BREMEN, GERMANY, June 5, 2018 (Kreiszeitung, translated from German): It was a moving day for the approximately 60 families of the Bremen Hindu community on Monday. Many of the community members , with their guests, gathered to celebrate a special ceremony in Osterholz on the grounds of the Ellener Village retirement home run by the Bremen Heimstiftung elder-care foundation. Where there is now an unlevel meadow, a Hindu temple is to be built on about 1,400 square meters, dedicated to the God of fortune Ganesha. In order to successfully initiate this construction project of the Bremen Sri Varasiththivinayakar Temple association, a black and white dairy cow named Madel paid an extraordinary visit in January of this year. By watching the cow’s reaction to the place, the Hindu community concluded that is the right location for a temple. Now other sacred actions are being done to bless the spot.
“In order to purify and consecrate the place where the temple’s altar will be built, we have a pit about 20 feet by 26 feet in size. It contains a small copper plate with a picture of Ganesha, a shell, various foods, flowers, stones and also earth from a piece of land where elephants live and other objects,” says Pathmakaran Pathmanathan, treasurer of the Bremen Hindu association and one of the initiators of the temple project. Many of the essentials for the ceremony were brought back by the 45-year-old Tamil from a trip to his homeland. “We are very pleased to be able to create a new center for ourselves and our faith – right in the middle of and with the people here in Osterholz,” says Pathmanathan. For many members of his community, this temple will soon be in their neighborhood.