OM Hindu Community Center Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav

OM Hindu Community Center (OMHCC) is nestled between the historic Concord River and Boston Road (Rte. 3A) in Billerica, Massachusetts, offers devotees a tranquil space for reflection and spiritual connection. It is located at 240 Boston Road, Billerica, MA 01862. The OM Center is a place for Hindus of all denominations to celebrate their heritage, arts, and culture. OMHCC is an initiative of the World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) and is visioned to promote shraddha, shiksha, samskriti, sadhana, samskar, satsang and seva. The center’s mission is to nourish the Hindu value system, family unit, and spiritual lifestyle for the coming generations in America through sustainable community engagement and education.

OM Hindu Community Center is designed to serve as an intergenerational sacred bonding place that will address our spiritual needs, the educational needs of our children, and the social needs of our young families and the elderly. The center will enable us to harness our intellectual and spiritual capital, and channel it to build social capital – engaging with and serving the larger American community.

The center has two levels. On the first level is located the temple part of the center where when you enter one is welcomed by two Apsaras doing namaskaram and by two elephants and then the main sanctum has following deities placed in there: Surya & Nav Grah, Venkatesh & Laxmi, Durga, Shiv & Parvati, Ram-Sita-Laxman-Hanuman, Krishna, Radha & Kamadhenu, Shivling & Nandi, Kartikeya & Ganesh. Additionally, there are six Gurus placed in specially designed Jharoka’s including, Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Adi Shankaracharya, Ved Vyas and Ramanujacharya.  The second level can be accessed via an elevator or any of the two sets of stairs. The front lobby portion with a dome on the second level is designed to be a library. Here again, you are welcomed by two Apsaras doing Namaskaram. As you enter the main hall, you see a stage that has a Natraj along with Murthi’s of Shakti, Sharda/Saraswati and Lexmi. Additionally in the hall, there are six Rishi’s placed in specially designed Jharoka’s including, Panini, Sushruta, Patanjali, Kanada, Charak and Valmiki. In addition to the lobby and the main hall, this level has three classrooms on one side and a boardroom along with a green/storage room on the other side. There are ample restrooms on both levels along with shoe and coat storage room.

The Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav (inauguration) of this center took place last week from Thursday May 1 through Sunday, May 4, 2025. All the ceremonies for Pran Pratishtha took place on May 1st & 2nd. This sacred celebration was designed to awaken the divine energy at OMHCC. Many community members joined the Mahotsav as Pradhan Yajaman, Sah Yajaman, and Maharudri.

The inaugural program spanned 4 days. The sacred Pran Pratishtha ceremony was designed and presided by Pandit Sivacharya Sri Bairavarji and his team of 12 local priests who came from various local greater Boston area Mandirs. The team of priests included those who are trained in Bharat as well as those born, brought up and trained in Massachusetts. The youngest in the team Anirudh is barely 13 years old and is fully trained in Vedic traditions. The celebration of the sacred ceremony for each day included the following details:

Thursday, May 1: On this day, the morning and the evening pujas were centered towards preparation for the Pran Pratishtha. The puja started in the morning at 8:00 AM and its highlights included Ganesh Puja, Punyahavachan Ganapathy, Maha Sankalpa, Navagraha Homam, Gow Puja. The evening puja started at 5:00 PM and its highlights included Vasthu Shanti, Mirutsangrahanam, Ankurarpanam, Rakshabandan, Ashwa & Yagasala Puja, Hawan & Arathy.

Friday, May 2: This session was totally devoted to invoking Pran Pratishtha. The puja started in the morning at 6:00 AM, this whole session was dedicated to various aspects of Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav including Nadi Sandanam, Jeevadhi that Nysa, Netro meelanam, DasaDharshan, Maha Poornahutty, Kalasa procession, Pranaprathishta, MahaKumbhabhishkem, Alankaram Bhajan, Upacharam, Arathi, Maha Arathi by Yajaman.

The evening session started at 5:00 PM and its highlights included Bhajan, Kirtan and Aarthy. Smt. Aparna Balaji led this session.

Saturday, May 3: The morning session started at 7:00 AM and was dedicated to Maha Rudram/Kalsa Abhishekam performed by eighty Ritvik’s who came from the New England area. This session was put together by Shri Veermani, Shri Giri Bharthan, and Sri Ravi Shridhar. This sacred event comprised of two key components: Mahanyasam – a detailed purification process of the body and mind, conducted through mantras prescribed by Rishi Bodhayana. Rudra Parayanam – powerful Vedic chanting that includes the Namakam (4th Khanda, 5th Prasna of the Krishna Yajur Veda) and Chamakam (4th Khanda, 7th Prasna of the Krishna Yajur Veda). As many know, Vedic mantras are not considered human compositions. They are regarded as Apaurusheya-divine revelations "heard" by ancient seers and passed down through the Guru-Shishya Parampara (teacher-student lineage). The Om Center resonated with the high-energy vibrations of the well-trained Ritwiks’ chanting. Simultaneously, an Abhishekam (ritual bathing) was performed for the Shivling using water from 121 Kalashams (sacred pots), further elevating the spiritual atmosphere.

The evening session started at 5:00 PM and was dedicated to Bhajan, Kirtan and Aarthy.

Sunday, May 4: The morning session started at 8:00 AM and was dedicated to Vishnu Sahasranamam and Ved Parayan. The evening session started at 4:00 PM and was dedicated to Lalita Sahasranamam, Bhajans and Kirtans by young children organized by Smt. Deep and Shri Rajesh Vaidheeswarran and in the end, everything came to culmination with a Maha Aarthy.

Thanks to our pooja team, it is worth a special mention that Satvik food was prepared and served to the priests and Ritwiks in a formal and traditional way every day.

Special Sessions:

On Thursday, May 1, a special session was designed to recognize and honor the town officials from the Town of Billerica and the Town of Chelmsford. This session was designed to recognize the cooperation and collaboration provided to us on this project by the town officials.

On Saturday, May 3, a special session was designed to recognize the major supporters and contributors without whose help this project would not have been possible.

On Sunday, May 4, a special session was designed to recognize the heads of Hindu Temples and institutions.

Presence of Swami’s

The Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav was blessed by the presence of our revered saints including Pujya Sadhvi Ritabhara Ji (Didi Ma) and Swami Svatmananda Ji of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. During day 1 and day 2, both these swamis gave their Ashirwad in the form of addressing the gathering of devotees and impressing upon the sanctity of the ceremony.

VHPA Participation

Many of the VHPA & HSS stalwarts joined the celebration in person coming from various parts of the country as far as Taxes and Illinois including the current president of VHPA Smt. Tejal Shah.

In all, thousands of devotees from all over the New England area (as far as Burlington Vermont) came to attend the Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav. Each session was followed by Maha Prasadam where the attendees enjoyed food catered by Minerva Indian Cuisine of Norwood.

The success of this effort could not have been possible without the contributions of hundreds of our devote members and the help provided by our sister organizations. Teams of volunteers managed the car park on-site as well as that provided by our neighboring business from across the street. Additionally, the town of Billerica let us use their town lot and the town of Chelmsford let us use their skating rink lot. The registration team and the front desk teams welcomed the visitors and made them feel special. The four-day ceremony of Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav went smoothly without any hiccups or any incident, thanks to a meticulous planning of every aspect of the ceremony by our teams including pooja, decorations, fundraising, media & publicity, audio-visual, photo-video, supplies, medical/first aid, facilities/clean-up, food, crowd management and overall management.

Now on, daily evening nitya puja and aarti is organized at the center from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Next big event at the Om Center is going to be tree planting by a celebrity politician from India who is scheduled to visit New England area soon. Please stay tuned for further information.

Personally, for me and Bela, it was a divine opportunity and experience to be part of the OM Hindu Community Center Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav. The firsthand opportunity to witness the puja rituals leading to Pran Pratishtha, the positive vibrations and the electrifying atmosphere with the presence of our Purohit’s, Swami’s and Ritwik’s was a blessing and divine experience. Those who watched it live from other countries commented that they have not experienced such a celebration anywhere and that for us feels like, "Mission Accomplished."

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