{"id":9824,"date":"2011-08-22T08:23:13","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=9824"},"modified":"2011-08-22T08:24:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:24:24","slug":"right-time-and-place-sri-sri-radha-krishna-finds-downturn-the-right-time-for-a-new-slc-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=9824","title":{"rendered":"Right time and place: S.S. Radha Krishna finds downturn the right time for a new SLC temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cody Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time means being in the middle of Utah\u2019s largest city in the throes of an economic recession. It\u2019s an unlikely combination of factors that is helping Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork expand its worship and cultural offerings into Salt Lake County.<\/p>\n

A new Krishna temple housed inside a former elementary school in Salt Lake City is already offering limited worship and programs, and the new temple will hold its first festival today, with Krishna Janmastami, the celebration of the Hindu deity Lord Krishna\u2019s birth. The temple will be a satellite of the Spanish Fork edifice in some respects, but is already forging its own identity.<\/p>\n

Krishna Janmastami will be celebrated at both temples (the Spanish Fork event is being held Sunday), but the Salt Lake temple will host its first signature, standalone event, the Great Salt Lake Yoga Fest, on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

Caru Das, temple priest at the Spanish Fork temple, said that he\u2019s been thinking about a second temple in Salt Lake City for years, but that, until recently, the high cost of real estate had always kept his dream at bay. He also wanted to find a site with the right combination of natural beauty and relative calm. As Das put it, \u201cSome of the things I thought might be OK for a meeting place didn\u2019t have nice natural surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The property Das eventually acquired is a school building on a 4-acre parcel formerly owned by a Seventh-day Adventist congregation.<\/p>\n

When he toured the property in December, Das said, he knew immediately that he\u2019d found the right place: \u201cI thought, \u2018This is it. This is why we weren\u2019t able to find something before now.\u2019\u201d The Seventh-day Adventist location, he feels, was meant to be.<\/p>\n

The two faith groups share some beliefs, such as vegetarianism, and Das said that an atmosphere of mutual respect helped to seal the deal. \u201cWe\u2019ve kind of bonded in the process,\u201d Das said. \u201cWe were told right from the beginning that they wanted us to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spanish Fork temple has been a haven for many Krishnas in Salt Lake County and further north, but travel has always limited participation in worship and cultural events for some. Ramesh Goel, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Utah, has made regular trips with his family to Spanish Fork since moving to Salt Lake City from India in 2006.<\/p>\n

Having a temple in Salt Lake City, said Goel, 40, is like a dream come true. \u201cSpanish Fork is great, but far away,\u201d he said. \u201cThe whole community needs something here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festivals and community events<\/p>\n

The primary purpose for having a temple in Salt Lake City is to serve the small but growing Hindu population, but Krishna temples are also somewhat like community centers.<\/p>\n

Being in Utah, Das said, \u201cwe recognize that the percentage of people who are going to become involved because of the worship aspects is very small.\u201d In that sense, he said, the temple is also a \u201ccultural resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Das said he expects that Salt Lake City temple, with wi-fi and, eventually, a sandwich shop and vegetarian buffet, to become an occasional haven for students at the nearby University of Utah. And the temple also will host community events that showcase aspects of Hindu culture, beginning with the Great Salt Lake Yoga Fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be bringing in yoga practitioners from all of the schools in Salt Lake City,\u201d Das said. \u201cThere will be different spiritual groups and bands, exhibits, all different kinds of workshops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many events at the Spanish Fork temple are either free or have only a nominal fee \u2014 it\u2019s just $3 to attend the annual Llama Fest \u2014 and Das said that prices will be low for the inaugural yoga fest. A three-day pass to the entire event is just $25.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Das said, the Salt Lake Temple will offer tours and host festivals similar to the popular Holi and Diwali events in Spanish Fork. Some of the Spanish Fork events also will be held in Salt Lake City, and others will be unique to one location or the other.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Fork temple is largely supported by volunteers. Vraja Sundari Dasi, a full-time volunteer in Spanish Fork, said that the Spanish Fork staff is helping to support the Salt Lake City temple, but that Salt Lake City volunteers have already begun to take part.<\/p>\n

One person who\u2019s ready to pitch in is Pakhi Misra, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker who lives in Salt Lake City. Misra, 36, said that having a Krishna temple in Salt Lake City has already been \u201ca wonderful experience. I\u2019m very excited to volunteer my time here.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does a Krishna temple look like?<\/p>\n

The Spanish Fork Krishnas closed on the Salt Lake City property at the end of May, and held a formal opening with about 400 people in attendance July 23. Das said that a whirlwind renovation is still in progress, but that the school building has many highly suitable features already. \u201cThe gymnasium has a beautiful wooden floor with an arched wooden ceiling,\u201d Das said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a fantastic showplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former classroom is now a temple room, for meditation and worship, and there will be a large gift shop on the premises as well. Goel said that the fact that Seventh-day Adventists built the property and owned it provided an unexpected benefit that would have been difficult to find in many other existing structures. \u201cThey never cooked any non-vegetarian food there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Das said that taking over an existing structure, instead of building one, provided another benefit. \u201cRight from the beginning,\u201d he said, \u201cthere\u2019s a return on the amount that we spent. In Spanish Fork, when we built that temple, there was nothing coming in. That was nerve wracking for me. This is a walk in the park. This is fun, this is easy, this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key difference is that, unlike the temple in Spanish Fork, built from the ground up by the Krishnas and dedicated in 2001, the Salt Lake City temple doesn\u2019t have any distinctive and breathtaking Hindu architecture. For the time being, the exterior of the building will retain most of its original features.<\/p>\n

Misra said that\u2019s just fine for now. It\u2019s what happens inside the building that makes it special. \u201cEvery time I come here,\u201d she said, \u201cthe musicians are performing. It feels so very peaceful to come in and hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Das chuckled when asked whether that Salt Lake City temple\u2019s unremarkable exterior might create a sense that something is missing from the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s missing is the $5 million it would take to build it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re fully committed. We\u2019ve done nothing but expand since the day we arrived. Just give us a few years, and then we\u2019ll start talking about new construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.heraldextra.com\/lifestyles\/faith-and-values\/article_4e296248-ca18-11e0-959a-001cc4c03286.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cody Clark
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time means being in the middle of Utah\u2019s largest city in the throes of an economic recession. It\u2019s an unlikely combination of factors that is helping Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork expand its worship and cultural offerings into Salt Lake County<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}