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| Murti Pratistha Festival in St. Louis, MO
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| Shree Akshar Purushottam Maharaj | Shree Radha Krishna Dev | Annakut Offered to Murtis | ||||
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| Kishore Mandal singing Aarti | Aarti after idol installation | Kirtan by Bal Mandal | ||||
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| Berkley City Mayor Babatunde, welcomed by saints | Mahapooja ritual by devotees | |||||
| “Mandir is a center for realizing
God, where mind becomes still, and it is a place for paramount peace”.
With this credo Pramukh Swami Maharaj has created many temples and spread
the glory of Hindu faith far and wide round the globe. He had started
a temple in St. Louis in 1996. Today that temple serves as a beacon of
Hindy faith and hope for posterity in this region. To enhance the devotion
and spirituality of all devotees he inspired new magnificent idols for
the mandir. On Saturday April 28,2001 the BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir
was crowded with people who joined in this second idol installation ceremony
of Shree Akshar Purushottam Maharaj, Shree Radha Krishna Dev, Guru Parampara,
Shree Ganpatiji and Shree Hanumanji. Pujya Vivekmurti Swami and Pujya Devvandan Swami carried out this ceremony with Vedic Mahapooja . Young and old, many people got connected with the Hindu traditional rituals by joining in Mahapooja. People came from surrounding locality and as far as from Chicago, Kansas and Jackson, MS. Annakut of 125 different varieties was offered to the idols. The Mayor of the City of Berkley, Honorable Babatunde addressed the assembly, “I’m lucky to be here to witness this gala religious ceremony. As a coordinator of Multi cultural society I can say that, it is very very important to keep up religion and culture in this country.” Chief Guest Dr. Sharadbhai Parikh (Head of Hindu Temple of greater St. Louis, MO) said, “I admire the services of BAPS volunteers for mankind.” After kirtans and an inspiring speech by saints, St. Louis Mandir coordinator acknowledged everyone’s cooperation and participation, and also thanked Gujarati Samaj, Betali Samaj and Hindu Cultural Society of Centralia for their humanitarian help to BAPS during recent India earthquake. The city famous for its arch has also been bestowed with an archway to Akshardham by this BAPS mandir. |
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© 1999, Bochasanwasi Shree
Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, Swaminarayan Aksharpith
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