MEET OUR PRIESTS

Shri Surendra Bhardwaj (Shastriji, left) and Shri Ram Ram Panditji (right)

Surendra Bhardwaj (Shastriji) joined the Temple at the end of May 2002. He came to us from New Delhi. His family (wife Navodita, son Mayank, and daughter Ritam) joined him in late 2002 and early 2003. He was born in 1960. His academic qualifications include the Vidyadhikari degree (1983) from Gurukul Kangari University, Hardwar; the Uttarmadhyama degree (1986) from Vedamau Vaidic Vidyapeeth, Badayu; and the Shastri degree (1989) from Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi. During 1996 and 1997, he had his Karmakand training (for performing rituals) in Delhi at Ramayan Vidyapeeth and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth. Prior to joining our Temple, he was a teacher of Sanskrit at International Public School in Delhi and the President of Sanskrit Sewa Sansthan in that city. He is fluent in Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Haryani, and Rajasthani, and also speaks English.

Ram Ram Sastrigal (Panditji) joined the Temple in September 2011. He comes to us from Kalpakkam, near Chennai, where he was for long (since July 1993) the priest for the colony at the IGCAR atomic power station. Prior to that, he worked as a priest in Jaipur, Rajasthan for ten years (1982-91). He was born in 1964 and studied the Vedas and Vedangas for ten years at Shri Kanchi Shankara Mutt, Bangalore under the able guidance of Guru Shri Mahalinga Ganapatigal. During that time, he was a classmate of our temple’s former priest Sharmaji. He has the qualifications of Kramantam and Sastram in Sanskrit, and is proficient in the Samhita, Pada, Krama, Jata, and Ghana ways of reciting the Vedas. During his career as priest, he has performed all samskaras and other religious functions, including Kumbhabhishekams. He can speak Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and English. He and his wife have one son and one daughter. The family is presently in India, where the son is working as a software engineer and the daughter is in college.

Both priests are available for private pujas at devotees’ homes or places of business. To schedule services both in and outside the temple, please call them either at the temple (phone number 517-339-6337) or at their homes. For Shastriji: home phone number is 517-774-4451, cell number is 517-944-2100, and e-mail is shastrimaharaj@gmail.com. For Panditji: cell number is 517-798-6742 and e-mail is ramramsai64@yahoo.co.in. Another way to schedule their services is to contact the Temple’s Manager, Mr, Chandu Patel, by e-mail to ctempleh@gmail.com.

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Last Modified: 2011-November-16 (NA)