MONTCLAIR, CALIFORNIA, November 10, 2007: (HPI note: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today, attended these opening events.) In a ceremony steeped in symbolic ritual and centuries-old tradition, the first Hindu temple in the city’s history opened Friday. Paramahamsa Nithyananda, a noted Hindu swami, led the ceremony at the 24,000-square-foot Nithyananda Vedic Temple and Vedic Sciences University at 9720 N. Central Ave. The site originally was a six-theater United Artists cinema before housing the Rock of Life Community Church, which sold the building last month to Duarte-based Life Bliss Foundation, a Hindu organization running the new temple.
With a hand bell, a flaming lamp and a vase filled with sacred water, Nithyananda consecrated a number of Deity statues made of marble and black granite that adorned a large, colorful meditation hall. One large statue, of the Hindu Deity Venkateshwara, stood 12 feet tall, while several others, including the multi-armed, dancing Hindu statue of Nataraja, towered over about 500 people who came to celebrate and worship at the grand opening. The Deity statues include 24 Tirthankaras, or enlightened masters of Jainism, and one of Buddha.
The music of Indian flutes and drums filled the hall as a smiling Nithyananda motioned the lamp around each statue and then toward devotees who raised their hands. “Everything in the universe is made up of the five elements of fire, water, air, ether and earth,” said Ma Ananda Vibhooti, a Nithyananda devotee. “When we are worshiping, we are worshiping through these five elements.”
Umesh Hari of Houston traveled to the temple opening with his wife and two children. “We’re very blissful because the cosmic energy here is omnipresent,” Hari said. The temple will provide free vegetarian food to the public every day, free medical advice once a month, and courses such as yoga, meditation and traditional Indian architecture. Nithyananda’s goal is to spread Indian religious culture – the Vedic tradition – throughout the world. Nithyananda has missions in 34 countries and counts 1.2 million initiated disciples worldwide, devotee Sevakananda Nithya said. The Montclair temple is Nithyananda’s flagship mission in California.