Missouri Ganesha Temple

Our Core Vision and Mission

MAIN DEITIES

The temple includes shrines of Maha Ganapathi, Abeeshta Kapileshwara, Raja Rajeshwari, Karthikeya, & Lakshmi Venkateswara

Shri Maha Ganapathi

Priest Shivashankar Sastry

Pandit Shivashankar hails from Cheelampalli Village in Andhra Pradesh (Chittoor District). Starting at a very young age of 8, he studied Krishna Yajur Veda Kramam at Mahaswami Vidya Peetam in Thenambakkam Patashala. The Patashala was started by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.
Lalgudi Sri Subramanya Ganapadigal who was the Acharya at the Patashala for 40 years, was his Guru. At the age of 20, Pandit Shivashankar meritoriously completed his Vedic education securing First class. Following his Vedic studies, he learned Agamam from Sri Sabhananda Dikshitar at Chidambaram.
After completing his education, he served as a priest in Bangalore. From 2005 to 2010 Pandit Shivashankar was a priest at Sri Ganesha Temple of Nashville, TN. Pandit is very well versed in various Homams (like Ganapathi, Chandi, Sapthashati, Rudra, etc.) & Shodasha karmas (like Seemantham, Jata Karma, Upanayanam, Vivaham, Antyeshti etc.) His attention to details of the Alankarams done with a personal touch, makes us feel the presence of the Lord. He has also organized & assisted in conducting many Kumba Abhishekams for various temples in both India and the United States. Started in small numbers and grew to large participation of Ekadashavara Rudram chanting was one of the key highlights while he was serving as a priest in the Nashville, Sri Ganesha Temple.

Born to Shri Chengalraya Shastry a renowned priest and astrologer, and Shrimathi Saraswathamma, Pandit Shivashankar was inducted into religious services since his very young age. He currently lives in the Bay Area since 2010 with his wife and two wonderful kids, serving at the VVGC temple in San Jose.

Volunteers

Back bone of our temple

Volunteers are the core building blocks of the Missouri Ganesha temple. Being a temple run by 100% volunteer model to serve the community, they are the primary backbone behind all our activities. The scope of work ranges from temple maintenance, system support, making garlands, arranging for major events, making prasadam, parking management, crowd control, taking care of finances, donor programs, managing audio-video and above all certain qualified volunteers support priest activities along with our designated priest(s).

Words cannot express the gratitude of the work being done by them and the group keeps growing. We welcome the new volunteers with open arms.