July 14, 2013: Fourth of July isn’t the only celebration with fire this month.

About 100 members of the Hindu Association of West Texas celebrated the sixth anniversary of their building with a sacred fire ceremony July 6 at their temple, 4401 Cardinal Lane in Midland.

While the building is only six years old, the association has been around for about 20 years, beginning in a local home, temple board member Padmaja Patel said.

“We really didn’t have room for the growing community,” HAWT President Anand Cholia said. “There was no way we could have accommodated 300 people.”

The temple was built to accommodate the increase in members, which has tripled in the last 10 years, Cholia said.

“Attendance has increased significantly in the children’s group,” Patel said, “It is more consistently attended so we have definitely benefitted from a bigger structure.”

They currently have between 250 and 300 members, Patel said.

Between 30 and 40 percent of members come from nearby cities outside the Permian Basin, such as Lubbock and Fort Stockton, Cholia said.

“It’s a building like any other,” Cholia said. “The importance is not the building; it is what’s inside the building that’s important.”

The temple contains seven idols made by a special maker in India, Cholia said.

The fire ceremony July 6 celebrated the significance of the anniversary.

“It’s a very powerful and peaceful energy that you experience from the element of fire,” Patel said. “In some way I think it energizes everyone who attends and the environment throughout is very peaceful. The idea is to seek divine grace.”

“The importance of the ceremony is that it attracts cosmic energy not only for the people participating, but for the institution,” Cholia said.

The concept of the sacred fire ceremony, called a “homa,” comes from the scriptures from ancient Hindu text called “Vedas,” Cholia said.

During the ceremony they will light a fire and chant mantras in Sanskrit, he said.

“The combination of the fire and mantras is considered to be very auspicious,” he said. “It benefits not only those who attend, but everyone in general.”

HAWT priest Vighnesh Ji, said they will place different items, such as food, in the fire during the ceremony as an offering.

“It is usually something we create in a fire pit outdoors,” Patel said. “The idea is to invoke all these divine beings during that ceremony.”

About 100 members of all ages are expected to attend the ceremony.

The fire ceremony at the temple was followed by a Sunday ceremony where liquids were poured as an offering, Patel said.

“Again, at the same time we chant Sanskrit mantras while we offer different items,” Patel said. “Different ingredients are poured all over the deities. The idea is to offer the energy to God and receive blessings and energy.”

The fire ceremony is the temple’s largest event outside of their annual community celebration of Diwali in the fall, Patel said.

“It’s a very significant event,” Patel said. “The first year when the temple was actually started it was a very big ceremony and every year (it) is bigger than the last year.”

Source: oaoa.com, DT. July 14, 2013.