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The first Gayatri Shaktipeeth of North America inaugurated in Chicago by Dr Pranav Pandya The Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya (DSVV), respected Dr. Pranav Pandyaji, today inaugurated the first Shaktipeeth – Gayatri Gyan temple in USA at Itasca, Illinois. A five foot beautiful white marble idol adorns the temple. The town of Itasca, located near Chicago, is privileged to have the first ever Shaktipeeth in entire North America under the auspices of All World Gayatri Pariwar Shantikunj Haridwar. During the grand inaugural ceremony, Dr. Pandya addressed about 1500 devotees and said that the Shaktipeeth was going to be the remarkable establishment for North American continent.

This place is going to be a satellite center for DSVV. It has already been providing teachings on various aspects of Indian Culture along with yoga and spirituality. The festival of Guru Purnima was also celebrated where many were initiated into Gayatri mantra. The inaugural was also attended by many parijans from Columbus, Indianapolis and Texas. During this occasion, a procession with 51 kalash (kalash yatra) was organized by the Itasca area devotees like Vandana Mangrola, Mitaben, Sheelaben, Daksha Gajjar, Sandhyaben and Kaushikaben. It displayed the floats of Gandhiji, Shri Rama, Shri Krishna and Ambamata. Loud slogans echoed in the air. The yatra ended with the arrival and welcome of respected Dr. Pandya. The Chicago area youths played a significant role in this Gayatri Pariwar program. The Chancellor of DSVV and Head of AWGP, Dr. Pandya arrived at the Chicago O’Hare airport at 5am after a 15-hour long non-stop journey from India. Dr. Pandya, along with Shri Rajkumar Vaishnav and Shri Omkar Patidar were greeted at the airport by Gayatri Pariwar chief Shri Harendra Mangarola, Shri N arendra Desai, Shri Parth and Harshil. Just within a few hours of their arrival at 5am, the scheduled program started at 9:30am and lasted the whole day until 10pm. It is worth noting that Gayatri Pariwar bought this church property (where the Shaktipeeth is currently established) in 2007 and started the activities of Gayatri Pariwar under the direction of Shantikunj Haridwar. As a result, $2 million were raised for the Gayatri Shakti-peeth. The ceremony for the Pran Prathistha (the ritual of invoking consciousness in an idol) at the Gayatri Gyan mandir started at 11 am. The hall was packed, inside and outside, with devotees. The ceremony performed by Dr. Pandya, consisted of the rituals of ten baths, invoking and establishing consciousness in the idol followed by a comprehensive puja. The ceremony was touching moment for the devotees, many of whom had tears in their eyes and waited in great anticipation to get the first glimpse of Mother Gayatri’s grand idol. The Chief of Care and Care Foundation Dr. Chitranjan, the Chief of Medstar Labs Shri N atwarbhai, Dr. Sonal Patel, Chicago’s leading industrialist Shri Dinesh Patel, Shri N atvarsingh Gahalot, Paras Kayatha and Ashok Pandya were among the distinguished guests who contributed in the construction of Shaktipeeth. Shri Pramod Bhatnagar, Shri Ramesh Tewari and Chhabilal of Shantikunj assisted with the puja.

The Pran Prathistha was followed by an awesome Aarti.In the evening, there was a special lecture on Stress Management by Chancellor Dr Pandya which took place in the main auditorium of Quality Inn. The former Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Keshubhai Patel was the chief guest at the program. There were about 70 industrialists, physicians, solicitors and scientists of Chicago among the audience at this program consisting of lecture and dinner. Rescpected Dr Pandya revealed a simple yet effective formula to safeguard against the stress arising from the current turmoil of economical slowdown in US. He dealt with the subject from medical, spiritual and psychological point of view and explained the causes and practical cures of stress employing the basic principles of Geeta. He recommended to adopt thoughts of his spiritual mentor Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya as a perfect solution to safeguard from stress and laid emphasis on maintaining mental balance in diverse situations of joy and sorrow, gain and loss, success and failure. He demonstrated simple and practical ways to implement the principles of Geeta, Yoga, Pranayam, meditation and diet control. The former Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Keshubhai Patel, characterized the speech as e x t r a o r d i - nary, mesmerizing and thought-provoking and one that provides a presentday solution to cope and combat, at a personal level, the current economic situation in the US. He said, “For the first time in my life I have heard a talk of such a high caliber, yet touching and easy to understand. I feel my trip to the US has been worthwhile.

At the end of the talk, there was a question and answer session which lasted for about 30 minutes. Dr. Pandya answered the questions from scientific, spiritual, psychological, philosophical, and medical aspects. This program was conducted and co-ordinated by Dr. Kishor Rana, Prof. Pramod Bhatnagar, Parth and Paresh. After the program, Dr. Pandya left for Los Angeles where he will inaugurate Gayatri Chetna Kendra (the Center for Gayatri Consciousness) developed in a church property which was acquired some time ago. He will also deliver a series of talks and will also address the N ational Youth Camps as a Cheif Guest in San Joe and San Francisco bay area during the week of July 25th to August 3rd before returning to India. Dr Pranav Pandayaji will come back to USA again with his wife Shradheya Shailbala Pandya (Jiji) to do Pran Pratishtha of another Gayatri Shaktipeath that is taking shape in Piscataway, New Jersey on August 29th and 30th.