Published by Kali Mandir, a California non-profit, tax exempt religious
corporation
Building Ma's Temple
Kali Mandir is known worldwide as a place of devotion where the Divine Mother of the Universe lives, breathes and responds. It has become a place of pilgrimage. As such, it draws a lot of people who come here on a daily and monthly basis. We desperately needed to increase the size of the temple to accommodate all of Ma’s beloved devotees.
We Are Following a Plan
A local, well-respected architect worked hard on our formal plans for expanding the present temple building. He did quite a bit of research to incorporate elements of traditional temple architecture into a new design that still has a cottage feel from the outside, allowing us to blend nicely into our neighborhood.
By Mother’s grace, the plans got approved with a red stamp by the City of Laguna Beach in January 2008. That gave us the green signal to start with construction. We have a very good team of builders (no cussing, no spitting, no loud music, no mess – just competent labor in a joyful spirit) and architects who have made a lot of progress since we started construction early February.
Phillip Horvarth (architect who drew the temple plans), Satchin Parlikar (architect and builder liaison), Dany Varela, (builder foreman)
When completed, Ma Dakshineswari Kali will reside within an 11’ x 11’ new inner shrine room or garbha-griha (sanctum sanctorum) that is covered by a dome. Above this sanctum is a small stupa that allows indirect light into the hall. The main temple hall is going to be extended, increasing the useable seating space (currently 175 sq. ft.) to 325 sq. ft. The newly expanded temple hall has a wall of glass doors that open into a new 20’ x 20’ enclosed courtyard, letting in light and natural beauty. This courtyard will also serve as outdoor seating. The new main entrance to the temple leads devotees through this courtyard and through a glass door to Ma.
Vastu Puja on Shiva Ratri 2008
Swami Bhajanananda performed a Bhumi Puja in January before he left for India and performed the Vastu Puja on Shiva Ratri morning right after he came back from India.
Swami Bhajanananda begins Vastu Puja
Prakash is tying yantras onto the copper naga to be buried
Swami Bhajanananda buries the naga deep in the earth underneath of Ma’s new shrine room.
We are grateful to our special guest Swami Chetanananda, a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, prolific author, minister of the Vedanta Society in St. Louis, Missouri, and beloved teacher of many Kali kids.
Swami Chetanananda puts the foundation stone on top of the buried naga.
Prakash checks whether the bricks on top of the naga in fact touch Ma’s temple floor.
The naga is holding up Ma’s temple via sanctified bricks.
Ma Dakshineswari's New Shrine
One generous devotee kindly donated money for a new singhasana for our Ma Dakshineswari Kali. A silversmith in Kolkata designed and created this beautiful piece that is a smaller version of the one behind Ma Bhavatarini Kali. Usha just brought it back from her last trip to India, and it is now installed behind our Ma. We would like to take Ma out of Her current wooden shrine and have a silver shrine made like Ma Bhavatarini’s with silver posts and canopy.
Sri Ma Dakshineswari Kali of Laguna Beach.
New Website Development
As you know, Kali Mandir’s Website has been stale for the last few years since our beloved devotee and Webmaster Giri passed away. We have great news: Ma’s devotee Reddy has come forward and offered to work on Sri Ma Dakshineswari Kali’s virtual temple on the Website. We see it as extremely auspicious that not only Ma’s physical temple but also Her virtual temple is being worked on at the same time.
Hopefully soon, we’ll be able to update the Website ourselves and let you know about Kali Mandir activities and upcoming events. We also are talking about installing a Webcam which will allow you to attend pujas, kirtans and satsangs at Kali Mandir from your living-room or office PC.
We Need Your Help
We originally estimated the cost for Ma’s temple expansion project as $120,000. It seems that we may have to extend this budget to $180,000 because we also have to redo our flood-damaged wooden floor in the temple and office rooms as well as install two new wall heaters. Moreover, we are hoping to have enough funds to build a couple of lofts for storage and dwelling above our existing two rooms and add solar panels to the south-facing roof.
Several devotees have already come forward with generous pledges, giving us the courage to move forward. We still need to raise $100,000. If five hundred devotees would donate only $200 each, we could accomplish all our construction goals. May Ma bless us all!
Your donations are tax-deductible.
Make a Donation
|
