ORLANDO, FLORIDA, June 17, 2005: When the helicopter hovering above the new Hindu Temple in Casselberry showers the building with rose petals Sunday morning, Central Florida’s religious landscape will never be the same. “It’s like building a cathedral,” says Shobana Daniell, a member of the Hindu Society of Central Florida. A sign posted outside the nearby social hall describes the temple’s dedication as “The Most Blissful Event of Our Lifetime.” For the past 10 days, the hall has been a beehive of nonstop activity, filled with the sounds of saws and the smell of sawdust. Elsewhere in the former sanctuary, volunteers polish sacred objects, while four young women, members of the congregation’s dance troupe, rehearse on the stage for the weekend’s performances. Outside, the laborers and craftsmen worked late into the evening to finish the temple and the landscaping. Sunday’s flower shower will come near the end of a colorful five-day religious and cultural festival, all free and open to the community, inaugurating the opulent US$2.5 million, 12,000-square-foot house of worship. Through Sunday, there will be traditional music and dance performances, lectures about Hinduism, and vegetarian food.
There will be temple tours Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday, after dedication ceremonies conducted by Hindu priests, the temple’s interior will be open to the public. Society members hope their efforts, through media and letters, fliers and posters in area restaurants, will result in a big turnout, because the event will be unique for Hindus as well as non-Hindus, says Daniell, 42, of Oviedo. (HPI adds: Devotees attending the event, now in progress, report that there are in fact a very large number of non-Indians present, both as observers and devotees.)
“People who have lived in India haven’t seen a temple built or seen these rituals,” she says, because temples in their native country are often hundreds or thousands of years old. “It will also be good for American-born Indian children to understand what their religion and their parents’ culture is about.” Darshan Patel, 15, of Longwood, says he thinks it will. “The new temple symbolizes not only the creation of a new place of worship,” he wrote in an essay, “but also the passing on of traditions from one generation to another.”
This is no accident. The temple was built with the help of two dozen artisans from the Tamil Nadu state in southeast India. Inside and out, the architecture and intricate carvings of Hindu deities and angels — statues standing alone and exquisite reliefs — reflect a geographic and theological balance. (By coincidence, a local painter and a printer working on materials for the dedication are Muslims, more than 100 million of whom live in India.)
Because many of the estimated 7,000 Central Florida Hindus come from all parts of India, they worship different manifestations of their faith’s universal divinity. “They are different incarnations,” Sharma says. These deities — Ganesh, Vishnu, Radha and Krishna, Siva and Durga, Balaji and Ram Parivar — are honored in individual shrines inside the sanctuary. “For convenience, we call Him different names,” explains Aravind Pillai, 52, of Longwood, chairman of the society’s board of trustees. “In Hinduism, there is only one God.”
In addition to being a point of pride, the new temple is the latest benchmark in the growth of the immigrant community in Central Florida. It follows the track of annual events drawing thousands of people, such as India Fest, which takes place in March on the society’s 10-acre site in Casselberry, and the recently concluded South Asian Film Festival at the Enzian Theater in Maitland. The Hindu University of America, near Valencia College and Asbury Theological Seminary, continues to expand.
Leaders of the Hindu community have high hopes for the weekend. “Hopefully, people will learn something when they come,” says Mala Karkhanis, president of the society’s executive committee. “We want people to come and see what we are about,” says Karkhanis, 47, of Oviedo, “because it is important to realize that there are a lot of myths about Indian people. I’d like my American friends to be exposed to the rich Indian culture and heritage. I think most of them will be in awe.” Events take place at the Hindu Temple, Hindu Society of Central Florida, 1994 Lake Drive, Casselberry. Free vegetarian lunches and dinners will be served through the weekend. Call 407-699-5277. There will be guided tours of the temple throughout the day Friday and Saturday.
Guest swamis include Swami Shantanandji, head of Chinmaya Mission, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today magazine, Swamini Ritambaraji, spiritual leader and women’s- and children’s-rights activist and Swami Jyotirmayananda, head of the Yoga Research Foundation, Miami. Each is giving at least one talk on Hindu religion.