
CHICAGO: Indian Americans in Tampa, FL, came in large numbers along with the Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn to take part in a ground breaking ceremony organized by Hindu Samaj for establishing a new $1.5 million 10,600 square feet Sanatan Mandir. It is a dream coming true for many a resident there.
It would also have been a dream come true for late Sadhu Ram Rattan, father of one of the prominent community activists Dr Pawan Rattan since it was he who had goaded his son to divide his busy time in medical practice and spiritual pursuit equally, as Moksha is the ultimate aim for all humans irrespective of their religious beliefs.
Dr Rattan, who had bought a parcel of land that housed a Jewish synagogue in mid nineties, was one of the prime movers behind the temple project donating the land for Sanatan Mandir and community center. In a talk to this paper, Dr Rattan said that Tampa city had long back cleared the building of this new temple which will have five shikhars visible from Interstate 275. Besides, it will have a state-of-the-art audiovisual system and community center for conducting many a social and religious events.
The construction for the Mandir would commence very soon, he said, adding that it will house Hindu deities – Ganesh Ji, Ram Parivar, Shri Hanumanji, Radha Krishna, Goddess Durga and Sai Baba. “It will be functioning in less than a year from the time construction starts as we have large support from our community,” he said
Citing two examples reflecting huge support of the community he pointed out that on the day the ground breaking ceremony was slated a devotee – Bimal Agarwal with his wife Ranjana – announced a hefty donation of $50,000. Besides, a good number of devotees have promised to bear the cost involved in the making and transportation of idols of deities from India, he said.
Among the dignitaries present along with Mayor Bob Buckhorn were Dr Kiran and Dr Pallavi Patel, Dr Pankarj Patel, co-founder of Indo US Chamber of Commerce Dilip Kanji, Shri and Smt Bimal Agarwal. Hindu Samaj, a non-profit body in Tampa overseeing the Mandir project, has funds too which would be further augmented by organizing a fundraiser in the course of this year, Dr Rattan added. The management team consists of Dr Pawan K. Rattan, Board of Trustees Chair; Pankaj Patel, President; Raman Patel Manager with two priests Manikya Sharma and Rushi Vyas.
The tagline of the Mandir is “Home of Spirituality.” The existing Sanatan Mandir is in about 4,000 square feet. Its history goes back to 1989 when it was a Jewish synagogue.
The site used to be home to Congregation Rodeph Sholom, which was founded in 1903 but moved to Bayshore Boulevard. The original synagogue building has long since been demolished but Dr. Rattan describes the land as sacred because of its history. “Our team has decided to keep a stone that has Synagogue engraving to show our respect to other religions as well,” he said
Sanatan Mandir conducts daily Aarti; weekly Sai Baba Bhajans, Hanuman Chalisa and Sundar Kand and holds annual festivals of Lohri, Diwali, Dussehra, Janmasthami, Uttarayan, Holi, Ram Navmi and Navratri. Holi will be celebrated this year on March 17.
Sharing the underlying thoughts and beliefs of late Sadhu Ram Pawan and many devout Hindus, Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism observed that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this temple complex would focus in this direction. Instead of running after materialism, the focus should be on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism, Zed added.
Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service
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