MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, June 29, 2006: Three months ago, vandals entered the new temple for the Hindu Society of Minnesota and destroyed parts of the walls and Deities that were shipped from overseas. The temple is now ready for worship. Inaugural ceremonies started at the temple on Thursday and they’ll continue through Sunday. It’s a place where the 20,000 Minnesotans who practice Hindu philosophy can go to worship. “It is magical,” said Umesh Singh of the Hindu Society of Minnesota about their new US$9 million temple. It holds 19 altars each dedicated to a different icon for the different practices within the religion. “If you can imagine Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans and Protestants all coming together for one mass. That’s what we are trying to achieve here,” said Singh. Singh said community members worried they wouldn’t see this day after the destruction done by vandals three months ago. “Basically what the vandals did, they lifted these icons over from the back and just flipped them over like that,” Singh said. Lakshmi, the goddess of light and good fortune was one of the victims. “And she was damaged in the vandalism so we had to get this remade. And this was one of the two that was air-shipped from India — arrived this week,” he said. The 19-year-old vandals were charged with property damage and burglary, but not charged with hate crimes. Singh is OK with that. He hopes the men will learn about the Hindu religion, and learn to be good citizens. “We have no hard feelings or ill feelings towards them even though they caused a lot of damage, it was very emotional to us,” said Singh. “But that’s how we feel. Hindu religion, our philosophy, is very forgiving type of philosophy.” They’re still putting finishing touches on the temple. It won’t be totally complete for another year or so, but it will be open for worship and celebration. “We dreamt of this for years and years,” said Singh, “and now we are here, finally.”
HPI adds: Hindus attending the event said cars were parked up to five miles away, and 3,000 people attended the opening, including many non-Hindus. The temple received an immense outpouring of sympathy from the local community following the vandalism.