The Sree Vijaya Durga Temple in Burlington, Mass. celebrated its one-year anniversary with a weekend of celebrations from March 30 to April 1. Sri Siddha Lalitha Peetham started the Sree Vijaya Durga Temple on April 8, 2011 under the divine blessings of H.H. Sri Siddheswaraananda Bharathi Swamiji of Coutrallam, Tamil Nadu.
The anniversary celebrations kicked off with a special invocation of Sree Vijaya Kali Devi on March 30 by Priest Tejasvi Sastry. The weekend included many dance performances by local dancers, a Carnatic music concert by Prashanti Punnamarajaju, as well as signing from Gayatri Parivar. Garba organized by Heena Nagda marked the conclusion of the festival.
A number of devotees expressed their pleasure with the celebrations:
"This temple provides the intimacy that is absent from the bigger, more established temples," said Krishnajee Putcha.
"People should not treat this as conventional temple, rather they should it look at as Sadhana Kendra," said Kumar Katta.
"Sree Vijaya Durga Temple is a spiritual place where I get peace of mind and well get connected to God. I believe that there is lot energy filled in the temple and that makes me engaged in spiritual aspects of my life. I also get admired by the amount of dedication and passion towards goddess that Tejasvi Sastry shows in his pujas," said Ramakrishna Rao.
"I call it divine's blessings that the temple has opened and I feel the power of spirituality and a center to celebrate our religion and culture. May Maa Durga keep on bestowing her blessings on her devotees," said Manish Patwari.
"We always have the feeling of going to our temple and are filled with peace and joy," said Lalitha Rao. "[It is] very amicable to do Japa and feel the positive vibrations."
