Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple — Attraction in Plano

The 24-hour Maha Shivarathri Spiritual Retreat in SLGT

I only write when something affects me emotionally.  The Maha Shivarathri experience on February 18th, Saturday was beyond ecstasy for me.  This is the best Shivarathri I have experienced so far.  I know it is already 4 days but I had to properly organize the emotions that were pouring out.

Going by the adage "Well Begun is half done" starting the festivities at 6 AM promptly really gave a great jump start.  The temple was donned bright and beautiful at the dawn on that day.  Starting with Thaila Abhishekam going on till late afternoon, followed by Rudra Abhishekam, Homam, and concluding with Shiva Parvathi Kalyanam in the late night there was never a dearth of offerings.  With the non-stop chanting of Rudram and Chamakam happening all along.

Devotees started flocking pretty early in the morning and there was not a single lull moment during the whole event.  Wish we had a way to measure the foot traffic.  Hats off to all the ladies who prepped and cooked the plethora of steaming varieties of sumptuous Prasadams and kept sending in what looked like the Akshaya patrams of SLGT.

It was a great opportunity for the SLGT family to reunite.  Though fasting and observing Jaagran no one showed a single trace of tiredness, kept running around and performing all the seva that they could.  I was amazed by the hidden talents of our volunteers and devotees in garland making (Vivek Flowers be aware :)), fruit carving, singing bhajans and so on.

We all know that Shiva is Abhisheka Priyan (lover of Abhishekams) and Balaji is Alankara Priyan (lover of decorations).  With the amazing decorations that were done that day I am sure we would have converted Shiva as Alankara Priyan too.  The alankarams were beyond description.  Every time the priests were pulling the curtains and getting ready to remove a decoration and prepping for the next abhishekam our hearts were bleeding and had to literally beg to keep the decoration on for a few more minutes so we could enthrall for a little longer.  Thanks to our new priests Vishnu and Uday swamis’ enthusiasm and dedication.

Some of my friends had come to this event for the first time this year and got convinced that they will never miss this for anything in the coming years.  Also, there were a bunch of temple hoppers throughout the night but eventually, everybody came back to SLGT for the conclusion.  More people wanted to stay longer during the entire event too but had to leave due to space restrictions.  We need more space Kameshwar Swami :).  The event just concluded 4 days back but we are all looking forward to the next year's event already.

Having stayed for the whole event will I be blessed more by Lord Shiva?  Of course, I am already.  Firstly by being given the opportunity by Kameshwar Swami and Anusha to participate in this great occasion.  And above and beyond, being shown love and affection by my extended SLGT family, ensuring that I got enough fruits, coffee, tea, and rest to keep me going.  Not a single moment I felt hungry, sleepy, or tired.  What more can I ask for?

Last but not the least, my sincere apologies to any devotee if I was harsh whenever I asked not to block the Prasadam line or not eat inside the temple.

With the mission well accomplished despite Kameshwar Swami's absence, I am sure Anusha would have slept well in the last few days!  Great...

As a devotees, we go to temple to seek gods blessings. But for the priest K in this temple, this is a business center where they make business out of every auspicious pooja or a ritual we put our hearts in to perform. Preist K seems to be the head and he thirsts for money but nothing else. No ethics, no punctuality, no respect to others time nor their feelings nor their money. I booked a service with him almost 2 months before to do 1st year death anniversary for my brother and paid $400+ as a temple fee. And then received a huge list to get for the ritual which are not requested by the preists in india itself for this kind of ritual. His list contains everything they want to make money out of but not the most important things we need to perform the ritual, because they want you to walk in without them and then buy from their chain of business they run inside. And the items you buy from them are the ones they took as daanam from someone and sell them to you. Once you are done with your ritual, they keep them and sell them again to another person who walks into their business trap. For Pithuru karma they are supposed to start and finish in certain time, but despite you pay huge amount and book an appointment, they start when they want and literally do nothing but chanting the same mantras thrice and say it’s done.

If you are in my situation where you can’t go to India and want to do ritual here, I would recommend to avoid this temple or the priest K and find a good preist who values your emotions and respect your feelings. Else, donate the amount you want to spend on the rituals here or buy food for the homeless. That would definitely have some value and helps spiritually the...

I went to this temple yesterday morning for sashti. Since I didn't have time to go in the evening for soorsamharam. I asked the priest ( on blue panchakacham) for vibuthi from murugan as this day was auspicious . He said he was so busy that he can't go take and give it. He will try in 10mins. I waited there for more than 20mins. He was busy in talking to his coworker bit moving things here and there. Not that busy the way I saw him. It won't take not even 2 mins for that he asked me to come in the evening for samharam just to convince that he can't give. We are all going to temple to get blessings and feel bliss and peace and that too on fasting days , expected only vibuthi. If you can't offer vibuthi for devotees during temple hours after a request then what is the purpose of priest. Very disappointing on sashti day.

So far, I haven't experienced anything like this. There were other priests during special occasions, were so good...