Omkarananda Kamakshi-Devi Mandir

By the Grace of the Divine Mother, Omkarananda Kamakshi-Devi Mandir, as envisioned by Gurudev Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati, was completed this year at Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas in Muni-ki-reti, Rishikesh. This exquisitely designed South Indian Temple was ultimately realized thanks to the unstinted financial help and support provided by a pious and large-hearted devotee to fulfil the wishes of Gurudev.

This project was started on 23rd April 2002 with Bhumi Puja, by the grace and blessing of Gurudev Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati, and under the able guidance of Shri Kamakoti Shastriji, Chief Priest of Kamakshi Mandir, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. The temple was meticulously planned and executed according to South Indian tradition and Vastu Shastra by the renowned Sthapati Shri S. Ravichandran of Kancheepuram with the help and labour of South Indian masons and artisans.

The temple is located on a sacrosanct land inside the Omkarananda Ashram complex at the foothills of the Himalayas, where Gurudev had done his intensive Tapasya and Shrividya-Sadhana in the earlier years, and had planned a unique Yajna to be conducted in March 2000, at this place. The main lines of this spiritual festival, which was also destined to become part of the Holy Rites after the Maha-Samadhi, were set out by Gurudev himself in December 1999. Accordingly, on 20th March 2000, a team of nineteen devoted and learned South Indian Priests came to the Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas on a special invitation, and conducted a grand Rudra-Yajna at the proposed temple-site under the expert guidance of Pandit Sudhakar Sharma and Shri Kamakoti Shastri. This elaborate Yajna was conducted for ten days upo 30th March 2000. During these ten days, the priests also performed Rudra-Abhisheka with a newly installed Sivalinga, as well as Shrividya Puja daily. Many devotees from India and abroad had attended this unique Maha-Yajna and vividly felt the presence, blessings, strength, inspiration and the Grace of Gurudev Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati.

Thus, long before the Bhumi-Pooja of the proposed site for the construction of the ‘Omkarananda Kamakshi-Devi Mandir’, the land had already been dedicated to the Divine and charged with divine vibrations – not only through this grand Rudra-Mahayajna, but also through the Chandi-Mahayajna conducted in 1999, and other powerful Havanas performed during the religious festivals like Navaratri, Omkarananda Jayanti, etc. in the earlier years.

During the construction the temple was blessed by the visit of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham,
Shri Jayendra Saraswati Ji Maharaj, on 22nd September 2003.

From 1st to 4th April, 2004 the temple was inaugurated with the Ashtabandhana Mahakumbhabhishekam.
(Photoreport)