NEW JERSEY: The ground-breaking ceremony of Siddhivinayak Temple was held in Toms River (New Jersey) on June 1.
Hundreds participated in the Bhumi-Pujan ceremony of this upcoming Temple (also known as Sarv Dev Mandir and Community Center) on a six-acre plot, which started with Shree Ganesh Rath Yatra (procession) and included Ganesh Pujan, Kalash Pujan, Navgrah Pujan, Havan, Khanan, earth worship and Aarti.
The temple cost might go up to $2.5 million.
According to management sources, an “interim temple and community center” will be up and running by this fall. The next phase will include 40,000 square feet temple and community center, where Lord Ganesha will be the main deity, besides 5-7 other altars with idols of (yet to be determined) Mahavir, Buddha, Venkateshvar, Krishna, Ram, Hanuman, Durga, etc.
It will have a prayer hall, center for cultural activities and social events, library and resource center, and kids’ play area. Apart from being a venue for worship; it will also celebrate festivals, organize religious and cultural classes for children and various activities for seniors. Complementing it will be a fully equipped kitchen stocked with cooking utensils and a storage room for provisions. Avinash Gupta is the Chairman.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.
Female majority township of Toms River, chartered in 1767 and then burned in 1782, is home to many beaches and has the second largest Halloween parade in the world and has been ranked 14th-safest city in USA. Thomas F. Kelaher and Paul J. Shives are Mayor and Business Administrator respectively of Toms River. Prominent people associated with it include jazz singer Chris Connor, Ultimate Fighting Champion Frank Edgar, baseball players Todd Frazier and Al Leiter, actors Brian Geraghty and Piper Perabo, and soccer player Chris Konopka.
India Post News Service
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