Orange County Register
June 11, 2005

Hindus opening new O.C. center today

Members are welcoming the community to visit 7,000-square-foot Tustin facility.

By ANN PEPPER, Orange County Register

TUSTIN – Swami Ishwarananda loves to go bowling.

He hasn't had much time to make it down to the lanes lately, though – what with preparing for today's inauguration of the 7,000-square-foot Chinmaya Mithila Center in Tustin, the newest Hindu center in Orange County, home to an estimated 10,000 members of that faith.

Hundreds of local families are expected to attend – and members say everyone is welcome – to sample authentic Indian food, listen to some speeches by the swamis, tour the center and its formal gardens, and maybe learn a bit about who Rama and Shiva are.

In 1996, Ishwarananda helped 60 members found the Chinmaya group's first center, in Anaheim. Since then, membership has grown to more than 800 – including families such as the Alamshaws.

Like many Orange County families, Anita Alamshaw, a senior director for Johnson & Johnson, her husband, Dr. Freddie Alamshaw, and their two children, ages 5 and 7, race around Orange County daily on a hectic whirlwind of work, business travel, social events and kids activities from soccer to horseback-riding lessons.

On Sundays, all of that comes to a full stop.

That's when the Anaheim Hills couple accompany their two youngsters to the 9-year-old Kasi center on Disneyland Drive in Anaheim.

At the center, the children attend BalaVihar – Hindu Sunday school – and their parents listen to a talk by Ishwarananda.

"It is very, very important to us," said Anita Alamshaw, 35. "Having the center has made a huge difference for us. I was born here, and growing up the music I wanted to listen to was Duran Duran.

"Now, to a good extent because of the center, my children embrace Indian culture. They'll get in the car and want to put on Indian music. It means something to us to pass this on to our children.

"The music, the food, the clothing, the social part – and the religion, the morals and values."

Most of the new members are local Indians, Ishwarananda, 40, said this week during a conversation at the faith's quiet and spotless Anaheim center.

Some spent their childhoods immersed in the Hindu faith in their native country but fell away from it in the United States, he said. Others met to pray in private homes.

But Hindus who particularly cherished Chinmaya's emphasis on the balance of head and heart had no formal place to worship locally – until the creation of Kasi.

The center also began to attract a few westerners, most often to take classes in meditation, stress management and yoga.

Ishwarananda, a former software engineer, hopes more will come to the new center.

"I do not see any difference between real Hinduism and real Christianity, because fundamentally all major faiths are directing toward the higher spirit," he said. "It doesn't matter whether you worship Christ or Krishna. What's important is your sincerity. We are interested in seeing you develop a sustained interest in faith. We would never insist you believe in this god or the other only. ... Because God does not have any particular form. God is a spirit within."

Ishwarananda said the spirit was pretty weak within him back in his student days.

Then one day in 1986, the 21-year-old saw a notice about a talk that Swami Chinmayananda would give on "logical spirituality."

"I had been looking for exactly that," Ishwarananda said. "I was looking for a logic behind spirituality. And it was such an interesting talk. He was already 70 and yet he was so youthful, dynamic and cheerful. I wanted to know the secret.

"He said that noble works and ethical values keep you close to your own peace. Values like compassion, truthfulness and honesty.

"He said: 'Why do you see me so happy all the time, so dynamic? Because I have these good qualities constantly beckoning me.'

"I thought this was something I should learn."

Before long Ishwarananda, who was called Someshwar Chaitanya before his ordination, became a regular at the swami's lectures. He started working with young people and took the lead on several Chinmaya Mission projects.

In 1991, he abandoned his computer career and entered the seminary.

After a stint ministering in India, he came to Orange County, where he lectures on topics such as how to stop worrying about the past and the future and start living in the moment.

"If you have a task at hand," he tells his listeners, "just do it – just like Nike, huh?," he said with a laugh. "Pay your total attention in what you are doing rather than what is going to come. That's the key."

It's what he learned from Chinmayananda.

"When you have that spiritual life inside you are not worried, not preoccupied, the mind is not somewhere (else) and you are able to focus the energy completely on what you are doing."

Nearly 2 million Asian Indians live in the United States, about 26,910 in Orange County, according to the 2000 U.S. census.

And at least since Ravi Shankar brought his sitar over, Indian culture has become an increasing part of the popular milieu. Check out Gwen Stefani's choreography, or the fashions and jewelry in Nordstrom's, or how many yoga workshops have cropped up.

It goes both ways.

Swami Ishwarananda is learning how to roll a hook straight for the pocket.