Posts tagged: #HMEC

Washington: On August 1, on the occasion of Bhumi Pujan for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, online national prayer will be organized in Hindu temples of North America. Religious groups gave this information. The Hindu Temple Executives Conference (HMEC) and the Hindu Temple Priests Conference (HMPC) issued a statement on Friday, calling for a national prayer to be held simultaneously across the US on the occasion of “Shri Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan” to be held in Ayodhya.

Hindu temples in North America will hold a virtual national prayer to celebrate the foundation laying ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, religious groups have announced.

The Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC) and the Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC), in a statement on Friday, called for a virtual collective national prayer across America to rejoice the upcoming “Shree Ram Mandir Poojan” at Ayodhya.

On the auspicious occasion, the temples across the US, Canada and Caribbean Islands will join in offering seva (service) in the “Lotus feet” of Lord Rama on the eve of the Ram Mandir reconstruction poojan (prayer), the statement said.

“For a joyful global Hindu community, the historic ceremony on August 5, 2020, marks the ushering of a new era. We should cherish and celebrate this day as a festival now, and forever in the future,” said Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey, founder, president and  of the Shiv Durga Temple in Bay Area, California.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America said it is organising prayers to mark the August 5 ceremony in Ayodhya, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone of the temple.

A collective chanting by priests in North America will be held, followed by a devotional song by playback singers Anup Jalota and Sanjeevani Bhelande.

A virtual national prayer will be held at the Hindu temples in North America to celebrate the ‘bhumi pujan’ ceremony of Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 5 August, Hindu religious groups have announced, reports Times of India.

In a statement on Friday (31 July), the Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC) and the Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMPC) called for a virtual collective national prayer across America to celebrate the Shri Ram Mandir Bhumi Pujan at Ayodhya.

On the auspicious occasion, the temples across the US, Canada and Caribbean Islands will join in offering seva (service) in the “Lotus feet” of Lord Rama on the eve of the Ram Mandir reconstruction poojan (prayer), the statement said.

“For a joyful global Hindu community, the historic ceremony on August 5, 2020, marks the ushering of a new era. We should cherish and celebrate this day as a festival now, and forever in the future,” Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey, founder, president and Acharya of the Shiv Durga Temple in Bay Area, California was quoted as saying.

It should be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the Ram Mandir Bhumi Pujan ceremony in Ayodhya on 5 August.

Vishwa Parishad of America said that it will be organising prayers across the North America to mark the historic occasion. A collective chanting by priests in North America will be held, followed by a devotional song by singers Anup Jalota and Sanjeevani Bhelande.

Hindu temples in North America will hold a virtual national prayer to celebrate the foundation laying ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, religious groups have announced.

The Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC) and the Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC), in a statement on Friday, called for a virtual collective national prayer across America to rejoice the upcoming “Shree Ram Mandir Poojan” at Ayodhya. On the auspicious occasion, the temples across the US, Canada and Caribbean Islands will join in offering seva (service) in the “Lotus feet” of Lord Rama on the eve of the Ram Mandir reconstruction poojan (prayer), the statement said.

“For a joyful global Hindu community, the historic ceremony on August 5, 2020, marks the ushering of a new era. We should cherish and celebrate this day as a festival now, and forever in the future,” said Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey, founder, president and Acharya of the Shiv Durga Temple in Bay Area, California. Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America said it is organising prayers to mark the August 5 ceremony in Ayodhya, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone of the temple.

A collective chanting by priests in North America will be held, followed by a devotional song by playback singers Anup Jalota and Sanjeevani Bhelande.

Washington: Hindu temples in North America will hold a virtual national prayer to celebrate the foundation laying ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, religious groups have announced.

The Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC) and the Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC), in a statement on Friday, called for a virtual collective national prayer across America to rejoice the upcoming “Shree Ram Mandir Poojan” at Ayodhya.

On the auspicious occasion, the temples across the US, Canada and Caribbean Islands will join in offering seva (service) in the “Lotus feet” of Lord Rama on the eve of the Ram Mandir reconstruction poojan (prayer), the statement said.

“For a joyful global Hindu community, the historic ceremony on August 5, 2020, marks the ushering of a new era. We should cherish and celebrate this day as a festival now, and forever in the future,” said Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey, founder, president and Acharya of the Shiv Durga Temple in Bay Area, California.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America said it is organising prayers to mark the August 5 ceremony in Ayodhya, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone of the temple.

A collective chanting by priests in North America will be held, followed by a devotional song by playback singers Anup Jalota and Sanjeevani Bhelande.

USA, July 31: The reverberations of August 5, 2020, foundation laying ceremony of Sri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya in Bharat, are visible in the far-off USA. Here the Hindu Mandir Executives’ Committee (HMEC) and Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC) have organized a virtual collective national prayer across the USA to rejoice in the historic “Shree Ram Mandir Poojan in Ayodhya”.

A joint press release issued by HEMC and HMPC said that invitation to all the Mandir Executives and Mandir Priests across the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands are invited to take part in VIRTUAL Samuhik (Collective) Chanting and offer our Seva at the Lotus feet of Prabhu Shree Ram on the eve of Shree Ram Mandir reconstruction poojan.

The HEMC and HMPC offered pranams to Dharma Gurus, all the devotees whose tyag and tapas and the grace of Shree Ram have brought this Dharmic Movement to a historic milestone – a dream come true.

The program includes Collective chanting of Ramraksha stotra and Sri Ram Naam chanting by priests in the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands followed by Bhajan by renowned playback singers Sanjeevani Bhelande & Anup Jalota. Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) will make llive telecast of the August 5 program of foundation laying of Shree Ram Mandir which will be performed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Several members of Hindu Students Council’s National Leadership team attended and spoke at the recently concluded Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC), in Indianapolis. The annual conference, which spanned the weekend of September 17- 19, is organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A) and aims to help mandirs connect with each other and dialogue on several important issues. This year, the theme of the conference—the Digital Mandir—lent itself crucially to a strong youth presence, and HSC members spoke and participated in dynamic ways.

Treasurer Sohini Sircar and General Secretary Parth Parihar, along with members of the Coalition of Hindu Youth (CHY), helped to coordinate youth sessions related to bettering the ways in which mandirs can harness social media to better reach a youth demographic. Today, in many mandirs, the faces that populate the worshippers are often those of the first-generation that arrived here decades ago. Their children have grown disconnected from their Hindu roots. HSC leader Riddhi Patel underscored that even when younger children attend, they often do so at the behest of their parents, and don’t have an inherent stake in the mandir or the community.

Here, HSC plays and can continue to help play a crucial role. This is precisely the topic that HSC President Ravindra Jaishankar addressed in his plenary talk on Saturday, calling on mandir leaders to diversify programming and services to attract youth. Jaishankar proposed SAT tutoring, classical dance and music, along with a host of other programs that could be harnessed to deliver what the Hindu youth of today is looking for, transforming the mandir into a community hub.

As Parihar pointed out, HSC’s presence on social media remains a vital connection for youth throughout the country, as it is the Hindu American organization with the largest reach on Facebook and is transitioning into other fora like Instagram and Twitter. The presentation Parihar delivered on the misrepresentation of Hinduism in Western education was in the form of a YouTube video to make content generated through HMEC easily accessible to participants outside the venue. Sircar helped formulate a ‘Digital Guide’ for mandirs that is a user-friendly list of “do’s” and “don’ts” that will help shape the ways mandirs reach out to a youth base.

HSC leaders Venkat Ganesh and Riddhi Patel helped shape the discussion during the youth session and enthusiastically networked with others throughout the duration of conference. Said Ganesh of his first HMEC experience, “HMEC 2017 was a memorable first for me. I had the opportunity to meetup with many like-minded, young followers of Dharmic traditions (and celebrate Ravi’s birthday with my HSC friends!). Representing HSC at the event, it gave me a platform to share the work that our organization was doing across different campuses in the country. I enjoyed discussions at the youth session where one of the topics was – how to engage the youth to be more involved in temple activities and leverage social media platforms to stay connected with the local temple. It was pleasing to see active participation and good suggestions put forward by the young group. Also having Aarti at the HTCI temple and subsequent live music-dance performances gave a nice touch to the event. Overall, the event was well planned out and I look forward to attending it next year”.

Through its pool of dedicated leaders, Hindu Students Council hopes to continue to have a strong presence at future HMEC’s and contribute to this very noble effort to uplift Hindu dharma for the next generation.

More than 55 pundits, adults, and youth delegates representing temples and Hindu organizations across the nation attended the fourth Hindu Mandir Priests’ Conference (HMPC), an initiative of Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference (HMEC) that was hosted by Hindu Temple of Minnesota (HTM), Maple Grove, Minnesota, May 15 through 16. Its four sessions on role and relationship of priests, sustaining Hindu temples, community links and Hindu-American youth viewpoint. Professor Anant Rambachan from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, delivered the keynote address on the second day.

Following lamp lighting and Vedic chanting, HTM religious committee chairman Raj Suryanarayanan delivered the welcome address and set the conference goals and objectives. Chief priest of Ram Mandir of Mississauga, Canada, Pundit Roopnauth Sharma, delivered the keynote on “Hinduism for the new age” that highlighted the need for consistency in communication by the priests and for congregational temple worship.

HTM founding trustee Dr. Shashikant Sane summarized the session by emphasizing the need to establish educational programs in temples, learning from positive communication practices, interfaith dialog and fundraising.

Vishal Agarwal shared the teaching curriculum used for 350 students of Hindu American Temple School (HATS) over the past five years and displayed all the teaching materials to be made available soon in e-book format.

HTM religious committee trustees and past chairs Raj and Anandi Balasubramanian coordinated the two sessions dedicated to the priests. All the HTM priests presented along with several from other Minnesota temples. HTM chief priest Pt. Ronur Murali Bhattar emphasized that priests should be tolerant toward devotees and conduct worship with utmost devotion.

Young mother and devotee Vallabha Tantry expressed the need to inspire the younger generation to choose the profession of temple priest. Pt. Gowtham Narayan described the role of Vedic chanting in temples and gave a practical demonstration. Parthan Gomadam elaborated on similarities between Sanskrit and Tamil in Vaishnava worship. Bhattar’s wife, Nagalatha Murali summarized the shared experiences of the wives of the HTM priests in balancing their religious lifestyle with the American cultural environment. She praised the support that priest families receive from devotees.

“Challenge our new generation of Hindus may face is not so much attraction toward other religions but becoming less interested in their own traditions,” said Rambachan in his second-day keynote.

Expressing joy at her adopted son from India attending HATS, Annette Kurek demonstrated how stories told thorough puppet shows can deliver powerful moral messages to children attending temple youth programs. Padmakumar of Sanskrit Bharati, California, spoke in Sanskrit and highlighted its significance and the value of learning the language. Attorney Harsh Voruganti of Hindu American Foundation, Virginia, spoke of temple safety and security requirements and shared HAF’s published guidelines.

The conference established the precedent of honoring distinguished senior priests for dedicated service to the Hindu community for more than two decades, by conferring the title of “Archaka Bhushana” (Priestly Ornament). Koteshwaran Gurukkal from Ganesh Temple, Nashville, Tennessee, Krishnarajan Devarajan from Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont, Illinois, and S. Venkatacharyulu of Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were the recipients of the 2015 award. Kandamangalam Gopala Deekshidhar was recognized for his service to HTM.

Sanjay Mehta of Pittsburgh concluded by summarizing actionable items: mechanism for constant communication amongst temple management and priests to share experiences and best practices; English language and communication workshops for priests; a short manual of common consistent answers delivered by priests to temple visitors; and a think tank to define and build a forward-looking priests development program.

HMEC provides leadership to Hindu-American communities by encouraging temples across North America to protect and sustain Hindu Dharma. HMPC is an initiative of World Hindu Council of America (VHPA).