Bodhinatha Visits Greater Houston, Texas

Howdy!

After stopping briefly in San Francisco to meet with our IT consultants, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Sannyasin Senthilnathaswami are in Texas for the next couple of weeks.

First stop: Houston.

Beginning in the north, we visited The Woodlands on Friday and Bodhinatha gave his first talk on the trip to a group of 60-70 at the new Hindu temple there. Following that we moved to Stafford on Saturday, where Bodhinatha was the honored guest at the first official meeting of the Board of Advisors for the Hindus of Greater Houston, a group that brings together the 30+ Hindu groups in the area to share knowledge, help solve the problems of Houston's 100,000+ Hindu community together and collaborate on projects such as their signature annual Grand Janmashtami event held downtown. The advisors were eager to hear Bodhinatha's thoughts on a number of important subjects, including a few touchy ones. On Sunday the Meenakshi Temple Society in Pearland, down in the South, hosted Bodhinatha for worship and a talk to about 80 devotees. Founded in 1979, this temple is the oldest in the Houston area and one of the oldest traditional Hindu temples in the US. Seeking guidance first from Gurudeva and then from Bodhinatha over the decades, we have always been close. It was a big family reunion of sorts.

Before driving west to San Antonio, we met with the mayor of Stafford, Leonard Scarcella, who is perhaps the best non-Hindu spokesman for Hindus that we have met. We invited him to collaborate with us a little bit on an article for Hinduism Today about the contributions of Hindus to America, and he agreed to write a short op-ed sharing some of his rather profound insights into the wonderful way in which the Hindus in the US have worked to blend with American culture and society in the past three decades.

Dr. Urmil Shukla, our host in The Woodlands, with Bodhinatha and Senthilnathaswami

Bodhinatha took the opportunity to share our children\

s books with this brand new temple'

Their priest knew Gurudeva when he served at the Meenakshi Temple in the southern Houston area decades ago

The board of advisors of the Hindus of Greater Houston

Gaurangbhai Nanavaty, right, is the acharya at Chinmaya Mission in Houston and graciously provided his venue and his wisdom

Dev Mahajanji was nominated as the chairman and expressed a thoughtful approach for achieving the new umbrella group\

s goals and expectations'

Outside the Sivalaya at the Chinmaya Mission center in Sugar Land

Next, Sharad Amin introduces the newly formed board to the representatives of the Hindu organizations in the Greater Houston area

Bodhinatha is invited to speak to the group

When else have you seen representatives of all the Hindu organizations in an area get together to share, encourage and help each other?

The adept priests at the Sri Meenakshi Temple Society, Saiva on Bodhinatha\

s right and Vaishnava opposite, like Lord Shankaranarayan'

Tupil Narasiman, one of the founders of the Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, introduces Bodhinatha

A panoramic view of the presentation venue, darkened to optimize the projection of Bodhinatha\

s Keynote'

Mrs. Padma Anantha receives books from Bodhinatha for the temple library

Dr. Venugopal Menon, one of the temple\

s founders, who has wisely guided the group for decades, asks the Satguru for some advice'

The temple\

s new library building also houses their elaborate new ratham, chariot, clad in silver and adorned with LED lights'

Tupil and Padma show Bodhinatha the new library, where they are still unpacking and getting set up

Notice any familiar books?

This beautiful temple is built in the traditional Agamic style, replete with a wall all the way around

One of many priest families\

quarters onsite'

And a structure to house the resident peacocks

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