CVHTS: An Institutional Complex Worthy of Future Generations --
The initial steps *
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The Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society was founded in 1979 with
the principal aim of serving the cultural, religious and social needs
of the Indian community in the State of Connecticut in particular and
across North America in general. The society's goals continue to be
as advertised:
- To build and maintain a Hindu Temple complex in the central Connecticut Valley region to serve as a common place of worship;
- To organize principal Hindu pujas and festivals;
- To organize religious and spiritual discourses, religious texts, yoga and meditation classes;
- To offer facilities for Indian language studies and instructions in Indian classical and devotional music and dance;
- To arrange for publication of material connected with Hinduism and Hindu culture, keeping in mind the special interests of children and young adults;
- To provide facilities and organize cultural events in cooperation with other cultural organizations in the Connecticut Valley region;
- To engage in charitable and educational activities consistent with the above objectives.
Many of these goals are being met, but most of them await the
completion of the main shrine and cultural center. As the timeline
below indicates, the major festivals have been celebrated continuously
since 1980 and special services have been available upon request. The
appointment of a permanent priest in 1992 has opened the Temple for
many additional services. Dance classes have been a permanent
feature, beginning with the induction of the first students by the
famed Mrs. Padmini Ramachandran in October 1980. Music and language
classes continue to be conducted from time to time by volunteers and
by regional clubs. A highlight of the year is the annual
Tansen-Thyagaraja Aradhana. Marriage ceremonies are performed by and
in the Temple. After the purification of the Temple premises in
August 1989, vedic chants and rituals were performed weekly by
volunteers, notably Dr. Velandy Manohar and Mrs. Bangalore, upto the
arrival of Mr. Ramachandra Bhattar, purohit, who now performs daily
pujas. The publication of the newsletter, NIVEDAN, has continued at
the rate of 6-10 issues a year since late 1979. We hope to revive the
quarterly journal, Archana, as a vehicle for scholarly articles, and
to augment our small series of monographs on festivals and deities.
Even with the structure half complete, a great deal has been
accomplished to enhance the Indian presence in Connecticut. How did
this great and ambitious enterprise get its start?
The idea of a Hindu temple for this great state took firm hold in my
mind after my return from a visit to Pittsburgh in late 1978. I had
been there to witness the consecration of the Rajagopuram for the Sri
Venkateshwara Temple. The Rajagopuram serves as the grand entrance to
a temple and on some special occasions, such as Vaikuntha Ekadashi,
devotees enter the temple with the belief that they are actually
entering Vaikuntha, the abode of Mahavishnu. The temple at Pittsburgh
is modeled on the famous shrine to Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupati and
is as close to an authentic Indian temple structure as can be expected
in our adopted homeland.
As I witnessed the consecration ceremonies and listened to the Mayor
of Pittsburgh, I wondered if we in Connecticut could not do what our
sisters and brothers in Pittsburgh had. I resolved then and there that
we should and thus was founded the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple
Society, after initial discussion with some religiously oriented
friends. It was February 1979 when some very vigorous and critical
discussions took place in this community. The bottom line was that an
institution of the type we discussed and debated was considered
feasible notwithstanding some genuine fears in regard to problems of
financing the project, of uncertainty over public response and an
occasional question about the need for a temple at all. The latter is
almost always argued on the basis of the Hindu belief that God is
everywhere and therefore there is in fact no reason to build a special
place for Him. Once past this phase, there were some who visualized
the project as one of refurbishing an old urban church that might be
available here or there, perhaps because the parishioners had decided
to move to a bigger and better church. We resisted these ideas on the
basis of a much more long-term view of our community and an
unscientific projection of our needs. As we meet here at Glastonbury
High School tonight, it should be clear that the needs of our
community have far exceeded even our so -called ambitious forecasts.
We are indeed fortunate that we were essentially unanimous in the
selection of Sri Satyanarayana as the presiding deity as He represents
a combination of the Hindu Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and
Maheshwara.
Let us recall some of the key dates and early events in order to
preserve perspective, and to share a sense of pride for some truly
innovative features introduced into the temple programs which are
fully consistent with the framework of this new land and which also
enhance traditional values. I briefly summarize them below, with
apologies in advance for all the events and people who cannot be
mentioned here for lack of time and space.
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1979
February 24: First meeting; discussion of the temple complex ideas and
goals.
March 2: Formation of a Steering Committee.
March 29: Meeting with Sri Swami Satchidananda at his ashram in Pomfret,
CT
April 14: Bus trip to the Ganesha Temple in New York and signing the
incorporation papers in the presence of Sri C.V. Narasimhan.
May 25: Inauguration of the Society by Swami Satchidananda.
June 3: Final ratification of the bylaws.
July 15: First meeting of the first executive committee. Dr. A.V.
Srinivasan, president; Dr. Suman Sabnis, secretary; Mr. Harshad Desai,
treasurer; Thakorbhai U. Patel, internal auditor; Dr. M. Sankaran, Dr. S.
Ramanan, Dr. Radha Jalan, Mr. S. Radhakrishnan & Mr. R. Rangarajan,
members.
August 1: Volume 1, Number 1 of the newsletter NIVEDAN.
September 1: Announcement of Calendar for 1980: listing of 9 major Hindu
festivals.
1980
Major festivals conducted for the first time by the temple society: Makara
Sankranti/ Vivekananda Jayanti, Saraswati Puja, Mahashivaratri,
SriRamanavami, SriKrishna Janmashtami, Durga Puja, Vijayadashami, Ganesh
Chaturthi, Divali
March: Federal tax-exempt status granted
July: Dr. M. Sankaran elected President, CVHTS.
October 17: First major fundraising event: Dance Recital by Chitraleka
December 7: The first "First Sunday Meetings" with discourses on the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
1981
March 1: First dance classes by the Padmini Institute
July 17: First monthly prayer meeting, hosted by Jayant & Veena
Arora.
A long year of fundraising, often with the joint sponsorship of other
organizations.
December 19: First abhishekam ceremony performed by Professor Anand
Mohan.
1982
January : Executive Committee decision in regard to the presiding deity Lord
Satyanarayana
March 13: The first Satyanarayanaswamy Puja.**
October 10: Mr. Harshad Desai elected President, CVHTS.
December 18: The first Kalpavriksha program for children.
1983
January: Dr. Rao Singamsetti elected President, CVHTS.
September 4: First Arangetram from the Padmini Institute in
Connecticut, by Asha Ashwatha Narayana.
October 16: Navagraha Puja at Microage.
Calendar of festivals. A special 12-month calendar was printed and donated
by Ashok Kumar of East-West Imports, Manchester.
1984
April 7: First enactment of the "Coronation of Sri Ramachandra"
play.
June 11: "The Dice Game and the Killing of Dushasana" by the Kerala Kala
Mandalam (Lincoln Theater UHA; Co-sponsor: The International Students Assn.
of UHA)
October 27: The first Divali Bazaar and Mahalakshmi Puja.
November 5: Purchase of land in Middletown.
1985
April 25: Middletown TPZ hearing.
August: Middletown TPZ approval.
October 27: Bhoomi Puja at the temple site. Announcement of a major
donation ($50,000) by Dr. Surendra Chawla, in memory of his mother, Srimati
Parbati. The entrance hall is now named after her.
November 23: First Divali Dinner fundraiser, coordinated by Saroj
Kapoor, at Conard High School, West Hartford.
December 4: Festival of India 1985-1986 Performance by Langa and
Manganiyar Folk Musicians, co-sponsored by the Wesleyan University
Department of Music and CVHTS.
1986
February: Complete payment of the loan for purchase of the Temple site.
April 5: The first Tyagaraja Aradhana / Music Festival, coordinated by Usha
& Hem Kanithi
August: Ground-breaking; foundation of Temple laid by Yogendra Singh of L
& S Construction, Inc., Trumbull.
December: Distribution of the Temple plans drawn up by Barun Basu,
architect, of Barun Basu Associates, New London.
CVHTS began holding most programs at Middlesex Community College opposite
the Temple site.
1987
Work on preparing the site intensified throughout 1987, a responsibility
carried mainly by Dr. Rao Singamsetti, president, and the Construction
Committee: Dr. Reddy Ganta, Mr. Madan Gupta, Mr. K. Lakshmipathy, Mr. Barun
Basu and Mr. Lalit Pandey.
November 6: The first Annual CVHTS Grand Auction, at the Divali Bazaar.
1988
June 4: Major fund-raising program: Kathak Dance, by Satya Narayan Charka
& Rachna Ramya
November 19: Construction Committee Report by Lalit Pandey delivered at the
annual Divali Dinner fundraiser
A large poster-size calendar for 1989 with a colored picture of Sri
Satyanarayana was donated for sale by Dr. G.L. Agrawal.
1989
August 17: Punyaahavaachanam (Purification) ceremony performed by
Sri.Vedala Rangacharya Swami.
August 19: The first Satyanarayana Puja performed at the Temple, by Dr. A.V.
Srinivasan.
September: Landscaping of the site with 100 juniper plants, 32 yews, 2 long
lines of arborvitae stretching down to Training Hill Road by Daksha &
Dinesh Vyas and other volunteers; the Vyases arranged for and transported
every plant to the site.
Donation of $3,000 worth of housekeeping material & equipment by Dr. K.
Gopal. These are just 2 examples of the acts of devotion which pulled
together the ending of the first phase of building.
September 30: Inauguration of the temple by Swami Satchidananda.
October 1: The Padmini Institute moved dance classes to the Temple.
October 8: First Vijaya Dashami & Saraswati Puja at the Temple
October 29: First Divali & Mahalakshmi Puja at the Temple.
Many classes were begun or offered by volunteers, with proceeds going to the
Temple; vedic chants and bhajans by Kala Prasad, and later by Rohini Rao;
Sanskrit classes in her home by Sarasvati Mohan; yoga classes by Edwina
Ranganathan, veena lessons by David Reck.
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1990
1990 marks the beginning of wider community use of the Temple as a shrine
and cultural and social center.
May 25: Puja for Goddess Amba.
June 10: First Bharata Natyam Recital by the students of the Padmini
Institute of Fine Arts, coordinated by Geeta Shenoy and Susheela
Joshi.
December: Kalpavriksha program conducted by Uma Sankar.
Free clinics were conducted by Dr. Tohan and a group of volunteer
physicians.
All major festivals were conducted as usual.
Suprabathams were offered every Saturday and Sunday morning by Dr. Manohar,
assisted by Mrs. Bangalore.
1991
January: Dr. V. Manohar was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees
June 2: First Asheervadam Day, a ceremony for graduating students conducted
by Dr. V. Srinivas.
July: Planning committee established for Phase II
November 17: First Tulasi Vivah.
1992
February 15: First Bengali Saraswati Puja at the Temple, held by the
Bengalee Association of Greater Hartford.
August1: Dr. Bala Shiva Yogeendra Maharaj at the Temple.
August: Appointment of Sri Ramachandra Bhattar as priest.
1993
Many subhashitams and interesting facts on Yoga and other Hindu topics
have been contributed to NIVEDAN, our CVHTS newsletter, by Dr.
Bollepalli Subbarao and Mrs. K. Saraswathi.
From 1979 to 1990, NIVEDAN was edited by Kamla & A.V. Srinivasan.
Since 1990, the newsletter has also been edited by Dr. B. Subbarao,
Dr. Hem Kanithi and Dr. Hem Shertukde together or separately.
April 10: First Spring Dinner: Fund-raiser for Phase II, at the
University of Hartford.
The above is a mere glimpse of what this community has been able to
do. Many fascinating details have been omitted for reasons of time and
space, but they are indeed simply overwhelming. Given the voluntary
nature of the involvement and given the enormously complicated scope
of the enterprise, the elapsed time is understandable. Now we can
begin to make use of the background and experience gained by so many
dedicated individuals to serve as a foundation for all the exciting
developments yet to take shape in this project. We now have a
beautiful 8-acre complex with an attractive building that houses our
priest's family and the Vivekananda Hall which is being used
extensively by most of our organizations, in addition to CVHTS. The
enormous potential of the property is limited only by the imagination
of the youngsters who will inherit it from us.
The genesis of a religious undertaking of the type that began in 1979
had been in place as far back as 1971 when I was persuaded by some
close Gujarati friends to lead a Bhajan group. This group which began
with no more than three or four families grew to include perhaps 50 to
60 families and consisted primarily of Gujaarati folks who had a
yearning for religious meetings. My own chanting of the Bhagavadgita
verses was in fact modified to the way my friends had learnt them and
I was quite at home with that. We met once a month in homes in the
greater Hartford area. These meetings were held in living rooms or
family rooms or basements wherever an altar could be set up with
colorful decorations. We completed the chanting of all the 18 chapters
of the Gita, held a great samarop at the Unitarian Meeting House and
began the whole process over again as we met regularly until
1980.
I was very fortunate to have received encouragement from those who
recognized, as I did, that our community had become a permanent
component of this society and therefore needed a strong foundation to
help our children absorb and enjoy the fruits of our value system. We
visualized then and most of us visualize now that a strong complex
developed on the lovely site we now have can serve as such a
foundation.
Let us review the concept briefly. There is, in my opinion, only one
principal reason to go a temple. That is to obtain peace of mind and
the knowledge that sets one free. If we are not able to fulfill that
fundamental need then almost anything else we do is inconsequential.
One ought to enter the shrine with a sense of humility, lose awareness
of others around and connect with the Paramatman in front. This is
where one makes peace with oneself and the medium is Lord
Satyanarayana, standing there inside the sanctum sanctorum in all His
magnificence and splendor. We simply long for His kripakataksha, His
merciful eyes and His abhayahasta, His reassurance that we can be free
of fear. If this cannot be, then however magnificient the physical
facilities may be, they mean nothing whatsoever. It is that, and only
that connection, between us as individual atmans and Him as the
Paramatman, that serves as the basis for a meaningful worship.
The community has a right to expect that the complex be planned so
that the physical facilities as well as the spiritual environment and
activities be such that devotees may receive that inner strength and
experience an uplifted spirit. The complex as currently visualized
will obviously have the principal place of worship, the inner covered
court with the sanctum, the deities and all the paraphernalia relevant
to the worship of our Lord Satyanarayana in the true sacred and
traditional methodologies established thousands of years ago. As the
complex develops, these methodologies and their meanings will be
publicized so that everyone can take part and participate with our
priest as he leads the worship services. And there will be more. For
example, the proposed Saraswati Hall, which will serve as a place
where our community can come together to learn, enjoy each other's
company, perform and grow as members of a vibrant society. In the
transparencies I used in 1979, we show tennis courts and swimming
pools! No activity is considered outside the scope of our complex
as long as the sanctity of the temple complex is
preserved. This clearly covers the obvious prohibitions in
regard to smoking, alcohol and meat products. The temple complex will
be a fun place and that is in fact the bottom line as the membership
continues to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the place and preserves
its sanctity.
Visualize in your mind the possibilities. Feel free to dream and, as
Thoreau says, provide foundations to those dreams. If we have the
will we will find a way to accommodate a library, an auditorium, a
Kalyana Mantapam (wedding hall), conference rooms, rooms to study
music, dance and the languages of India, special storage rooms to
house the paraphernalia such as vahanas (means of transportation of
the Lord such as garuda, hamsa, elephant, horse, chariot, etc.),
playground, pool, garden, guest quarters etc. Now imagine entering
the inner court of the temple proper, to the sounds of vedas and music
and enjoying the fine aroma typical of a holy place, losing all
identity and reducing our whole self to our atman and attempting to
connect with the Paramatman. What more does one need to immerse
oneself in serenity? Imagine participating in the offering of
upacharas to welcome the Lord, bathing the Lord with milk and honey,
decorating the Lord with flowers and scents and feasting the eyes with
that divine presence and performing the mahamangalarati. Imagine
hearing wonderful Hindustani music, Karnatic music and music and dance
from all our regions, discussions on our epics, enacting plays in the
open court yards and in the Saraswati Hall.
Immigrants before us have accomplished their dreams. How can we fail?
Let us remind ourselves how Hanuman felt when he saw the ocean in
front of him! His first reaction was downright negative!! It was
only when the venerable Jambavan asked Hanuman: "Do you realize how
strong you really are?" that Hanuman not only crossed the ocean but
when he could not find the sanjivini tree, he simply plucked the whole
mountain and presented it to Rama! We are the descendents of such
great heroes. Add to that heritage the "can do" spirit we have
reacquired here, and what is not within our reach? My sisters and
brothers, do not take my word for it. Listen to Swami Vivekananda
whose very words tingle our blood: "... Hail Columbia, motherland of
liberty! It has been given to thee to march in the vanguard of
civilization with the flag of harmony." We are his "thee" as
inheritors of that nectar in his dynamic message of freedom, strength
and character. And what of Vyasa, whose middle name must have been
"confidence". He said of his book:
Dharme charthe cha kamecha mokshesha
bharatarshabha
yadihasti tadanyatra yannahasti na
kutrachit
What is found in this epic in regard to dharma, artha, kama and
moksha may be found elsewhere; what is not in it is nowhere
else.
Show me another book in which the author spells out his supreme
confidence in what he has created! Yet the same Vyasa expressed his
frustration in the Swargarohana Parva of the Bharata when he
said:
Oordhva bahur viromyesha na cha kaschit shrnoti
me
dharmad arthascha kamashcha sa kimartham na sevyate
I raise my arms and shout but no one listens:
From dharma comes
success and pleasure; why is dharma not practiced?
Let us shout back to Vyasa that we have learned to listen to him in
this comunity because we began studying his great epic here long
before it became fashionable and televised in India, and we take his
and Swami Vivekananda's charge seriously. Let us resolve tonight that
each of our families in this great state will take a personal interest
in this worthy community project. Plan to attend committee meetings,
participate in bhajans, kirtans and pujas, help in festivities, learn
and teach our cultural components such as music, dance, poetry,
languages and drama and through all of these activities, practice that
single concept that has carried us so far, i.e. dharma.
With dharma as the foundation, you and I will have assured the
security of our children and their children in this land for all time
to come. May Bhagawan Satyanarayana shower His blessings on our
community. May the lamps we light this Divali night enlighten us,
unite us and energize us.
* Dr. Srinivasan is Founder, Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society.
Speech delivered 11/94. © A.V. Srinivasan, 1998
** From March 1982 and until 1992, Satyanarayanaswami Pujas, Navagraha
Pujas, Weddings, Grihapravesh, Namakaran, Vishnusahasranama Parayanas
were conducted by Dr. A. V. Srinivasan in several private homes around
the state including New Haven and also Kingston, RI, and in the business
offices of Basu Cancer Clinic, New London, East-West Imports, Manchester,
Microage at Farmington and later at West Hartford. Each sponsor donated
$501 for Satyanarayana Pujas, $250 for Navagraha Pujas and $100 for
Vishnusahasranama Parayana. In addition Namakaranas, Homas,
Grihapraveshams and weddings were performed at the request of our
community in behalf of CVHTS throughout this period for appropriate
donations by the families. At the request of bereaved families, last
rites according to Hindu shastras were also performed in the
state.
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All materials © Copyright A. V. Srinivasan -- all rights reserved
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