I am not that religious or that disciplined. But
some how this year happened to get up early on this Friday 29th December on the eve of Vaikunta Ekadasi, took
shower, after routine few minutes of
daiva dhyanamu, went to SVCC Temple in Fremont. It is nearer to the house, quite
cosy and has a good balance of ritual worship and devotional atmosphere. It is amazing how Fremont and Silicon Valley has been changing in the last 27 years. Previously we had to go to remote Livermore valley
Shiva Vishnu Temple, which used to be just a big empty fenced lot with two
garbha gudi rooms with
front room for devotees. Now it has become
huge nice, well sculptured
traditonal south
indian temple complex. But we do not need to go that far driving 25 miles. Fremont has two temples, neighboring Newark one temple. And Milpitas has four temples (including two Gujarati). Coming back to the SVCC temple, the priest UmaShankar Dikshit is an amazing leader. We
know him for 27 years. He used to be
priest for Vinayaka
diety in Shiva Vishnu Temple. He
accompained Dr Srinivasa Chari
garu the main initial priest of
Shiva Vishnu temple, for my daughter Mahathee's
punyahavachana ceremony. After
Shiva Vishnu Temple and his green card as is the norm of many leaders in Silicon Valley he helped establish/found a nice temple in Sacramento. In 2013 this temple started functioning by buying a church property. The property is very
optimal for conversion to
temple. He was able to marshal funds quickly to finish the purchase, and within a year transformed into decent shape with installation of main idols. The church assembly hall interior is transformed into seven deity sanctum places and huge assembly hall in the center. The sanctum places are decorated with wooden
gopuram style roofs. Surrounding rooms are transformed to dining halls, kitchens,
store rooms, study rooms, private ritual rooms.
side courtyard is transformed into huge
homam assembly hall cum Saibaba
bhajana congregation worship place. The unusual aspect of this temple is it has nice priest quarters with front gardens
for flowers, parking place for 50 cars, enough space for temple garden. Neighborhood road sides can easily accommodate another 30 cars. Easily 300 devotees can comfortably meet. It is also near to 880
high way for convenient highway access. Kennedy High School is nearby for any rare huge week-end big celebration. We should commend the founder priest Umashankar Dikshit
garu, all the sponsors, devotees and volunteers for providing such a great facility and atmosphere in Fremont.
I am not that religious or that disciplined. But 
Comments
Post a Comment