With construction in full swing and the exterior wall and framing nearly complete, North America's largest Sai temple is gearing up to hold its grand opening ceremony in July 2017.
The two-storey, 40,000-square-foot temple in Groton, MA, is being built by New England Shirdi Sai Parviaar, known as NESSP. Built on 28 acres of land, upon completion the temple will become the largest Sai Temple in North America.
"Even
we cannot believe the progress we have made. We are very thankful and
grateful to our supporters and volunteers, who have worked tirelessly
on this project," said
NESSP President Mahender Singh.
Project architect B.D. Nayak
of Braintree, MA-based B.D. Nayak Architects & Planners Inc.,
said
the location of the temple is perfect. "The most important for a
temple is to be on a higher ground and people should be walking up
there," said Nayak, who has designed six temples in New England.
"This
site is on high ground. Also, from a Vastu point of view, all the
statues of Gods and Goddesses will have a perfect location."
It
all began in 2006, when 10 like-minded Massachusetts families got
together and formed New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar, a non-profit
organisation
for the growing Shirdi Sai Baba devotees in New England.
"Our
mission was very clear to promote the philosophy of Shri Shirdi Sai
Baba and to support religious, spiritual, cultural and charitable
activities in New England," said Singh, adding that initially the
group rented a tiny place for temple purposes and later expanded to a
7,200-square-foot rented facility.
When they outgrew this
space, the devotees decided to take a giant step and build their own
facility where they could fulfill not only their spiritual needs but
also serve as a community center open to people of all faiths and
communities.
"We have grown from 10 families to 1,500
families now," said Singh. "We did not have any experience in
building a temple. All we did was believed in the philosophy and
teachings of Baba and worked hard to start this project."
NESSP
currently operates out of a 7,200-square-foot rented facility in
Chelmsford, MA, and will relocate to the new facility when it is
completed in July 2017. NESSP acquired the land for $1.14 million and
plans to spend an additional $10 million to build the new complex. As
of now, the temple has already raised over $7.5 million.
The
temple has been receiving donations from across North America and
from states like North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New
York, California, and Atlanta in addition to being supported by
devotees from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and
Connecticut.
When fully completed, the two-story temple will
be largest Sai Temple in North America. The sprawling 28-acre campus
is located in the two neighboring towns of Groton and Littleton in
Massachusetts. Four acres of the land is located in
Littleton.
Reading, MA-based NM Construction Corp. is the
general contractor. The temple will be open to everyone and will hold
weddings, ayengetrams and other community and cultural events. The
temple complex will provide a great venue for poojas, learning and
weddings where open-air havans can be held, where the barat (wedding
party) can come with horses and full traditional festivities can
occur.