Monthly Archives: May 2011

There are lot of leaders in Satya Narayan Mandir. One of them was Murli Gopwani. I actually had to take an appointment with him through an email and then by a phone. I called him on Monday night if he was available to give me an interview. So, finally we met on Tuesday afternoon.

When i asked him about how do he feel about having a Mandir around where he lives, he replied it’s great since he doesn’t miss his homeland a lot. But the only difference he sees here, is people have not  a lot of time to visit the temple. Only few of them visit in the regular basis. He adds, but generally a lot of hindus, in order to show respect and love, they send them donations even if they don’t visit the temple.

I also asked him how do other Hindus feel about the Mandir and did the Mandir helped in maintaining their culture and tradition, he replied, Obviously, the culture and tradition are saved because of mandir because before when there were no mandirs, during the festivals, people didn’t have place to celebrate with others but only with the families. Now, after mandir was built, a lot of people sponsor the festivals and a lot of people attend them. During festivals like Durga puja, Holi and other festivals, a lot of people visit mandir. And also for a traditional marriage also, people didn’t have place to do the ritual and now there is a mandir, a lot of Hindus perform their marriage rituals in there.

He further adds, there is a little difference between how it is done back in India and here in USA, but still is better than nothing.

I went to Satya Narayan Mandir on Sunday. There was a special event which is called “Aasa Di War” program. As I entered the mandir, there were not a lot of people. But there were people singing bhajan and some people were there listening to it and were clapping their hands with the tune. The Bhajan was like a duet, where men and women took turns while singing. “Aasa di war” is a sikh prayer written by Guru Nanak. This occasion is held every Sunday and lasts like 2-3 hours and the program was followed by preeti bhojan. And in every program preeti bhojan is sponsored by some of the the bhaktas. This was sponsored by couple named Mahesh and Ritika Hemrajani. I didn’t get chance to meet this couple but one of the people among the bhaktas told me they sponsor these type of occasions as they feel they are blessed and to hope for the good and peace.

Events like this happen everyday in India before dawn but here in USA only once a week. When they finish singing the song, people received tika and blessing from the priests. And everyone looked happy as they were all enjoying the prayer and later the preeti bhojan included some sweets, rice and vegetables. It was delicious and they were given in the form of prasad. I couldn’t take the picture of the bhojan but i did take some pictures from the bhajan. As a whole, it was a wonderful time spent in the mandir with melodious bhajan and delicious bhojan.