Post year 1977, many new temples have added to the count of 108 temples left behind by Srila Prabhupada.
The Ramnavami of the year 2024, witnessed an addition to the count of ISKCON Temples in Delhi. The count of temples in Delhi has reached eighteen in number granting an opportunity to the residents to be fully Krishna Conscious.
In a letter written in 1970, to his disciple Sri Tamala Krishna Goswami, Srila Prabhupada says,
“I want the Temples should be constructed by the local natives—that is our success.”
The temples of the Hare Krishna Movement have been built mainly with the involvement of the native devotees. This has been Srila Prabhupada’s desire that native devotees construct the Hare Krishna temples in their respective localities.
Being a farsighted sage Srila Prabhupada laid down the parameters of devotional life. Not only he reflected upon the significance of beautiful temples but also laid before his disciples and coming generations of devotees the guidelines for the construction.
On the 17 th April,2024, amidst the celebrations of “Ramnavmi”; a magnificient temple was inaugrated by the natives of Rohini in New Delhi. The majestic temple welcomed the beautiful enchanting deities of The Supreme Personality of Godhead with his entourage. A grand week long celebration filled the hearts with divine love. The temple with a covered area of one lakh seventy five thousand square feet stands majestically on the main road that encircles the Delhi city. Every inch of the temple has been build excellently .
Thousands of people thronged to witness the beautiful ceremonies. All were mesmerised with the beauty of the palatial temple.
The ceremony of Netro milan , Shyan adivas and then Pran Pratishtha were attended by senior vaisanva acaryas from the different parts of the world.
Here is a long list of senior acaryas who graced the auspicious occassion with their benign presence ; His Holiness Loknath swami ,His Holiness B.B. Govinda swami, His Holiness Bhakti Rasamrita Swami, His Holiness Guru Prasad Swami, His Grace Kartu prabhu, His Grace Mahaman prabhu,His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardhan swami,HisHoliness Bhakti Ashraya Swami,His Holiness Prabhodananda Swami,HH Bhakti Rakshak Gokulnanda swami,His Holiness Sri Krsishna Caityana Swami,His Holiness Shukdev swami, His Holiness Vanmali Swami, His Grace Vaiyasaki prabhu,His grace Radhe Shyam prabhu, His Grace Revati Raman prabhu,His Grace Surdas prabhu,His Grace Mohan Rupa prabhu. They all appreciated and admired the architecture and the interiors of the temple. Their keen interest to seek all minute deatils of the art and architecture of the temple proved their adulation.
Hastinapur (Delhi) has been blessed by the divine presence of The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself and Srila Prabhupada (a true representative of the Supreme Lord ). Srila Prabhupada had struggled hard to establish Krsna Consciousness in Delhi.
Since then the holy name has been flowing into the hearts of people of Delhi . His disciples and grand disciples continue to do so loyally till date.
With hearts filled with love and spirits high , the devotees in ISKCON unfolded a new chapter, celebrating the august emblem of devotion to Their Lordships.The loads of love and hard work are the main ingredients for this breathtakingly beautiful home for Their Lordships . The spectacular temple spread in an acre of land with five floors is a beautiful sight to behold. The Temple hall exceeds 15000 square feet ; one of the biggest after TOVP in Mayapur.
His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami ; the GBC for Delhi has played a vital role in motivating the devotees of Rohini to construct a beautiful grand temple . The desire for a temple in Rohini dates back to the year 1985, when a doctor residing here got initiated and became an enthusiastic preacher . Adikesava prabhu a devotee who at present is a well settled businessman in Canada was pioneer in introducing Dr. Krishnapriya to ISKCON. Dr Krishnapriya prabhu started book distribution vigrously and made many devotees. Soon Bhakti kutir was established and the devotees number started rising tremondously.
In 1987, Adikesava prabhu applied for a land for temple in Rohini. A long struggle of eight years came to an end with a happy note. By the endeavors of Radhakinkar prabhu and HH Bhakti Rakshak Gokulnanda swami ISKCON Rohini was allotted one acre of land at a strategic location.
The then president of ISKCON Punjabi Bagh Vrajendra Nandan prabhu helped to accelerate the preaching in Rohini. He extended invitation to the Rohini devotees every week for the Saturday feast lecture to the Punjabi bagh ISKCON in the year 1998. Devotees filled the temple as they came in large numbers.
HH Gopal Krishna Goswami left no stone unturned to preach in Rohini. Rasapriya prabhu (my husband) and myself have personally witnessed this preaching spree when we joined ISKCON in 1999. We would follow him personally to listen to his discourses while he would preach in half a dozen homes on a single visit to Rohini. He was showering special mercy on the people of ’Rohini’. Gradually not one but many buses filled with devotees would crowd into the small temple of Punjabi Bagh.
Acquiring the land was not the end of the struggle. Ground breaking (Bhumi Pujan) ceremony happened in 2002 but the construction could not happen due to many obstructions. The main challlenge was awaiting the devotees.Structural drawings were drafted and the construction began but unfortunately it came to a halt.
Finally by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada the sincere prayers of the devotees from Rohini were heard.
Then in the year 2012, HG Vedavyas prabhu ; a surrendered soul became a part of this project. He put all his energy ,time and money to shape up this magnificient project.He invited HG Rasapriya das ; a fine and a very talented architect and interior designer to work along with him. The aim was to make a very beautiful palace for Their Lordships.
The needful structural alterations came up and then commenced the beautification of the temple. The Rajasthani royal artwork was the theme. The artists to do hand painting with pure gold leafing on the walls and roof from the interiors of Rajasthan were found. Various art forms of Rajasthan have been simply revived here. Tikri work (glass pieces and paint),Arise work,intricate stone work , marble carvings by hand, marble inlay work with lot of detailing adorn this temple. Skilled labour from the interiors of Agra whose forefathers had made ‘Taj mahal’ were approached and they came up to do all heavy marble inlay work in the altars.
The Temple has an entry no less than an entry into a Fort. Fourteen huge round pillars heavily hand carved in red sand stone greet the devotees with a salutation. The use of Red sand stone in such a regal way leaves one spell bound. The huge hand crafted Rajasthani jhalis with intricate designs and heavily carved huge Jharokas on either sides of the stairs takes one into the royal ancient times.The aristocratic gates in cast iron to secure the temple premises are a beauty in themselves.The grandeur and scale of the new temple has touched everyone’s heart.
As one climbs the entrance stepping on red sand stone steps ;huge crystal chandeliers dropping from the roof throw the yellow light all around. At the ground level just as one climbs few steps “Govindas “ the famous chain of Iskcon restaurants invites all. With a seating of 120 people and a private hall with huge stained glasses fitted in a lovely carved Burma Teak partition. The roof of Govindas is again wooden in a most artistic form and kitchen of the restaurant has been designed by a renowned kitchen designer. Special care has been taken to maintain the high standards of ISKCON. The use of different kinds and colors of marbles and stones for the flooring is not to be missed. The immaculate styles of flooring leaves one captivated. Rasapriya prabhu has played with variety of designs in the placement of marble.
The temple hall entrance is as grand as the main entrance. Three huge heavily carved wooden entrance doors with brass fittings open up to welcome the devotees. Outside these doors is a courtyard with an intricately carved white marble chatri for ‘Tulsi Maharani.’ At this height one enjoys cool breeze and the sight of the green trees . Two majestic staircase with 12 feet wide steps starting from both the sides of the ‘’Govindas “ end up here. Either sides of the terminating point of the stairs are white marble fountains with lights fitted in them. The sparkling coloured water adds to the beauty of the temple. The stair cases are all glittering with massive chandliers with crystals dangling. The walls of the staircase are all filed with beautiful rajasthani frames oulined by a hand painter with nice pastel colors and stone carved motifs decorate the wall. The roof of the staicase has all intricate designs that add splendor to the temple.
The opulent temple hall is decorated with two huge domes measuring in the diameter of 50 feet and 35 feet respectively. the bigger dome is designed in the lotus shape with petals individually depicting a piece of art. Dioramas depicting various pastimes of the Supreme Lord were placed in one layer of the lotus petals. Another layer of petals is hand painted beautifully to enhace the grandeur of the hall. In the middle of the dome is a huge 17 feet wide mural shaped Chandlier in the shape of a Lotus.
The multicolored blown glass mural when lit up dazzles the hall. Its an amazing piece of art. The second dome has Krsna’s beloved bird ‘Peacock ‘ as the theme. Sri Krsna accepts peacock feather on his forehead and the peacocks are extremely happy to take the darsan of the Supreme Lord whose complexion is the colour of rainfilled clouds. The peacocks in the tikri work adorn the dome with hand painted ‘Rasa dance’ with different dance movements of Sri Sri Radha Krishna has been depicted on the lower ledge of the dome. This tikri work in the dome glitters like diamonds when the peacock shaped blown glass mural chandlier lits up. This is a 15 feet wide mural chandlier again of colored blown glass placed in the centre of this dome.
The walls of the temple hold the hand painted ‘dioramas’ depicting the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Each Diorama is placed under an oranmental ‘mehrab’ encompassed by off white pillars on both the sides. These huge pillars are not just ordinary pillars. They have been polished with fermented dal, lassi,lime stone with other ingredients and finally rubbed with almond oil. The extraordinary sparkle that’s no less than the marble shine emanates from the pillars. This ‘arise’ work was done 200-300 years ago. To find the labour to do so was a challenging task but ‘where there is a will there is a way.’
Rasapriya prabhu’s determination and passion broke all barriers of time machine. He found them and went ahead to apply the technique on the majestic pillars of the temple hall. His love to build the ‘Palace for the Deities’ was the source of inspiration.
He took care of all the minutest of details for the pleasure of Their Lordships.
The three grand altars hosting the extraordinarily beautiful Deities installed in the glorious palace enchant the devotees.
The heavily carved wooden doors and chaukats of the three altars add to the magnificence of the temple altars. Intricate hand carving has been done on the layers of Burma teak that frame the altars and heavily carved sliding wooden doors look aristocratic. The marble vedi where Deities are stationed has been embellished with inlay work in multicolored marble depicting a procession of men on elephants , horses, on foot with musical instruement and flags. This unique piece of art gives pleasure to the eyes.
The Deities installed here are special. First time in India Panch Tattva have been installed outside Mayapur. Sri Sri Radha Madhava along with Lalita and Visaka and Ram Darbar reside in their ‘Palace.’
The ‘parikarma marg ‘ is remarkably hand painted with beautiful bright yet pastel colors and glass work in rajasthani art too. The roofs especially desined as in old palaces of Rajasthan. Rasapriya prabhu left no endeavor to enhance the beauty of this magnificient palace. The walls adorn the hand painted pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Madhva ,Panch Tattava and Sri Sri Sita Ram .
All done with love and devotion by Anjana das prabhu.
Soon on the first floor a multi media museum depicting the pastimes of aaSri Krisna would be inaugrated with an open air snack bar in the beautiful surroundings.
This temple has been named by HH Gopal Krishna Goswami maharaja as being one of the most ‘artisitc temple’
in ISKCON.
A Senior devotee commented this temple to be indeed a “Master piece’’ and further added saying “rather its not wrong to say ‘’a master piece of the masterpieces.”
The Rohini ISKCON has thus appeared in Indraprastha, in its full splendour to distribute “Krsna Prema.”
written by
Radhika krpa dd
(Author and International preacher)
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=112518
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