Shree Pashupatinath and Buddha Mandir

About Shree Pashupatinath Foundation, USA (SPFU)

Shree Pashupatinath Foundation, USA aims to provide a common place for all Nepali Hindus, Buddhists and other nationalities of these faiths to congregate culturally, spiritually and religiously, to pray in accordance with their faith, to promote and preserve Nepali cultural heritage, to strengthen social and religious harmony and to practice and promote Nepali cultural values. The immediate goal of SPF is to build and maintain Hindu/Buddhist Cultural and Spiritual Center (a joint project of Pashupati Temple, Buddha Stupa, and Community Hall), around Los Angeles area.

Brief History:

Greater Los Angeles and surrounding area has a long history of Nepalese living here, may be over 3 decades. The population of Nepalese has increased in fast pace in this area for 5 years or more. As population grows, it is obvious to have a common place for Nepalese to get together and celebrate our cultural programs as they are many. In the past, many organizations have been formed to help Nepalese community in Southern California. These organizations also initiated a plan to have a common place for Nepalese Community but the idea didn’t manifest until last year. There had been many discussions, ideas sharing, planning about establishing a common meeting place for all Nepalese in Greater Los Angeles area. After many discussions, a public meeting was held on December 12, 2009, at the India Cafe restaurant in Cerritos, and the following community members were selected to serve on the board of directors:

Executive Board

• Chairman : Bhakta Thapa
• 1st Vice-Chairman : Gokul Poudyal
• Vice-Chairman : Shiva Kumar Adhikari
• General Secretary: Prem Guragain
• Treasurer : Punnakhar “Rishi” Dhakal
• Members:
• Akaraj Pandey
• Basudev Ghimire
• Dinendra Bhattarai
• Bed Dawadi
• Amita Poudyal
• Bisoraj Oopadhyaya
• Arjun Tripathi
• Bakhan Thapa
• Ganesh Bogati
• Prakash Chandra Ghimire
• Uma Karki Thapa
• Mukunda Dhungana
• Anil Pradhan
• Dil Bahadur Shrestha
• Madan Prasad Pathak
• Rajendra Siwakoti
• The aforesaid board was expanded and this expanded board had 33 members, and an Executive Committee was formed with the following officers:
• Chairman : Bhakta Thapa
• 1st Vice-Chairman : Gokul Poudyal
• Vice-Chairman : Shiva Kumar Adhikar
• Vice-Chairman : Basudev Ghimire
• General Secretary: Prem Guragain
• Secretary : Rajendra Siwakoti
• Treasurer : Punnakhar “Rishi” Dhakal
• Joint Treasurer : Madan Prasad Pathak

Executive Members:

• Dinendra Bhattarai,
• Mukunda Dhungana,
• Arjun Tripathi
• Now, we are in the process of creating many sub-committees to take care of various responsibilities.

Advisory Board (2010-2014)

• Binod Tiwari
• Deepak Shimkhada
• Jeet Joshee
• Kanhaiya Kayastha
• Shambhu Dhungana
• Shyam Tulachan
• Veda B. Joshi

Executive Committee (2010-2014)

• Bhakta Thapa – President
• Gokul Poudyal- 1st Vice-President
• Shiva Kumar Adhikari- Vice-President
• Basudev Ghimire- Vice-President
• Prem Guragain – General Secretary
• Rajendra Siwakoti – Secretary
• Rishi Punnakhar Dhakal – Treasurer
• Madan Pathak – Joint-Treasurer
• Mukunda Dhungana – Member
• Arjun Tripathi – Member
• Dinendra Bhattarai – Member

Board of Directors (2010-2014)

• Akaraj Pandey
• Amita Poudyal
• Anil Pradhan
• Arjun Tripathi
• Bakhan Thapa Magar
• Basudev Ghimire
• Bed Dawadi
• Bhakta Thapa
• Bisoraj Oopadhyaya
• Deepak Pathak
• Dil Shrestha
• Dinendra Bhattarai
• Ganesh Bogati
• Gokul Poudyal
• Hari Ram Pant
• Ishwari Bhattarai
• Kiran Upadhyaya
• Lal Kaji Shrestha
• Madan Pathak
• Manita Basnet
• Mukunda Dhungana
• Netra Mainaly
• Prabin Man Shrestha
• Prakash C Ghimire
• Prem Guragain
• Rishi Punnakhar Dhakal
• Rajendra Siwakoti
• Shiva Kumar Adhikari
• Suman Rana
• Sunita K Choudhary
• Sushma Pradhan
• Tara Black Gurun
• Uma Karki Thapa

Likewise, the board also appointed five members to the advisory board that consisted of Dr. Deepak Simkhada, Mr. Veda Bhakta Joshi, Dr. Shambhu Dhungana, Er. Kanhaiya Kayastha, Dr. Shyam Tulachan. After a while, board decided to add Dr. Binod Tiwari and Dr. Jeet Joshee to the advisory board. As we moved forward, we registered a corporation in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of California on February 3, 2010 and we got tax exempt status {501 (C) (3)} on May 10,2010.