January 30, 2006.

“In God we trust. In God we believe. In God we have faith. Neither time or distance change these facts in this global age.”

Historically in Indian society, the place of worship used to be the focal point for the community. Much of social interaction used to be centered around this institution and the role it played in a person’s life could not be undervalued. Most  religious entities today face the same challenges. But with the average Hindu today, the impact is probably deeper.

In today’s fast paced world, where more and more people are venturing further way from home, the role of the family temple seems to be diminishing and it has become difficult for people to link the temple to their faith in God. Furthermore, younger generations who do not have an opportunity for a physical `connect’ with the temple, increasingly find spiritualism and religion to be a `waste of time’ in their modern science and commerce oriented lifestyles. This distance has created a wide chasm between God, the temple and the people. The lack of access to temples and the lost opportunity to educate and inculcate the younger generation to the beliefs and faith of the religion, has had the older generation perpetually worried and has left them with a dire need to reconnect to their roots.

Aware of this growing global crisis, the Trustees of Shree Siddhivinayak Temple organized the ‘International Temple Summit 2006’ from the 28th to the 29th of January 2006. To guarantee the success of this auspicious task, the religious leaders from all across India who were gathered together at ITC Grand Central Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Mumbai inaugurated the summit with a puja (prayer).

The Summit
During the summit, experts from different fields reinforced the primary role of the temple and how they (the temple) can reconnect with global devotees through the adoption of existing modern technology. One of presentations that made the most impact was ‘Operation Omnipresence’ by Apurva Mody, the Director of Marketing at Avenues, who spoke about the logistics of using the Internet to reach the devotee. For more information: http://www.siddhivinayak.org/summitpresentations.asp

About Avenues
Avenues is a profitable, debt-free company and currently services thousands of eMerchants worldwide through its solutions www.CCAvenue.com, www.ResAvenue.com, www.EventAvenue.com, www.MembersAvenue.com, www.TrustAvenue.com, www.BpoAvenue.com. It is the largest integrated eCommerce solutions provider in South Asia. Avenues has shown revenue growth and profit growth consistently, year on year. Avenues is incorporated in India, and has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, and USA. The Avenues support and development center is based in Mumbai, India. The total strength of the Avenues team is currently 120 personnel, spanning across all disciplines. For more information, log onto: www.Avenues.info

About SiddhivinayakTemple
Consecrated on 19th November 1801, the Siddhivinayak Temple was built on the site of a 200-year old temple at Prabhadevi, Mumbai.  Dedicated to the God Ganesh or Ganapati, it was built by the Late Mrs. Deubai Patil who prayed that no woman experience the pain of being childless. It became famous as ‘Ganapati bestows whenever humbly genuinely prayed a wish’. It is fondly known as “Navasacha Ganapati” or “Navasala Pavanara Ganapati” by its devotees who every Tuesday, walk barefooted across the city to pray.