Atlanta, GA: A newly made awesome Dhwaja Stambha (flagpole) with brass sheathing was installed within the precincts of Lord Siva Temple housed inside the Hindu Temple of Atlanta, Riverdale, Georgia, on November 11. The Dhwaja Stambha was ceremoniously consecrated in the presence of Swami Tattvavidananda of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. The new Dhwaja Stambha erected in front of Siva temple is part of the ongoing completion of the Siva temple built in 2004.


Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati is an eminent Vedanta Scholar, an expert exponent of Vedantic treatises, epics, the Bhagavad-Gita and many Upanishads. He is a disciple of Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam.  While offering his blessings to the jubilant devotees immediately after the consecration of Dhwaja Stambha, Swami Tattvavidananda expressed his happiness and commended the Indian community members, who live thousands of miles away from their homeland, for attending the installation of Dhwaja Stambha in accordance with Agama Shastra. He further said Indians living outside India were observing the Indian culture and heritage more scrupulously than the people in India. He explained the significance of Dhwaja Stambha and Panchakshari mantra.
The three-day Dhwaja Stambha pratisthapana ceremony conforming to traditional rituals commenced on the evening of November 8 with sankalpa and concluded with a grand finale on November 11 with Dhwaja Stapana, Dhwaja Maha Kumbhabhishekam and Dhwaja Arohana. Thousands of devotees and visitors from all over neighboring states thronged the temple to witness the sacred Dhwaja Stambha pratisthapana.


A huge Yagasala (canopy) was erected in the foreground of Siva Temple, under which decorated homa- kundas were constructed. The temple’s resident priests, Srinivasa Sarma Adaraasupalli, Pavan Kumar Kistapati, Narasimha Murty Challa, Siva Naga Kumar Dusi, Sai Swarna from Memphis temple along with Vedic pundits performed homas chanting Vedic slokas,. Some of the salient features of three-day ceremonies were Anugna, Ganapati puja, Punyahavachanam, Vastu puja, Mrutsangrahanam, Agni pratista homam, Pradhaana Kalasa yaga Sala Pravesam.

For the Siva temple, built in the traditional South Indian style, Dhwaja Stambha is an indispensible component. Dhwaja Stambham serves like a divine antenna to receive cosmic energy and to communicate prayers of the devotees to the Almighty. Hindu temples are not mere civil engineering structures and stony idols. Temples are not only divine abodes but a reflection of the human body for the presiding deity. There are specific religiously ordained steps in the installation (pratisthapana) of a Dhwaja Stambha in a temple premises as mandated in the Agama Shastras. Dhwaja Stambha also symbolizes all the deities installed in the temple. Devotees traditionally prostrate and pay their obeisance at the base of the post, satisfied having prostrated before the entire deities in the temple all at once.
As an act of religious purification, a replica of Dhwaja Stambha made in Silver was immersed in water (Jalaadhivasam) along with paddy (dhaanyaadhivaasam), milk (Ksheeradhivasam), new garment (Sayyadhivasam), and flowers (Pushpaadhivaasam).
Kurma yantra was engraved on a metal plate and Vedic rituals were performed and placed under Dhwaja Stambha along with gems, Nava Ratnas, gold, coins and Panchakshari (Om Namah Sivaya) Mantra Likhita Japa books written for several months by several devotees. The purpose of these ceremonies was to surcharge the Dhwaja Stambha and to infuse divinity into it.
The Hindu temple of Atlanta, Riverdale has two temples in the same location -- one temple with Lord Balaji built in 1990 as the presiding deity and the other temple with Lord Siva as the presiding deity built in 2004. In addition to the presiding deities, both temples also houses other idols.