Brief history:
During the stage program of the inauguration, Smt Usha Bhardwaj w/o Late Sri Gopal Bhardwaja revealed that they met Srila Prabhupada for the first time in 1972 in Australia and their faith grew in spiritual life upon receiving personal care and affection from him. They became the first life members in Australia and felt inspired to contribute in building a temple at Bahadurgarh, their homeland(on the borders of Delhi and Hariyana, India). To them, however, Srila Prabhupada did not seem to be very interested at first. Upon insistence by their family and by their seriousness, Srila Prabhupada invited them to visit and meet in India. However, the family did not go immediately but in early 80s. Upon reaching Delhi, the old temple at Lajpat Nagar, they inquired the local devotees to meet Srila Prabhupada and were informed of his passing away. They felt shocked and deeply disappointed that their dream of serving him by building a temple would not be complete. However, they took courage, and in later years met HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and donated the land to ISKCON. Upon passing of Sri Gopal Bharadwaj, Smt Usha Bharadwaj wanted to see its completion in her lifetime and requested devotees to start and complete the temple.
The Temple
The construction began in early 2013 with the installation of deity of Ananta Sesa. It took 5 years to complete this temple which is built in form of a palace for Radha Madangopal. Spread in 2.5 acres, the temple has an incredible resemblance to the great Sri Sri Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavan. Stepping onto the main courtyard, one is floored by the tranquillity that echoes through the walls of the temple. The central courtyard and its surrounding areas are filled with incredible piece of arts, depicting the pastimes of Lord Krsna. These Minakari paintings, compounded with intricate glasswork and woodworks makes it an incredible sight to behold. The temple includes a big temple hall, an altar of their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madangopal and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai, deity kitchen, upcoming Govindas’ restaurant, gardens, a guest house, brahmachari ashram and administrative block in its premises. It is also located at a logistical point, connected to metro station and other public transport, with sufficient parking capacity.
ISKCON Bahadurgarh is an extension of ISKCON Punjabi Bagh community. 15 full time monks have been shifted from Punjabi Bagh to Bahdurgarh at present that are committed to serve the people there by sharing the message of vedic culture.
Inauguration Ceremony (18th -20th Aug, 2018):
The 3 day program consisted of performance of details rituals of deity installation like Vastu Dosh yagya, Silpi Dosh Yagya( To remove any mistake while carving deities), Netronmilan utsav(First glance of the deities to devotees, cow, Tulasi, virgin girls carrying scriptures), ,Vandopana(showing items to the Lord), Sayanotsava (Putting big deities to rest), Adivasa , Nyasadi Homa, prana pratishta yagya(Involving senses of the Lord), Maha Abhishek(Bathing ceremony) accompanied with the 24 hour chanting of holy names of Krishna. The ceremony was lead by HG Seva Tulaya Pr (ISKCON’s Deity Ministry representative of India). A special cultural program on the consisting of dance competition of kids, magic show, classical musical presentation and special drama was organized on the19th Aug. The third day of the festivity was reserved for the first Boat festival of Sri Sri Radha Madangopal. Constellation of Srila Prabhupada Disciples, Sanyasis, and senior leaders of the society were also present on this occasion.
HH Gopal Krishna Goswami, HH Lokanath Swami, HH Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Swami, HG Bheema Pr, HG Panchagauda Pr, HG Yashomati Nandan Pr, HG Mahaman Pr, HG Vasu Ghosh Pr, HG Deenbandhu Pr, HG Braj Hari Pr, HG Kratu Pr, HG Toshan Krishna Pr, HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, HH Bhakti Dheer Damodar Swami, HH Prabhodananda saraswati Swami, HH Bhakti Anugraha Janardan Swami, HH Bhakti Ashray Vaisnava Swami, HG Devakinandan Pr, HG Dayarama Pr, HG Revati Raman Pr, were some of the senior devotees that graced the occasion.
Sh Kaptan Singh Solanki (Hon’ble Governor of Haryana ) and Sh Manohar Lal Khattar (Chief Minister of Hariyana), who could not be personally present due to 7 day nationwide mourning for demise of former Prime Minister of India Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sent their best wishes through video message. Both the dignitaries expressed their heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for ISKCON and Srila Prabhupda and invited people of Haryana to take advantage of this facility. They promised to visit the temple in near future.
Temple Presidents and other leaders were also present from pan India ISKCON temples.
The adivas kirtans were lead by HG Naru Gopal Pr from Mayapur and his team.
The entire event was broadcasted live on facebook, youtube and website for devotees to witness this momentous occasion from throughout the world. More than 10 different newspapers and news channel covered the entire event.
The first Srimad Bhagavatam Class
The first Srimad Bhagavatam Lecture, after the Temple opening was given by HH Gopal Krishna Goswami, in which he emphasized the purpose of these temples, Srila Prabhupada’s vision , punctuality, cleanliness, common challenges, guideline to maintain pure and welcoming environment for the people in general. He also explained how the behaviour of devotees affects people’s faith in the process. “For personal self, the devotee is satisfied in the simple minimum facilities, but for serving the Lord and attracting masses to the process of devotional service, we require big beautiful magnificent temples”.
He also thanked various devotees who worked tirelessly for more than 15 years, when nothing was manifested to date. Maharaja specially thanked HG Vedvyas Das ,who donated the funds for the temple construction, HG Ravan Ari Das and family who stayed and guarded the small temple from 15 years despite all challenges, HG Bhaktarupa Pr- the pujari who is serving for 13 years, HG Raaspriya Pr who worked tirelessly to design and execute the construction plans and to more than 500 volunteers who served in organizing the festival.
The devotees now gear up for observing other festivities of Jhulan yatra, Janamstami and Srila Prabhupada Vyaspuja.
Two more temples in Delhi, in Rohini and Dwarka are scheduled to open in next 2-3 years.
In nutshell, the seeds of Krishna Consciousness implanted by Srila Prabhupada in the heart of two common visitors to temple in Australia in 1972 through love and care is still manifesting the fruit in 2018 in some other part of the world – in Bahadurgarh. And it will further spread the love of Godhead to countless visitors of present and future generations if the followers follow his example and instructions. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his dedicated followers.
Hare Krishna.
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