Salt Lake City Temple Opening

SLC Temple Opening

June was a busy month for Caru, Vaibhavi and the various helpers who are renovating the Salt Lake City property, located at 965 Easy 3370 South, 84106. Closing took place on May 31 as scheduled.

The previous owners, Seventh Day Adventsits, who had run the property as a school since its construction, had a huge job of vacating. Right behind their heels we were there.

Troy replaced the old floor in the gift store with a nice wooden floor. Patrick painted the 65’ by 35’ building inside and outside. Caru met with Dave the graphic designer for a new 3’ by 5’ sign to affix to the building. Caru and Vai bought lots of display cases, racks, and shelving from Advanced Display on 39th street. The store will be stocked and ready to open by July 23st. Initial hours of operation will be weekends, noon til 7 pm Friday & Saturday, Sundays 11am til 1 pm, until we can get volunteers for during the week.

Patrick painted the interior walls of the 75’ X 45’ gymnasium, which is scheduled to be completely sanded and varnished July 27th. Caru is advertising for a “worship engineer” who can coordinate all the elements of a live kirtan band, power point presentations, digital projection and multi media effects for the worship services. Starting July 23 there will be weekly services Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 10 am, and the Sunday 5 pm services in Spanish Fork will continue as always. Sunday school will be provided on Sundays, starting July 24. Deepika Kolasani has volunteered to manage the Sunday school and asks for volunteers to help with the kids. There are also an outside soccer field, basketball hoops and playgrounds, swings sets etc.

The schedule for services will be 1) Aratik for 15 minutes 2) Power point by Caru Das for 45 minutes 3) Kirtan & Prasadam. Whole program will take about 75-90 minutes, unless guests will like to stay longer for more kirtan.

During Sunday services and weekend hours there will be a “Krishna Lounge” with WiFi for anyone who would like to come study or relax with herbal teas, sandwiches, and pastries.

First big public event for the new building will be Janmastami., which will be celebrated on Saturday August 20, in the Salt Lake City temple, and next day, Sunday August 21, the actual, day, in Spanish Fork. Both events begin at 8 pm and include the dance of Divya Narayanam & students, Govinda Al Re to break the dahi hundi, musical drama of the birth of Krishna, lots of kirtan, prasdam, and grand abhishekam.

Kind well wishers may help in the customary ways of time and/or money.

On the heels of the purchase cost of the building, renovations to bring it up to Lord Krishna’s standards are going to run $ 50,000.00 or more. Help is greatly appreciated. The most generous donors will be honored at the abhishekam ceremony during Janmastami in the new building.

Volunteers will be greatly needed in the following areas. Gardening and landscaping, manning the gift store and herbal tea/sandwich bar (4 hour volunteer shifts during which one could do homework, etc.), actors, make up artists, and sound experts to participate in dramas, greeters & parking attendants during Saturday & Sunday services, teachers for the Sunday school, clean up and maintenance, decoration for festivals.

God gave us all talents & abilities to engage in His service. These are great opportunities to fulfill one’s purpose in life & experience meaning beyond the mundane.

Here are the contact details for community members who would like to help.

Volunteer Opportunities

Cooking and Kitchen, Weekly Staff, Ramesh & Anushree Goel, (801) 581-6110, rgoel@civil.utah.eduThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gift Store & Greeters, Harikesh & Rama Kushwaha, (201) 204-2043, harikeshwar@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dramas & Dance, Office & Secretarial, Festival Planning,
Caru Das utahkrishnas@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (801)787-1510
Gardening & Grounds, Deity Worship, Vaibhavi Devi, Kusumsarovar2003@yahoo.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (801)798-3559
Sunday School & Teaching, Book Distribution, Deepika & Satish Kolasani, (801) 824-6471, satish.kolasani@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Early Disciples Celebrate Forty Years of ISKCON in Australia

“And so Chris, soon initiated as Charu dasa, became Sydney Temple’s very first temple president,” Kurma says. “He invited Srila Prabhupada to come to Australia, and we hosted Prabhupada on that very first visit, starting on May 9th, 1971 at Sydney’s very first Radha Krishna Temple. Soon after, Srila Prabhupada installed Australia’s very first Radha Krishna Deities—our beloved Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha.” Read more...

News Eleven, Festival Underway

Imagine trying to plan a party for 30,000 people.

Priest Caru Das Adikari of the Krishna Temple is doing just that in preparation for the festival of colors in Spanish Fork. The volunteers are in preparation in getting the job done.

People throw bright pink, yellow and purple powdered colors each year to celebrate the season change. It’s a fun, carefree event, but some people say its also a religious one.
“We feel like this is a divinely inspired event and we are following in the footsteps of our lord in organizing it.” said Das Adikari.

Das Adikari prepares for this religious celebration by stocking up the gift shop and working with volunteers.”I’ve actually been working on this festival for a year, arranging the artist and the performers we have local performers who are actually rehearsing this year for a change . . . uh the cooking is a huge event, I mean we are having up to thirty-thousand people here.” he said.

Hundreds of boxes are filled with packets of colors all imported from India totaling over one hundred thousand colors. Krishna believers say the festival celebrates a triumph of good over evil. But most people come for the cultural experience and the throwing of colors.

“It’s kinda a fun cultural experience to go and see what other people believe. But, uh, I think most people go just ’cause it’s fun to throw stuff at each other and get really nasty” said festival goer Rico Christensen.

The shuttle buses, the music, the bonfire and performances are all updated from years past. People can already buy their colors for the highly anticipated event.

Color throwings will take place every two hours starting at ten a.m. on Saturday at the Krishna temple.

WOOFERS Love Utah Krishna Temple

Because of its organic gardens the Krishna temple has been host to a steady stream (the stream will become a flood in the spring growing season!) of 'WOOFERS' this past winter. 'Woofers' are World Wide Organic Farmers, young people from all over the world, who contact host farms and work 4 hours daily for room and board. Here are their comments as posted of the WWOOFA web site.

12/24/2010 9:39:26 AM
by sbrooney87 from Chicago
Really a great experience! Awesome! I came in December when when one wouldn't expect there to be a lot of learning and work to be done outside but there was. Activities went from building a cold frame, to mulching carrots to helping pull a fountain out of ice with a person scouting in a boat.
The hospitality and community were also about as good as you can expect. Immediately I was treated like a family member. They were so receptive to teach my about their faith but were not preachy or intrusive about it in the slightest. It was also very relaxing, probably due partly to the yoga and meditation. I can just imagine what it would be like in the growing season, with the one-two punch of agriculture and mountains all around, and then religious practices and yoga. Truly a unique experience.

1/18/2011 11:20:19 AM by keithmak from Toronto, girl friend Japan
Definitely a UNIQUE & different experience from the usual wwoof host. My girlfriend and I were a bit worried about finding hosts during the Christmas / New Years holiday but Caru and the Krishna Community welcomed us with open arms. We have been here for three weeks and counting.
This is a community of Hare Krishna devotees living and serving at the temple.
Everyone we met has warmly received us like family. The living accomodation is luxurious and the building & surroundings beautiful.
They were glad to share with us their religion, but never forced it upon us. Although we do not share the same beliefs, we were never put into any uncomfortable situations.
Although it was the winter season, we still spent time outdoors helping mainly with the llamas. Also, we spent lots of time in the kitchen helping with their daily vegetarian buffet. Indeed, you will NEVER go hungry here as the buffet is always open. The work is very flexible & reasonable with the opportunity to work on the jobs that most interest you.
We are really enjoying our time here and had our all expectations met. They are upstanding and genuinely caring wwoof hosts. You are bound to have a positive experience if you decide to visit.
Wwoofing during the growing season must be very interesting. With the opportunity to grow & cook food from the gardens + the hiking trails, mountains, and hot springs around.

Unique Opportunities:
- Daily Meditation, Chanting, Hare Krishna philosophy classes, yoga.
- Learning about Indian culture, dress, and cooking!

1/25/2011 4:12:22 PM by Katingale from Montana
I stayed at the Krishna temple for a week in January 2011. I found the community so embracing and inspiring it immediately felt like I'd joined a new family. The temple offers a wonderful opportunity to experience another culture and I highly recommend immersing yourself in the lifestyle--learn to cook Indian entrées and join evening yoga, meditation and chanting groups. The mountain scenery is fantastic and I hope to visit again in the summer time when the garden is growing and the llamas are heading out with hikers.

3/3/2011 4:23:00 PM by leviduke from Vermont
I would nearly go as far as saying that my life would never have been complete without a stop here. My accommodations were top-notch (especially the food), but that's secondary. A stay at this Hare Krishna temple is almost like a retreat to perfect soul body and mind. If you choose, you can learn yoga, cooking, meditation, and about the Vedic texts and spirituality in general. What keeps the pulse here beating so strongly is the familial community of interesting, caring, spiritual devotees, which you will quickly find yourself a part of if you are respectful and helpful.

Daily Herald: Festival of Colors Gears up for Record Crowds

The white-hot juggernaut that is the annual Holi Festival of Colors at the Krishna Temple shows no signs of slowing down.

In 2007, 3,000 people attended, celebrating spring by throwing 5,000 packets of colored flour at each other. In 2008 attendance tripled to 10,000, and the crowd snatched up 20,000 color packs.

Both attendance and the number of packets sold have continued to increase each year, said temple priest Caru Das. This year, hoping to raise $200,000 toward the purchase of a new property in Salt Lake City, the festival will offer a staggering 100,000 packets for sale at $2 each. And how many people will attend is anyone's guess -- certainly many thousands.

To handle the crowds, the temple has arranged for the use of 3,000 parking spaces, and shuttle buses will take festivalgoers to the temple. The festival has been expanded over two days, and for the first time, color-throwing will happen every two hours on both days. The goal is to spread the crush of people over different days and times.

"They can come and go when they want to, with no rush to get here," Das said. Read more...

ISKCON Utah Looks to Open New Center in Salt Lake City

Now, Charu’s dreaming about Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City. The ISKCON Spanish Fork president has his eye on a 3.74-acre property, previously used as a school by the mostly vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists.

Read more: http://news.iskcon.com/node/3447#ixzz1Evm2nmnS

Krishna temple hopes to move closer to SLC, Univ of Utah

Utah Chronicle by Chris Shapard
Local residents and students at the U will soon have the opportunity to partake in the festivals of the Spanish Fork Krishna Temple without leaving Salt Lake. The addition of a new Hindu Krishna Temple will be an extension of the one located in Spanish Fork. Read more...