Built at a cost of $19 million in the Lilburn suburb of Atlanta, the white temple that was inaugurated on Sunday, covers an area two and half football fields long. The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha has three other temples in North America – in Houston, Chicago and Toronto.
Festive air mixed with spiritual solemnity as the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a leading Hindu sect, held a regional round of its centennial celebration in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Inside the makeshift yoga studio, a large cross hung on the wall. As the parishioners at New Community Church in Northwest Washington stretched their arms above their heads into the mountain pose, the instructor reminded them, “Faith moves mountains.” When they joined hands to chant, they did not say, “Om,” the yoga mantra. It was “Sha-LOM.” The latest incarnation of yoga, a discipline that began 5,000 years ago as a set of spiritual exercises with origins in Hinduism, is for devout Christians and Jews. In a small but growing practice, churches and synagogues are offering yoga as a tool for
Landmark will be largest of its kind in region A Hindu sect whose ornate temples have won architectural awards in Chicago and Houston is laying the foundation this month for what is sure to be a Lilburn landmark. The 27,243-square-foot temple, officially called Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, is rising on 30 acres at Lawrenceville Highway and Rockbridge Road. It will serve members of the Swaminarayan branch of Hinduism, which originated more than 200 years ago in India. The traditional design will feature custom-carved stonework, a wraparound veranda and five prominent pinnacles reminiscent of the Himalayan hills. Giant stairs will mimic the
NEW DELHI, India (AP) — India’s Muslim president, Sikh prime minister and Hindu nationalist opposition leader have joined together to open one of the biggest Hindu temples of modern times, a $45 million pink sandstone shrine to religious tolerance. The Swaminarayan sect that built the temple — the length of a soccer field and the height of a 12-story building — runs another temple in Gujarat state, which was attacked by suspected Muslim militants in 2002, leaving 32 dead. Religious riots in the same state left more that 1,000 dead earlier that year. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan
JUNAGADH: The trustees of the Vadtal sect of Swaminarayan temple dismissed Bhaktiswarup from the sect, who was arrested for featuring in a video sex expose, involving some its priests, Vadtal temple sources said on Monday. The decision to remove the priest, who is in custody of Crime Branch, was taken at a meeting of all the nine trustees in the presence of its chairman Devnandan Das, who moved the resolution to remove Bhaktiswarup and also got a nod from the Vadtal sect’s highest priest Acharya Rakesh Prasad, temple authorities said. The trustees also decided to remove all luxury items from
AHMEDABAD: The sadhus, including the priest of Swaminarayn temple, allegedly involved in a sex scandal, would be dismissed, a top priest of the Vadtal-based sect said here on Wednesday. “All the sadhus whose images appear in the CD will be dismissed, alongwith the priest of Junagadh Swaminarayan temple, Bhaktiswarup,” top priest of Vadtal Swaminarayan temple, Navtam Swami said here a day after the arrest of the priest of the sect. The crime branch had on Tuesday exposed a sex scandal and arrested Bhaktiswarup and three touts, after seizing a CD containing images of different sadhus, who were caught on camera
Hindu temple to welcome the gods It sits on Route 59, the same road that bustles with morning traffic and sprouts gas stations, strip malls and other staples of daily suburban Chicago life. But the Hindu temple that rises in Bartlett, creamy white stone against a blue August sky, seems at least a world away. Hand-carved Italian marble and Turkish limestone, formed into intricate arches; columns and ceilings with chiseled deities, spirals and shapes that make your eyes dance in awe; a gleaming roof topped in pinnacles and gold-plated spires. Children in Indian dress, their hands clasped with palms together,
Stepping into San Antonio’s Shri Swaminarayan Mandir on Sunday evenings means walking into a world of color and light, idols and flames, faith and good deeds and ancient traditions. Hindu men and women sit in separate groups in the temple, the women dressed in brightly shaded sarees and salwar kameezes, the traditional garments of India, and the men dressed in duller Western clothes. Separation of the sexes inside their temples is one of the main tenets of the Swaminarayan faith, which was established in the late 18th century by Bhagwan Swaminarayan and adopted by mostly Gujarati-speaking Indians. Gujarati is a
The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2003 http://enquirer.com/ DELAWARE, Ohio – Television evangelist