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.
The newly built temple
complex consists of five temples, a Navagraha temple, a Mandapa and a
Yajnashala. Besides the main temple of Shri Omkarananda-Kamakshi-Devi,
there are two smaller temples of Shri Meenakshi-Devi and Shri
Chamundi-Devi to the left and right side of Mother Kamakshi. On the
opposite side, facing these three Devi Mandirs, there is a temple of
Lord Venkateshwara and Padmavati-Devi and the Gurudev Paramahamsa
Omkarananda Saraswati Mandir. On the North side, there is the Navagraha
Temple, and on the East side the Yajnashala.
The inauguration ceremony
of the temple, Ashtabandhana Maha-Kumbhabhishekam, was celebrated from
1st to 4th April 2004 in a grand scale at Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas.
Many disciples and devotees of Gurudev Swami Omkarananda took part in
this auspicious congregation. This memorable event can be recapitulated
as follows:
`
