The Bharatiya Temple of Lansing was legally established as a
non-profit religious organization with the monumental and dedicated efforts of Sudhakar
Kulkarni, Prakash Kapoor, and Shrikumar Poddar on January 12, 1982. The first
Constitution of the Temple was completed in May 1982. In November 1982, the
Temple received the deity of Shri Ganesha
as a gift from Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami of Hawaii. The following year, the
Temple received tax-exempt status. During 1983-88, intensive efforts were made
by the Board members to acquire land for the construction of the Temple. In
December 1988, the land on which the present structure of the Temple stands was
purchased. After making land improvements, site development, and construction
of sidewalk, the Sanctum of the Temple was completed in April 1992 and Shri Ganesha was moved to the
Temple from Usha and Sudhakar Kulkarni's
house that month. For two more years after that, the Satsang
(a meeting of devotees for worship) continued to be held monthly at the homes
of different devotees, as it had been since 1982.
On January 18,
1993, the Constitution of the Temple was amended to allow democratic election process,
and twelve days later a new Board of nine members was elected, with Manohar
Naga as the Chairperson. With the help of a loan of $200,000 from Old Kent Bank
and the hard work and generosity of community members, the extension of the
Sanctum to include a large Hall, restrooms and kitchen facilities, was
completed in the first week of March 1994. The grand opening ceremony of the
Temple was performed on March 12, 1994. In the period from June through
September 1994, five sets of deities from India arrived at the Temple site and
were installed temporarily at the Sanctum on October 2,1994.
It took almost
twelve years (1982-94) from conception to realization of a functioning Temple.
The first group of trustees of the Temple not only had to
keep the effort going with faith, dedication, and hard work in spite of many
obstacles, but also had to debate and convince the community members of
the need for a Temple. Once the Temple became a reality, it quickly established
itself as a focal point for the religious and cultural activities of the Indian
community in the Greater Lansing area, and many then wondered how they had
managed to get along without a Temple for so long.
The consecration (Maha Prana Pratishtha)
of the deities, a once-in-a-lifetime event for any
temple, was celebrated during June 10-14, 1998 and was a deeply satisfying
event for all participants; during this ceremony, the deities were installed in
seven sanctums designed by acclaimed architect Muthiah
Sthapathi and built under his direction by a crew of
skilled workers. In November that year, three shikharas
(towers) were installed on top of the building over the sanctum area. The
completion of this phase of the temple construction was celebrated with the
performance of Shikhara Kumbhabhishekam,
the ceremony of worshipfully showering the Kalasha
(sacred pot) atop the central shikhara with holy
water from Kumbhas (pots), on June 26-27, 1999.
In conformity with
the Temple’s policy of supporting compatible Bharatiya
faiths that can function harmoniously under its constitution, a Jain sanctum
was established at the Temple in 1999. In December 1999, a Svetambar
murti of Bhagavan Mahavir and a Digambar murti of Bhagavan Parsvanath arrived from India. Since then, Jain worship
service has been regularly conducted at the Temple. The Pratishtha
(consecration) ceremony for the murtis was celebrated
in a grand manner during May 26-29, 2000.
Over the years, the needs of the
community served by the Temple grew. Starting in 2002, successive Boards of
Trustees of the Temple discussed these needs and, with community input,
formulated a temple expansion plan to meet them. In the Fall
of 2005, the details of the temple expansion project were finalized. As the
first step in this process, the consecration of Navagrahas
(the nine heavenly bodies that are recognized as having a significant influence
on the lives of individuals) was celebrated as a 3-day event during June 30
– July 2, 2006. At the completion of the year-long expansion project in
September 2008, the Temple had added several much-needed amenities: a properly
designed area for havans, an expanded dining area, a
fully functional kitchen, more rooms for classes, an elevator, etc. It was a
particularly proud moment for our community when East Lansing High
School’s graduating seniors held their Baccalaureate event at our Temple
in May 2009.
The
latest milestone in the temple’s history was the Maha
Kumbhabhishekam ceremony, celebrated on June 9-13,
2010, to re-energize the Deities and mark the completion of twelve years of the
initial consecration ceremony in June 1998. The five days of this celebration
were filled with various religious programs, cultural events, and fine food
offerings.
Since the
beginning of 1998, the Temple has had the services of full-time priests. For
most of the time, there have been two priests. Currently, they are Sri Surendra Bhardwaj (who has been
with us at the end of May 2002) and Sri Ram Ram Sastrigal (who joined in September 2011). Sri Sandip Kapase (January 1998 to
May 2000), Sri Kannan Subramanian (September 2000 to November 2001), Sri Balabubramanian Kannan (January 1998 to September 2009),
and Sri Chakrapani Regunathan
(August 2010 to February 2012) have left us to join other temples in the USA or
India.