Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, Watsonville, CA, USA – Pictures
In 2001, long-time students of Baba Hari Dass returned from India with a beautiful Hanuman murti. When Babaji saw the statue, he wrote on his board – It needs a Temple. He promptly walked to the Centers rustic ceremonial site, scratched out a location for the Temple with his foot and the digging began.
The Prana Pratishṭa ceremony, -establishing the breath- within the sacred image, was performed in 2003.
Reservations are required on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
Mount Madonna Center, 445 Summit Rd, Watsonville, CA 95076.
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Milpitas, CA, USA – Pictures
A Mandir is a sacred Hindu place of worship. It represents the earthly home of Bhagwan, where one can visit to quiet the mind and experience spirituality. Visitors and devotees come to mandir to offer prayers before the murtis, or sacred images, as well as to attend cultural classes and religious services known as sabhas.
BAPS Swaminarayan mandirs serve to both foster and further personal and collective worship. Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual leader and guru to BAPS, supports the establishment of mandirs as a means to cultivate peace within communities and connect individuals to Bhagwan.
In addition to spiritual practice, BAPS mandirs teach the arts, language, music, and philosophy that are the roots of Hindu heritage. BAPS mandirs also host various charitable efforts for local communities throughout the year such as walkathons, health fairs, blood drives, and more.
1430.California Circle, Milpitas CA 95035 USA.
MANDIR SHRINES
* Shri Akshar Purushottam Maharaj
* Shri Radha-Krishna Dev
* Shri Guru Parampara
* Shri Sita-Ram Dev
* Shri Shiv-Parvati Dev
* Shri Nilkanth Varni
Hoi Xuan San Jose – Tet(Vietnamese New Year) Festival, San Jose, CA, USA – Pictures
UStar Productions/Jody Trinh proud to bring to you the biggest Vietnamese New Year Festival in San Jose on Feb 3,4,5 at EASTRIDGE MALL.
* Free entrance and parking
* Live entertainment
* Lion and Dragon dance
* Lucky money and gifs
* Children and Adult contests
* Miss Vietnam California – Hoa Hau Ao Dai
* Fashion and Magic show
* Carnival Rides and Games
* Food Booths and trucks
* Mini theme park to take pictures
* Live DJ music and more . . .
Location : Eastridge Mall, 2200 Eastridge Loop Ste. 2062, San Jose, California 95122.
Date : Feb 3rd to 5th, 2017.
Bhavani Island – Prakasam Barrage – Durga Temple, Vijayawada, AP, India – Pictures
* The beautiful and picturesque temple lies on top of Indrrakiladri Hills and enshrines Goddess Kanaka Durga. The hill offers some amazing vistas of the city.
* The Prakasam Barrage is built across the Krishna River and is imposing in appearance. It stretches 1,223.5 metres across the river, over a lake and is the largest barrage in Asia.
* Spread over an area of 133 acres, Bhavani Island is a river island that offers a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.
It is a place to rest, relax and enjoy oneself with its mangroves, well-manicured gardens, pristine woodlands, rolling meadows and shimmering water bodies.
Bhavani Island is a popular picnic spot, where children can run around carefree while adults can enjoy the energising and refreshing ambience. Situated in Krishna River, the island is quite close to Prakasam Barrage. There are great boating facilities, which allow visitors to explore the river.
The swimming pools on the island are well-maintained and clean. Visitors, who do not want to spend time in the pools, can opt for other watersports or try their hand at fishing and angling.
Anjaneya(Hanuman) Swamy Temple, Ponnuru, AP, India – Pictures
Ponnur Temples are very famous in our region as the 30 to 40 feet high monolithic statues of Hanuman and Garud are in the temple along with Sahasra lingeswara swamy (1001 Shiva Lingas).
Others temples located near by are Sahasra Lingeshwara Swamy Temple Sri Vinayaka Swamy, Navagrahas, Nandhi, Sri Pandu Ranga Temple, Sri Garauthmantha Temple, Sri Dashavathara Temples.
Vodarevu beach is 6 km from Chirala in Prakasam district. It is also near to Suryalanka Beach, Bapatla. Vodarevu beach has a gorgeous beach. Vodarevu beach is fairly famous with tourists regularly, this too is a nice getaway from the movement and hustle of city life. There is a constant inflow of tourists spending their weekends in these peaceful settings as the place is very nice to visit and for relaxation.
Vodarevu beach makes quite a nice weekend hideout and has got quite a good share of tourist inflow, mainly because of its peaceful setting.
The Japanese Gardens is open daily from 8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., except Christmas Day.
On the first Saturday of the month at 1:00 p.m. at the Japanese Gardens, the designer of the Japanese Gardens, Kimio Kimura of Kimurascaping, lectures on how to design, construct, manage, and appreciate a dynamic art where the garden is complimenting the structure to create a harmonious relationship.
The Japanese Garden wedding sites available for rent during daylight hours for weddings March through August. The Japanese Garden is located right next to the Hayward Senior Center on North Third Street at Crescent in Hayward.
Municipal Rose Garden, San Jose, CA, USA – Pictures
Rolling green lawns and colorful showy blooms highlight the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. In fact, hardly a day passes when some species is not in full bloom, with more than 3,500 plantings and 189 varieties featured.
San Joses 5 1/2–acre Municipal Rose Garden – a one-time prune orchard – is today one of the most attractive of its kind in the world, drawing thousands of visitors each year. The garden is exclusively devoted to shrubs of the rose family and features over 4,000 rose shrubs with 189 varieties represented. Hybrid–teas comprise 75% of the plantings. These shrubs are characterized by a single high centered bloom per stem.
Visitors to the Garden can also expect to see floribundas, which have clusters of blooms per stem; grandifloras, which are taller than hybrid-teas and feature both clusters and single bloom stems; miniature roses; climbers, a rose variety that sends out long canes, which are trained up onto the fences surrounding the Garden; and polyanthas, low growing rose shrubs with clusters of small flowers.
Visitors can enjoy colorful, showy blooms throughout the April to November season. A favorite time to visit though is early May when the acres of fragrant, majestic roses are at their most beautiful stage.
Gurdwara (the door or the gateway to the Guru) is the name given to the Sikhs place of worship, commonly addressed as Sikh temple in the western world. The Sikh scriptures are recited or sung and sermons are delivered. Guru Granth Sahib is placed on high palanquin under a canopy in the middle of one end of the hall. As well as sermons and the singing of the scriptures, the congregation is expected to participate in the ceremonies of birth, baptism, marriage, death and celebration of festivals.
The Gurdwara sahib is open 7 days a week and holds daily programs for local Sikhs and visitors to pray and seek blessings. It has more than 9000 registered members.
Since its establishment, Fremont Gurdwara has been consistently involved in providing help and sharing (Vand Chakna) with the needy and homeless people around the world, especially during disasters. During Katrina, the Tsunami in Thailand, and the earthquake in South Asia, Fremont Gurdwara donated thousands of dollars, food, clothes, blankets and items to keep up personal hygiene.
Before entering the hall, people take off their shoes, wash their hands, covers their head and think of the Guru. Non-Sikhs too must cover their head with a handkerchief or scarf.
