The Indian State of Haryana witnessed the grand opening of it’s first Iskcon temple. Fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s desire of twelve Temples in Delhi NCR His Holiness Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja ji has taken the target exceedingly beyond that. Under his guidance has come up a Majestic, Regal, Grand Palace Temple in Bahadhurgarh ; a busy town of Haryana.
This temple has a beautiful history of its umbilical chord attached to Srila Prabhupada. The Land where this great architecture stands has been donated by a lady from Sydney, Australia. The story goes back to the year 1975 when Srila Prabhupada was camping in Melbourne for few days. A young Indian couple named Usha and Gopal Bhardwaj who had then only migrated to Australia were a keen visitor to the temple. Srila Prabhupada’s charismatic personality appealed to them. They were always eager to meet Srila Prabhupada as his love and affection pulled them both. They used to rush to the temple for his classes, drive him down to house programs and talked their heart to him.
Their surrender led them to the brave decision of gifting a land they had had in their hometown.
Srila Prabhupada accepted their gift but the paperwork had yet to be done in India ; so he invited them to come to their homeland. Due to some unavoidable reasons there came a delay of a year in their travel to India. Mrs. Bhardwaj reached Delhi in 1977 and anxiously rushed to the then Sri Sri Radha Parthasathi Temple at Lajpat Nagar to enquire about Srila Prabhupada’s whereabouts .
A shock awaited her ; the beloved Srila Prabhupada had disappeared from this planet. She was shattered and distressed. She went back with a broken heart.
After many years once again she came to Delhi and contacted HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja ji at the Sri Sri Radha Parthasarthi Temple. She narrated the whole story of the meeting with Srila Prabhupada and requested to execute the remaining paper work. Thus nearly after three decades the pending paperwork including the legal registration of the land in the name of ISKCON was finally done.
This was the completion of one phase and the year was 2003 . in the years gone she had lost her husband and now was keen on a Radha Madan Gopal Temple at the earliest. With so many temples already in the process in Delhi,NCR it was not possible to go ahead with another project so soon.
As Krsna had a great plan for His palace the work on the land commenced in the year 2012 . The project changed its executors a couple of times as no sign of concrete construction was going on. Time was racing and lot of pressure was being exerted. With Guru Maharaja ji’s mercy in this grim situation there evolved a strong team who soon took up the project to its peak.
HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja ji entrusted the construction work in the capable hands of his disciple HG Veda Vyas Das who in return ensured him of magnificent results. Veda Vyas Prabhu brought under his fold a man with an artistic vision and love for the Supreme Lord. This was HG Rasapriya Das who has an exceptional sense of art and architecture. The building plans were re done. He drafted in his plans a Royal and a Regal palatial Temple inspired from Vrindavan temple’s structure but the inner sanctum totally different.
HG Veda Vyas Prabhu being a big industrialist and fully dedicated to Guru and Gauranga assured of full financial support and signalled Rasapriya Prabhu to go ahead with his vision to build a huge Majestic Palace for Their Lordships. Rasapriya Prabhu wanted no compromise on quality of the project and so was the view of Veda Vyas prbhu. Both sincerely dedicated and loyal to their work toiled successfully as a team who in their expansion had nearly 200 people working under them.
Soon the structure started taking shape and a huge high solid structure was visible on the ten thousand square yards of land. The art work of Rajasthan (a state in India) was brought to life here in Bahadhurgarh. The outline of the temple is a twin to Vrindavan but a pillar less fifty feet arch was made to give splendidly clear darsan of the Deities. As the temple work progressed , it resembled a Grand Palace. The grand red sandstone entrance to the palatial temple is carved beautifully by the artisans is royal in itself measuring to a height of eighteen feet and is fitted with a equally royal heavy teak wood doors decorated with antique fittings. Garuda pedestal beautifully carved in red sand stone with the Divine carrier in black granite adorning it welcomes all. At the main gates both the sides at guard are the Divine Jai and Vijay beautifully sculptured in black granite. Three peacocks nicely painted in their blues and greens with a jungle painted behind with a chandelier adorn the gate wall. At the entrance only one can experience the greatness of the temple. The high pillars , big arches, huge beams decorated with beautiful floral patterned carvings entice all. The subtle colour of yellow and whites makes it look out of this world; an ethereal beauty. The Temple walls adorn the three dimension dioramas in beige and gold depicting the pastimes of the Supreme Lord add to the breathtaking palatial structure.
Majestic Chandeliers , antique fans and golden ‘U’ shaped lights spread their splendour and make the Temple look mesmerising at night. Srila Prabhupada sits gloriously on a white beautifully carved marble seat with a carved umbrella giving a royal cover with two white carved lions giving him guard. Opposite to his throne is beautifully white carved Tulsi pedestal spreading the spiritual aura.
The inner pure divine sanctum is amazingly beautiful . The heavy beautifully carved Burma Teak Wooden Altar has been transported from Jodhpur. Its ethnic look leaves one spell bound.The walls around the wooden Altar have been beautifully decorated with embedded glasswork called “tikri work” in local language. Around it’s all hand painting done in beautiful vibrant colours with exquisite motifs and peacocks. The roof has been hand painted with Rasa dance pastime of the Supreme Lord for his divine pleasure. The Altar is captivating and magical in its grandeur.
Finally now when its completed ; the Palatial Temple stands majestically amidst sprawling gardens around , eight room guest house with attached washrooms , seven rooms with all amenities for the brahamcharis and an equal number of rooms in administrative block .
The majestic grandeur and the simplicity of the architecture is the hypnotic feature of this grand Palace Temple of Sri Sri Radha Madan Gopal and Sri Sri Nitai Gaur Chandra Deities.
The beautiful grand interior just adds to the beauty of the most beautiful Deities of Sri Sri Radha Madan Gopal and Sri Sri Nitai Gaur Chandra. Their divine radiant glance dazzle the devotees. The grand celebrations for the installation of Their Lordships and the formal opening of the Temple was hosted under the mercy of HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja ji that was attended by many Sanyasis, Senior Vaisanvas and nearly 3000 devotees from all over the world. The three day celebrations included various beautiful ceremonies done according to ISKCON standards. The festivities culminated with a grand Boat festival for the pleasure of the Deities.
The Deities and Their Palatial Abode left all spellbound . Here are the comments of few visiting Senior vaisnavas ;-
His Holiness Loknath Maharaja ji expressed his felicitations in the following beautiful words –
“My heartfelt congratulations to HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja and his team on the occasion of the
grand opening of ISKCON Bahadurgarh.
Not only has Sri Sri Radha Madana Gopala appeared from Vrndavana dham, They have brought Their temple
from Vrndavana with Them. It is the replica of the Krishna-Balarama Temple, except for the Tamala tree in the courtyard.
It is a spacious temple with an elegant and aesthetic design and interior.
We express our gratitude to the land owner, generous financiers and the talented and dedicated designers and artists.
May Radha Madana Gopala profusley award them loving devotional service at Their Lotus Feet.”
HG Basu Gosh Prabhu ,HG Bhima Prabhu , HG Mahamann Prabhu, HG Panch Gauda Prabhu , HG Yasomati Nandan Prabhu , HG Devakinandan Prabhu and others expressed their whole hearted admiration for the temple and praised the beauty of the interior of the inner sanctum.
His Holiness Bhakti Anugrah Janardhan Swami also expressed his greetings in the following words:-
“What a gorgeous temple just now inaugurated in Bahadurgarh, Haryana, India. I am sure Srila Prabhupada and the whole parampara are extremely happy for Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission will be spread in this part of the world in a grand scale. It is one of the 14 temples in Delhi. Thanks for the hard and selfless devotional service of HH Gopal Krsna Goswami and the devotees of ISKCON Bahadurgarh. Gaura Premanandi, Hari Haribol!”
Written by HG Radhika krpa dd
New Delhi
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