The mission of the D/FW Hindu temple is to provide a place of worship and be the Spiritual Resource Center for the Hindu Community living in the metropolitan areas of Dallas/Fort Worth and the...
The mission of the D/FW Hindu temple is to provide a place of worship and be the Spiritual Resource Center for the Hindu Community living in the metropolitan areas of Dallas/Fort Worth and the surrounding areas.
The D/FW Hindu Temple was conceived by a group of devotees back in 1981. As an auspicious beginning for the formation of the Temple Society, Sri Satyanarayana Puja was performed in December 1982,. Subsequently, in 1983, a Constitution was adopted that laid the basic foundation for the management of the temple. Basically, the constitution provided for a panel of trustees and a team of officers headed by a President in addition to an executive committee to assist in the day to day operations of the temple. The constitution provided for the necessary guidelines for the election of each member of the management team and their functions.
In August of 1984, eight acres of land in the Parker County was purchased with the intention of building the temple there but the progress was slow for lack of funds and community interest. However, a facility in Plano was rented in March 1987 to temporarily accommodate the few devotees who expressed a need for a place of worship. After a considerable research into the needs of the community, it was decided that the Parker County land was too far to serve conveniently the Hindu community of the metroplex. A place that is convenient for devotees form both Fort Worth and Dallas was sought. This consideration lead to selling the land in the Parker County and purchasing the land in Irving in June of 1988. There was no time wasted after this purchase. The Bhumi Puja was performed in July of 1988 by Sant Murari Bapu and in November 1988, the temple operation was moved from Plano to the old house that stood on the land in Irving. Less than three years later, on April 28, 1991, the new Temple, Ekta Mandir, was inaugurated.
The first deity to be installed in Ekta Mandir was that of Maha Lakshmi. A large number of devotees of the Metroplex witnessed the Prana Pratishthapan Mahotsav ceremony. This grand celebration lasted for four days - May 30 to June 2 of 1991. Subsequently, Sri Ganesh, Sri Ram Parivar, Sri Durgaji and Sri Ayyappan were installed in June, July, September and December of that year. Sri Venkateshwara (Balaji), Shivji, Kartikeya and Vithal-Rakumai were installed in May, July and October of 1992. Later on, separate building adjacent to the main temple was built and Navagrahas, Anjaneya (Hanumanji), Gayatri Devi and Dattatreya deities were installed.
The Temple continued to grow and a Cultural Hall was built to meet the growing need of the community for social and cultural activities. The Hall serves as a facility for a number of community service activities such as library, educational classes, religious classes and pujas, kathas and discourses by spiritual leaders. The hall has become a popular place for family celebrations such as marriages, wedding anniversaries, graduation and birthday parties.
In 1998, the Society purchased an additional 2.8 acres of land across from the Cultural Hall on east side of Britain road, along with a residential building. The building serves as a free Medical Clinic operated under the auspices of TIPS. The land serves as an overflow parking and can be used for future expansion of the temple facilities.
Expansion of the main Temple was undertaken in 1999 to accommodate the growing attendance of devotees and completed in 2003/2004. The expansion provided for increased capacity, a large outside hallway, enclosed shoe-racks, expanded office and priest-service rooms. Indianization of the Temple by building the gopurams and adding Hindu temple architectural features both inside and outside of the main temple was also initiated in 1999 and completed in 2004. The Maha Kumbhabhishekam celebration was celebrated in October 2004.
The Temple also completed building of a Yagashala, a Youth Center, a Meditation Center and expansion of the library. This new extension encompasses the old Navagraha building. Building of priest and guest quarters and some more parking facilities including a drop-off point have also been completed. New Projects such as Multi-use open structure and painting Murals in the cultural hall are under way. The Temple Society is here to serve the needs of the Hindu Community. It can do it only with the help of Almighty's blessings and the community support. We count on your continued participation and support to make further progress in the new millennium a success.
Source: Temple's Website
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