Shrinathji Temple

Shrinathji temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to shrinathji in Nathdwara. It is a very important pilgrimage of vaishnavs. It is located 48 kilometres north-east of Udaipur city in Rajasthan. Shrinathji is the central presiding deity of Vaishnava known as pushti marg (the way of grace). It was established by shri vallabhacharya. Shrinathji is worshiped mainly by the Vaishnava’s of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Vitthal nathji, son of shri vallabhacharya institutionalised the worship of shrinathji in nathdwara. On account of the popularity of nathdwara is itself famous from the name of ‘shrinathji’.

Structure and design of the temple:

The temple has been designed in the lines of temple of nanda maharaja (Krishna’s father) in vrindavan. It is also known as nanda bhavan or nandalaya.

Structurally, a kalasha on the sikhara marks the top of the temple, on which seven flags are flown along with the sudharshana chakra. The seven flags represent the clothes of the seven sakhis of Krishna. The temple is also popular by the name of shrinathji ki haveli. The nathdwara temple has some subsidiary temples dedicated to deity madan mohan and naveet priya.

Image of shrinathji:

Shrinathji symbolizes a form of Krishna, when he lifted the govardhan hill with one arm raised. The image is in the form of a single black marble, when the lord is revealed with his left hand raised and his right hand at the waist with a large diamond placed beneath the lips. The idol is made up of marble stone with images of two cows, one lion, one snake, two peacocks and one parrot engraved on it.

Festivals and rituals at the temple:

Janmashtami is the most famous festivals celebrated in shrinathji temple. The deity is treated like a living image and is attended with daily normal functions like bathing, dressing, meals and resting. Since the deity is believed to be infant Krishna, according to that special care is taken. The main attractions are aartis and shringar i.e. the dressing and beautifying of the idol of shrinathji which changed several times a day. The formal prayers are done with diya, incense sticks, flowers, fruit and other offerings with local instruments and devotional songs of shrinathji.

Lotus temple

                                                        

Lotus temple is situated in New Delhi, India. It is also called as house of worship. It is a prominent attraction in Delhi. It was completed in 1986 and serves as a mother temple of the Indian subcontinent. It has won numerous architectural awards and featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.

                                                               Worship

The lotus temple is open to all regardless religion. It emphasises the house of worship where is a gathering place of the people of all the religions, any of the religion can worship in the lotus temple. In the lotus temple prayers and the music are set by the choirs, no musical instrument can be played inside.

                                                             Structure

Lotus temple shares certain architecture elements, some of which are specified by the abdul baha, the son of the founder of the religion. Lotus temple is a nine-sided circular shape. Inspired by the lotus flower, the design is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad “petals” arranged in clusters of three to nine sides. There are the 9 doors which opens a central hall more than over 40 meters tall, it is capable of up to 2500 people. The surface of lotus temple is made of white marble. Along with its nine surrounding ponds and the gardens, the lotus temple property comprises 26 acres. The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by the ardishir rustampur of Hyderabad, who gave his entire life savings for this purpose in 1953.

                                                           Tourism

After its inauguration of the lotus temple, it attracted more than 50 million visitors all over the world. It has become the most visited buildings in the world. It welcomes 4 million visitors each year.

                                                            Awards

The temple has received wide range of attention professional architectural, fine art, religious, governmental.

·         1989- The temple received an award from the Maharashtra-India chapter of the American concrete institute for “excellence in a concrete structure”.

·         1994-The temple has given the outstanding achievement in its architecture.

·         2000-Globart academy in Austria, has presented its “global academy 2000” award to architect of the lotus temple.

Dwarkadhish Temple

                                                                 Dwarkadhish Mandir

The dwarkadhish temple is a Hindu temple which is dedicated to lord Krishna. He is worshipped here by the name of dwarkadish or king of dwarka.  It is situated in dwarka, Gujarat.  There is a main shrine which is of 5-storied building, supported by 72 pillars. It is also known as Jagat Mandir or Nija Mandir. It is believed to be 2500 years old. Shri vallabacharya and shri vitheleshnathji has created the guidelines and rituals of this temple. Presently the temple was built in 16^th century CE. The original temple was believed to have been built by the lord Krishna’s grandson, Vajranabha.

                                                                         

                                                                          History

The history of dwarkadhish in Gujarat is mentioned in the Mahabharat as the dwarka kingdom. It is situated on the banks of river Gomti. That city was submerged by the sea raging water 8 times, but the remains still exist.

                                                                

                                                                       Architecture

A temple was built by varababhji at the site around 400 BC. He is the great grandson of lord Krishna. Present structure was built during 16^th century in a typical chalukyan style of architecture. Its height is 51.8 mts. It is also known by Jagat Mandir. The nij shikhar which is the longest shikhar is where the deity of lord dwarkadish is placed.  The temple includes 60 carved pillars and various sculptures that depicts the guptas, pallavas and chavdas that ruled dwarka over the years. The entrance to the temple is from north, it is also known as moksha dwaar and towards the south is the swarg dwaar. The diety of lord dwarkadish is made of shiny black stone of 2.25 ft height.  The four hands of the lord carries a conch, wheel , a mace and a lotus, it is popularly known as ‘ shankh chakra gada padma chaturbhuj’.

                                                                 Temple specialities

·         The flag at the top of the temple shows the sun and moon.

·         The flag is changed from 5 times a day, but the symbol remains the same.

·         There are two styles of building a temple-

: Dwarkadish temple is built in shaiv style.

: bet-dwarka temple is built in vaishnav style.

                                                                       Features

·         The temple is a five-storey structure built on seventy-two pillars.

·         The temple is constructed of limestone which is still in pristine condition.

·         The jagat mandir has a tall tower and a hall of audience.

Somnath Temple, Gujarat

                                     Shree somnath temple

Shree somnath jyotirling temple is first among the twelve jyotirlings of India. It is situated in the western coast of India. Shree somnath is a holy place of the aadi jyotirling shree Somnath Mahadev and from where god shri Krishna took his last journey to his neejdham. The pilgrimage is one of the oldest and the ancient texts like skandpuram, shreemad bhagvat, shivpuran etc. It is built at the shore of the Arabian ocean on the western corner of the Indian subcontinent. Gangaji, yamunaji, eastward saraswati are worshiped in this pilgrimage.  

                                                         History

The somnath temple means ‘the protector of moon god’. It is also known as “the shrine eternal”. It has been destroyed six times and rebuilt six times. Recently it was rebuilt in 1947, when sardar vallabhbhai patel visited the area for the integration of the junagadh. After the death of the patel’s, the rebuilding continued under K.M.munshi another minister of the government of India.

                                                           Timeline

·        The first temple of somnath is said that it was existed before the beginning of the era.

·        The second temple was built by vallabhai in Gujarat, around 649 CE.

·        Around 725 CE junagad, the governor of sind destroyed the second temple.

·        After that, the king gurjara pratihara constructed the third temple in 815.

·        In 1024 CE, the temple was once again destroyed.

·        The temple was rebuilt by gujjar paramara.

·        Like this, there were so many obstacles for somnath temple. Finally it is situated in Gujarat.

                                          Architecture

The temple is consisted of garbhgruh, sabhmandap and nrityamandap with 150 feet high shikhar. The kailash at the top of the shikhar weighs 10 tons and the dhwajdand is 27 feet tall and a foot in circumference. The nearest land towards southpole is about 9936 km. The somnath trust has endeavoured to develop the best pilgrimage and these pilgrimage contribute generously to the noble cause.

Tirupati Balaji Temple

Tirupati Balaji Mandir

Tirupati balaji is dedicated to lord venkateshwara. Every Hindu must visit this temple. It is situated 10 km from the city centre of tirupati. It is the most visited pilgrimage destination in the entire world. Many pilgrims pay a visit to the temple every day. The average turnover of the temple easily crosses RS 5 billion mark every year.

History of tirupati temple

There is no document which says about the exact age of tirupati temple. One thing which we can say that it was built before 500 A.D as there references found in literature. It was there in 12^th century that the deity of the temple was found by great scholar Ramanujam. Many rulers of Andhra Pradesh donated huge amount of gold to the temple for making wealthy as it is today.

The temple architecture

The entire temple is constructed in Dravidian style. The enclosures which are called ‘prakarams ‘and a dome on the main shrine called as “Vimana”. There are statues of vijaynagar king krishnadevaraya and his spouse, which are very attracted. Lord Venkateswara or Venkataramana or Srinivasa or Balaji has the attributes of both Vishnu and Shiva.

The daily rituals

It is estimated that around 60000 pilgrims visit the temple everyday and on any special day. This easily touches to 200000 pilgrims. In balaji temple people usually wait in long queues to get a view of deity completely from tip to toe.

 Devotees must take a dip in the pushkarini tank situated there, which is considered sacred and highly praised in the puranas before entering the temple. In the temple the day starts with the suprabhata darshnam as early as 3 AM and ends with the ekant seva round around 1 AM when the lord is put to bed in a velvet mattress spread over a swing cot suspended by gold chains.

                      Events and festivals in tirupati

·       In February, the celebration of Rathasapthami is conducted. It is the most imposing and attractive festival celebrated with lord venkateswara idol all around the temple in decorated chariots.

· March offers the Vaishnava festival of Ram Navami and September offers the festival of janmashtami. These festivals are celebrated with many pomp and show.

·  In October, Rayalaseema food and dance festival is a culture attraction to the tourists.

·  In September, tirupati hosts the most spectular celebration the brahmotsavam.

ISKCON TEMPLE

Iskcon temples are situated in Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and west Bengal. The international society for Krishna consciousness society is abbreviated to ISKCON society. The ISKCON society is an international society, which has about 190000 devotees and developed around 6000 temples all around the world. The main aim is to teach the basic “Bhagavad Gita” all over the world. It host around 60 restaurant and 50 school all around the world. It promotes the well being of the society. It is mostly famous by the names of Radha-krishna temple and Hare Krishna temple. These temples are always open no matter of the season or holidays.

 A.C. Bhaktvedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the Hare Krishna movement and it was completed in 1998.  ISKCON has firstly started as a spiritual society in New York, it was started to spread the message of “Bhagawad Gita”. There are almost 40 ISKCON temples in India. These temples preserve the pleasantness in it and are very quiet and calm. It is followed by many people. It is also said that one can attain a mental peace and harmony after visiting this place.

 The main mission of ISKCON temple is to promote the “Bhagavad Gita” in all over the world. They were built by the hare ram hare Krishna group followers, which consisted of followers all over the world. There are beautiful Russian paintings by famous Russian artists. These pictures depict ancient times. The pictures consist of Radha-Krishna, Sita, Ram, Laxman, Hanuman and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Various programs are held, for ex- kirtans, aartis, pravachans, and prasadams. They are sometimes held weekly or regularly.

6 Aarti are follows:

•     Mangala aarti
•     Tulsi aarti
•     Dhoop aarti
•     Raj-bhoga aarti           
•     Pushpa aarti
•     Sandhva aarti

Four regulative principles

1.    No eating of meat or eggs.   

2.    No illicit sex                                              

3.    No gambling

4.    No antoxication

              

               Food for life

ISKCON has inspired and sponsored, a project called food for life. The goal of the project is to ‘liberally distribute pure vegetarian meals throughout the world’ 

Swami Narayan Temple

Akshardham Mandir, Ghandinagar.

Swami Narayan Akshardham temple is located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This is the one of the largest temple in Gujarat. Akshardham is the shrine of Gandhinagar. Anyone can reach this temple through local bus, taxi and other transport service. The temple was constructed by BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purshottam Swami Narayan Sanstha) with the blessing of pramukh swami maharaj.

In Nov 1992 the temple was inaugurated by pramukh swami maharaj. In the present day Akshardham mandir has become famous and attracts devotees and tourist every day. Akshardham mandir encourage art, culture and values of India. The shrine is 1751feet (534 meters) in its length. The temple takes 13 yrs. to complete the construction. The temple is made up of 6000 tons of pink stone which is imported from Rajasthan. No steel and iron is used in the construction of the temple.

The shrine sanctorum holds the seven feet tall, golden image of lord swami Narayan. Hari Mandapam, Prasadi Mandapam and Vibhuti Mandapam are the names which are allotted in different floors. The aim of BAPS is to educate people about the values and culture of India.

Designed on the lines of Sthapatya Shashtra, Swami Narayan Akshardham is the example of silence and peace.  Akshardham mandir presents a perfect mixture of devotion art, architecture, education, exhibition and research at one place. In the temple complex, “shahajanand”, “Sat-chat- Anand”, and “Nitiyanand” are the three exhibition that are made in temple area which shows spiritual matters and also enlighten visitors.  Every year many devotees come to this place for spreading peace and education to others.

Mata Vaisnodevi Temple

Mata Vaisnodevi mandir is the holiest shrine of India and it is famous all over the world. It is located on trikoot parvat (hill), in katra of udhampur district at Jammu. The temple is accessible by a journey of 13km from katra. In northern part of India many rail services reach to Jammu. Vaisnodevi mandir is placed at an altitude of 5200 feet above sea level. The temple is managed by shri Mata vaisnodevi shrine board. Millions of people come to this place every year.

Vaisnodevi took birth around 700 years ago. In those time bhairon nath learn the powers of goddess.  With his tantric he started chasing the girl. Goddess ran to save her life. When she feels thirsty she shot arrow in ground and the water comes out till date and that place we call it Ban Ganga. Prints of her feet are also found in bank of river. After incidents she took rest for meditation which is known as Ardhkuari.

Bhairon Nath took nine months to find the cave. When goddess knew she opened at the other end of the cave with her trident. The goddess ran further on the hill and bhairon was tried to kill vaisnodevi. She emerged in the form of Maha kali and she cut off bhairon nath head and hangs on the hill. Mata claimed that whosoever comes to her cave also visit bhairon temple to complete their pilgrimage.

In the holy Cave on can see “Pindis” of Maha Kali, Maha Laxmi, and Maha Saraswati. She fulfill wishes of her devotes and no one goes empty handed from her shrine. The pilgrims walk the whole way by chanting ‘Jai Mata Di’ in groups. People buy fruits, coconut, and other things to make an offering to goddess. Adequate water and lights all the way shrine for pilgrims. The divine grace of the goddess brings her devotees every year.

Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

Sai baba temple is a holy shrine and attracts devotees from all part of the world. 58km from manmad station located at shirdi in Maharashtra, easy accessible from anywhere in India. Sai baba came on earth to spread love and happiness with everyone. The legend remained at shirdi till his last breath and made a kind of bondage with the place. He never made any difference in color, religion or with anyone. He left the world in 1920’s. Sai baba temple is also known as Samadhi temple. Samadhi is in the temple and beside Samadhi Sai Baba marble statue in sitting position. Temple is open for all religion, people, castes and creeds.

One such place is “Dwarkamayee Masjid” was very adorable to Sai. He used to sit whole day on a big stone which is available till date. Near the portrait, the holy dhuni found burning and from that dhuni, people take some vibhuti as a prashad of the lord. Vibhuti has healing powers, so that people take it to their homes. In that place also possess a chakki (grinding stone), bathing stone, a wooden pillar, Chulla (stove), padukas (slippers) and tulsi plant. All these things used by Sai in daily life.

Another place is “chavadi”, where Sai used to live and take rest. Beside “Gurusthan” there is one place where Sai used to sit under Neem (margosa) tree. As matter of fact is leaves of this tree are sweet. Residence facility is also available near temple. Every year million people visit this temple and worship. People consider him as a God and almost every part of the world we have Sai baba temple.

Golden Temple

Golden temple is one of the biggest and famous temple in India. Another name of golden temple is Shri Harmandir Sahib or Shri Darbar Sahib. All Sikhs from all over the world wish to go Amritsar for ardas. The creation of golden temple is done by shri Arjan sahib and he himself designed this temple. This temple is located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The name of the golden temple is renamed as Harmandir Sahib in March 2005. The golden temple is the major pilgrimage for all Sikhism around the world and also attracts tourist people. Golden temple was built in 1574 on Amritsar land which donated by Mughal Emperor Akbar. Temple project is handled by fourth and fifth Sikh gurus.  In this golden temple 100kg of gold is used in earlier 19^th century. The door is open for all and they must not be drink, meat and smoke in the temple.

Harmandir temple or Darbar sahib basically situated at the center of a large body of water known as Amrit sarovar (pool of nectar). Connecting the pathway with the Hari mandir is made up of marble and we called Guru’s Bridge. The fascinating inside the temple is telecasted throughout India for Sikh viewers. Another major highlight of golden temple is the guru- ka- langar, a dining hall where more than 35000 people a day are fed up by the temple volunteers.

Special arrangements for guest or international visitors are easy available with nominal fee and at least 400 simple rooms provided free in Sikh pilgrimage. Every night a ceremony called palki sahib which is taken Connection Bridge from temple to bed in akal takht. In the country golden temple is known as tangibly spiritual place.