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Manohar Naga, the incoming Chair of the Board of Trustees, rapid progress was made towards realizing a functioning temple. With the help of a loan of $ 200,000 from Old Kent Bank and the hard work and generosity of community members, the extension of the Sanctum to include a large Hall, restrooms, and kitchen facilities, was completed in the first week of March 1994. The grand opening ceremony of the Temple was performed on March 12, 1994.
The New Temple
The newly opened Temple quickly proved to be a focal point for the religious and cultural activities of the Indian community in the Greater Lansing area. By October 1994, the following murtis had been obtained and installed in the Sanctum area: Sri Ganesha, Sri Kartikeya, Sri Uma-Maheshwara, Sri Amba Mata, Sri Rama Parivar, Sri Radha-Krishna, and Sri Venkateswara. Weekly pujas were performed for the murtis by volunteers from the community, and Satsangs (prayer meetings) and Havans were held monthly. Late in 1997, the Temple appointed two full-time priests from India, and from the beginning of 1998, a daily schedule of pujas was instituted. The priests also provided religious services in the homes of devotees, not only in the Lansing area but also in outlying communities such as Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo; and these services by the priests are in much demand now.
Besides the regular worship services, many other activities blossomed under the auspices of the Temple. Activities for children and youth (Bala Vihar, bhajan class, religion class, youth camp), discourses by visiting gurus, yoga classes, etc. are regularly conducted. Devotional music and classical dance programs are organized frequently. Major religious festivals are celebrated with much devotion and gaiety and attract 300 to 500 devotees each time. These celebrations provide occasions for members of the community, particularly our youngsters, to exhibit their talents in music, dance, and variety entertainment. Private functions like weddings and upanayanas have also been conducted at the Temple. A religious library was established and it has over 900 books. A program for senior citizens, named Jeevan Jyoti, was started in 1999.
Devotees of the Temple are also helping the Lansing community in providing food for the needy. Since the beginning of 1997, members of the Temple have sponsored a soup kitchen once a month to feed the hungry and the homeless. Jointly with the India Cultural Society of Greater Lansing, the Temple has raised substantial sums of money for the Greater Lansing Food Bank, and organized community blood drives as well.
Maha Prana Pratishtha and Kumbhabhishekam (1998, 1999)
The third phase of the Temple construction was begun in mid-1997 to extend the sanctum and have a structure strong enough to support Shikharas (towers). In the expanded sanctum area, seven garbha-grihas (mandirs) for the seven groups of murtis were constructed under the direction of renowned temple architect Shilpakalamani Muthiah Sthapathi of Chennai, India. Constrained by the fact that the Temple building already
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