2015:

• Hindu Americans Gather in Southern California to Celebrate Hindu Festival Kumbh Mela

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2014

NRIs Celebrate Maha Kumbh Mela in  Los Angeles 2014

Los Angeles, NRIpress-Club

Nearly 1,000  NRIs (non resident Indians) gathered at Excelsior High School’s open ground, Norwalk, California (40 miles from LA) on Feb. 22, to  celebrate the “Kumbh Mela USA 2014” event. 

This event was  inspired & organized by the disciples of Mahamandaleshwar of Mahanirvani Peet, His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda.

Southern California temples participated in this festivity include Sindhu Center, Malibu Temple, Pasupathinath Temple, Radha Govinda Dham, Panchamuk Hanuman Temple, Lakshmi Narayan Temple, Nithyananda Vedic Temple - Los Angeles, Nithyananda Vedic Temple of Seattle, Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam of San Jose,  Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam of Phoenix, Nithyananda Vedic Temple of Ohio, Nithyananda Meditation Academy, Toronto , Nithyanandeshwara Temple, North Carolina, Nithyananda Meditation University, Los Angeles  and other spiritual organizations such as Brahmakumaris, Paramshakti Peet of America, Gala Foundation, The Shah Foundation, Life Essence Yoga.

The Temples and organizations went on a grand procession, carrying their deities, with devotion & excitement in the grounds and around the Ganga pool. The deities were then immersed in the Holy water sanctified with Ganga water, energizing the water. The devotees gathered were blessed with the water.

As per the Kumbh Mela tradition, free sattvic prasad was provided  to all devotees that attended the celebration. In the evening, the devotees enjoyed a beautiful Aarti offered to Holy Ganga. The celebration concluded with bhajans and classical dance performances from various dance schools including Bharatnatyam & Kathak performances.

On the auspicious day of Kumbh Mela, devotees in Los Angeles were blessed to receive the Kumbh Mela message from the Mahamandaleshwar (Spiritual Head) of Mahanirvani Akada, His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda. His Holiness gave his support, love, thanks, gratitude and blessings for the success of Kumbh Mela in United States of North America and gave the Kumbh Mela message of Sharing and Caring:

• "Sharing the Spiritual Bliss and expressing our love & caring for everyone. Each one of our traditions are(is) Unique. Unity, not Uniformity. Uniformity tries to destroy our Uniqueness. Without losing our Uniqueness, showing our unity is what is really needed now for our Sanatana Hindu Dharma”. 

Swami Nikhilananda from Radha Govinda Dham, Sister Gita Patel from Brahma Kumaris, Mr. Sunil Tolani from Sindhu Center were some of the guest speakers.

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is considered to be largest peaceful gathering in the world with  80-100 million people in each event. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad , Nashik and Ujjain. The pilgrimage is held for about one and a half months at each of these four places where it is believed in Hinduism that drops of nectar fell from the kumbha carried by gods after the sea was churned. The rivers at these four places are: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar, the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godawari at Nashik, and the Shipra at Ujjain.

Pre-recorded  messages of Mr. Rajiv Malhotra, an Indian American researcher, and Mr. Stephen Knapp, a philosopher were  broadcasted  to the audiences.

As a MC,  Rashmi Shah did an amazing job  and everyone was  impressed with the way he controlled the pace of the event.

Around 6.30pm, free vegetarian food was served to all attendees. The food included chhole, daal, puris, rice, and a sweet. Classical dance performances from various dance schools including Bharatnatyam & Kathak performances were continued until 10 pm.

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