New Temple Construction
We are very excited to share with you a wonderful opportunity to participate in a noble and glorious project.
The construction of a new temple in Bethany, Portland area, which is one of the most rapidly growing areas in metro Portland!
The current ISKCON temple is located in Hillsboro. The temple is a vibrant and dynamic community, where we celebrate many beautiful festivals throughout the year, the biggest of which is Sri Krishna Janmashtami, which was attended by 3500 people this year. These festivals are an opportunity to deepen our spiritual practice and come together as a community. We celebrate with festive decorations, deity worship, kirtan, dance, dramas and free vegetarian food. We also participate in the annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra as part of the Beaverton Parade.
Our weekly Sunday feast gathering is a mini-festival in-itself, where devotees and guests can learn about the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavat Purana, participate in aarati, and chant Bhagavan’s names with devotion. The program concludes with a wonderful free vegetarian prasadam. These seemingly simple activities, when done in the mood of devotion, is the most sublime and easy method of attaining complete happiness.
ISKCON Portland regularly engages in various outreach activities, such as distributing spiritual books including Bhagavad-Gita, performing kirtan programs in parks and public places, and conducting home programs with senior devotees to spread the joy of bhakti in the community. These events are open to the public and we welcome everyone to join us.
Our temple is not just a place where one only comes for festivals, rather we cultivate a family atmosphere of a common bond of love and service to Bhagavan Sri Krishna and all beings. It’s a place where anyone, regardless of their background, can find peace, happiness, and spiritual fulfillment.
With these goals in mind and the needs of a growing community, ISKCON Portland is now planning to move to a new and bigger location. In the growth of our current temple, we have observed that the vast majority of our guests reside in Bethany. Therefore, we desire to build a new temple in Bethany. This temple will bring a spiritual presence and auspicious blessings into the Bethany community.
Few of the facilities planned for the new temple:
- A spacious and elegant temple hall where beautiful and merciful deities will be worshiped with great care and devotion.
- A large and comfortable conference room where devotees and guests can gather for kirtan, spiritual classes and seminars.
- A kitchen and a dining hall where delicious and nutritious prasadam will be prepared and served to everyone who visits the temple.
- Food catering to serve the needs of the community.
- Classrooms for our children to learn our profound cultural and spiritual heritage. There will also be a playground for children to have fun with their friends.
- Very large open space for celebrating big festivals like Janmashtami with multiple tents, stages, etc.
- A community hall for private gatherings.
- Classroom space rentals for holding music, dance, language classes etc, by community members.
- A gift shop for all your spiritual needs.
- Lots of parking spaces.
- A garden and a park where people can relax and meditate.
Services the temple will provide includes:
- Opportunity for people of all backgrounds and ages to learn Vedic scriptures as taught by experienced teachers.
- Facilities with highly qualified and trained priests who can perform yajnas and samskaras in the community.
These are some of the benefits that the new temple will offer to the community. But the most important benefit is that this temple will be a place where our community can meet and grow spiritually every day.
But we cannot do this without you. We need your generous support and contribution to make this vision into reality.
Building a temple is not an easy task. It requires a lot of resources, such as land, materials, qualified architects, engineers, designers and construction firms.
We have already identified a suitable plot of land for the temple, but we need your help to raise funds to finalize the purchase of land and start the construction. We have estimated that the total cost of the project for the 1st phase will be around $5 million. Initially, we need to raise $1 million by mid January 2024 to complete the land purchase and legal permits.
That is why we are appealing to you, our dear friends and well-wishers, to help us in this noble and glorious endeavor. We are requesting you to donate whatever amount you can, according to your capacity and willingness, to this temple project. No donation is too small or too big. Every penny counts. Every dollar matters. Every contribution is valuable.
And by donating to this temple project, you will not only help us, but also yourself. Because by helping to build a temple for Krishna, you will receive unlimited spiritual benefits, as mentioned in the Vedic scriptures. S.B. 11.27.52 says
pratiṣṭhayā sārvabhaumaṁ
sadmanā bhuvana-trayam
pūjādinā brahma-lokaṁ
tribhir mat-sāmyatām iyāt
Translation: By installing the Deity of the Lord one becomes king of the entire earth, by building a temple for the Lord one becomes ruler of the three worlds, by worshiping and serving the Deity one goes to the planet of Lord Brahmā, and by performing all three of these activities one achieves a transcendental form like My own.
So please, do not miss this golden opportunity. Donate generously to this temple project, and make this vision a reality. We need your prayers, your donations, and your participation.
We request you to join us in this mission to spread the glory of Bhagavan Sri Krishna to every corner of the world. Please, be a part of this historic project, and help us create a legacy for generations to come!
Hare Krishna!