General Information about the Bharatiya Temple of Lansing

An early-morning picture of the temple taken in the summer of 2006

The Bharatiya Temple of Lansing is located at 955 Haslett Road, Haslett, Michigan 48840 (see Directions). Its inauguration on March 12, 1994 marked the beginning of a new era for the Hindu community in the greater Lansing area and was the culmination of 12 years of effort by the first group of Trustees of the Temple (see History). The objectives of the Temple, as set down in its Constitution, are as follows:

· Establish permanent Hindu deities (Rama Parivar, Shiva Parivar, Radha-Krishna, Balaji, Ambadevi) in the main sanctum;

· Perform various religious activities such as traditional Puja, Bhajan, Satsang, Havan, and Arati;

· Preserve the Hindu identity (religion, culture, and traditions) for future generations;

· Promote Indian culture and values;

· Provide humanitarian services to the local and world community;

· Promote study and understanding of all religions of the world;

· Develop and maintain harmonious relations among all faiths of the world.

These pages show the progress made on all the above fronts. For a comprehensive guide to most aspects of the Temple, in the form of questions and answers, please see Q and A. For detailed reports on activities since 1998, see the Annual Reports linked from Publications.

In the second half of 1994, five groups of deities (see Deities) were brought from India and placed in the Temple sanctum. The consecration (Maha Prana Pratishta) of these 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.

The Temple has brought our community together, providing us a place to practice our religion and cherish our culture. It has fostered numerous religious, spiritual, and social programs (see Calendar of Events); it has provided a platform to introduce Indian religion and culture to our children (e.g. through BalVihar and Shishu Vihar); and it has helped mobilize our community to acts of charity and compassion for others (see Community Services). Moreover, the Temple has been critical to increasing the visibility of our community in the Greater Lansing area.

Since January 1998, the Temple has had the services of full-time priests. For most of the time, there have been two priests. Upon the arrival of the priests, the Temple open hours were expanded and a schedule of two Pujas every day of the year was implemented (see Open Hours and Puja Schedule). See priest services for information on how to schedule priest services either inside or outside the temple.

At the request of the Lansing-area Jain families, a separate sanctum was completed in the Temple building in 1999 for installing Jain murtis. A Svetambar murti of Bhagavan Mahavir and a Digambar murti of Bhagavan Parsvanath arrived from India in December 1999, and their Pratishtha was celebrated during May 26-29, 2000. Since the beginning of 2000, Jain devotees conduct a Puja on the 4th Sunday of every month at 11 AM and Arati every evening at 7:30 PM.

Our community has more than doubled in the last several years. This has brought up several areas of concern and challenges that need to be addressed for the Temple to continue the positive role it has been playing in our lives. In the Fall of 2005, a Temple Completion Project was finalized and in May 2006 the Temple membership approved its implementation in a phased approach. The first phase of this project, the consecration of the Navagrahas (nine heavenly bodies), was celebrated as a 3-day event during Independence Day Weekend 2006. This has given momentum to raising funds to undertake the rest of the project.

If you are residing in or visiting the Lansing area, we invite you to visit our Temple, no matter whether your interest is to observe or to participate. For further information about the Temple, please call any member of the democratically-elected nine-member Board of Trustees or send e-mail to Raman Anantaraman at raman@nscl.msu.edu.

We have created Links to several Web sites devoted to Hinduism, Hindu organizations, other Bharatiya religions, general-interest topics dealing with India, and Indian stories for children.

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Last Modified: 2006-November-17 (NA)