SANTA CLARA, CA: Shiva Durga Temple, a new Hindu shrine, was inaugurated on December 2 at 3550, Flora Vista Avenue, Santa Clara. The temple is located at the heart of India community locations of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. It houses idols of Durga, Ram Darbar, Shiv Linga, Ganeshji, Sai Baba, Radha Krishna, Navgraha and Balgopal. The inauguration ceremony started amidst Vedic chanting under the supervision of Pandit Venkat Shastri at 8:30am. It was followed by purnahavthi and maha mangala arthi at 1:30pm. The ceremony was attended by over 500 devotees from Bay area. The devotees were given an opportunity to do the Sringar ceremony for all the idols. Preeti Bhoj was served to the devotees.
Acharyaji Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey is the founder of Shiv Durga temple as it was his dream to build a place for worship for the Indian community. Hailing from a family of priests from Northern India, he is an Acharya in Vedic Religion and Astrology from Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India.
Panditji has served as a priest for the world famous temple of Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir. He oversaw and directed the project for renovating the base temple First Darshan of Mata Vaishno-Kandoli Mandir. Panditji gave his services to Indian Army for 18 years and received three medals in recognition of his outstanding services. From November 2003, Panditji has been giving his services in United States of America as a priest. He was the first Vedic and Hindu priest in Iowa State who was honored to perform a Prayer ceremony at Iowa Senate Legislative Assembly in United States.
It was his dream to construct a Shiv Durga temple comprising a 9 feet tall Goddess Durga and 5 ft tall Shiv Linga, thereby leaving the future generation to preserve Indian roots and culture. The nine feet tall goddess idol symbolizes Navrathri, Navgraha and comprises Maha Kali, Maha Saraswathi and Maha Lakshmi. The 5 feet Shiv Linga symbolizes five elements of nature, and Shiva acts as a body and Sakthi as Soul, thus making a perfect combination.
Panditji took the opportunity to thank the team of volunteers who have worked relentlessly for the temple. He thanked Swathi Nigam, Sathyam Sinha, Sunil Khanna, Shalini Khanna, Amit Bharadwaj, Anjali Bharadwaj, Pradeep Parmar, Harpreet Parmar for their sincere effort in making this dream come true.
The temple has regular puja activities on all days and looks forward for help from the community. Devotees can contact Acharyaji, President and Amit Bharadwaj, Latha Goel, Swathi Nigam, co-founders for further details of temple events and activities.
Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
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