IACO

The $3 million temple is the worship place of about 400 people with Hindu backgrounds, but Baba is available to anyone, said Naresh Induri of Hilliard, who serves as chairman of the society’s board of trustees.

“His main teachings are faith and patience and to treat all human beings the same,” Induri said.

About a mile away, members of the Jain Center of Central Ohio gathered on Thursday to discuss the ongoing construction of a $2.1 million temple set to open the weekend of July 20 at 6651 S. Old State Rd.

The site was chosen, in part, because the Columbus area welcomes people with various backgrounds, said Dr. Mukesh Shah, the chairman of the group’s board, and T.J. Salgia, a trustee.

“We want to be in harmony with other religious practices,” Shah said.

The 7,600-square-foot building lined with large windows has marble floors, classrooms, a yoga/meditation room and a worship hall to hold statues of deities.

Shah said the group has about 50 families who worship regularly and another 50 who attend on major holidays. He and Salgia hope the new temple will encourage more-consistent attendance and offer a different perspective to people of other faiths.

“You can be a good Christian or a good Jew and a good Jain as well,” Salgia said. “It is a way of living.”

They describe Jainism as a “do-it-yourself” nonviolent, minimalistic philosophy. Jains own and use only what they need, respect all perspectives and are vegetarians.

The temples show that both faith communities feel comfortable making their homes in the Columbus area, said Tarunjit Singh Butalia, the president of the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio.

“Central Ohioans of many faiths have welcomed these neighbors with open arms,” Butalia said. “This has allowed immigrant religious groups to make the transition from ‘them’ to ‘us.’  ”

Ohio is home to more than 64,000 Asian-Americans of Indian descent, growing by more than half since 2000, according to a state report based on 2009 and 2010 census data. About 53,000 live in Franklin County, making up 4.6 percent of the population. Delaware County is home to another 8,700, about 5 percent of the population.

Central Ohio Jains worshipped at one another’s homes in the 1980s before they began meeting in Hindu temples. The group has been raising donations to build its own temple for 20 years. It is the third Jain temple in Ohio, joining those in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The Sai Baba temple, at 2596 Lewis Center Rd., is the first in the state, Induri said.

The 8,000-square-foot Baba temple celebrated its grand opening in April. Besides the main worship area, it has four smaller shrines to Hindu gods, a meditation hall, a kitchen, classrooms and a meeting hall. Throughout are relics from Baba, including a pair of sandals made of silver.

Devotees have met in central Ohio, mostly in a storefront building in Dublin, for about a dozen years, said Induri. They built the temple, in part, with donations collected in the past 10 years.

Orange Township Trustees Chairman Rob Quigley welcomes the temples and said the area also has drawn interest from a group planning to build a church.

“It shows this community is growing, we have a diverse community and it’s a good place to live,” he said.