Temple Opening

A Palace in Rohini for Their Lordships

Another grand new ISKCON temple opens in New Delhi By Radhika Kripa Devi Dasi

(This article describes the opening of a grand ISKCON temple in Rohini in New Delhi. His Holiness Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja was personally present for the temple opening. Unfortunately, he passed away a few weeks later — on May 5, 2024 — and is not physically present to bless this issue. We dedicate this issue in his honor.)

 
Post 1977, many new temples have been added to the count of the 108 temples left behind by Srila Prabhupada. The Ramanavami celebration this year witnessed an addition to the number of ISKCON temples in Delhi. There are altogether eighteen ISKCON temples in Delhi, granting an opportunity to the residents to be fully Krishna conscious.

In a letter written in 1970 to his disciple Sri Tamala Krishna Gosvami, 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 did he reflect upon the significance of beautiful temples but also laid before his disciples and the coming generations of devotees the guidelines for the construction of temples.

On April 17, 2024, amidst the celebrations of Ramanavami, a magnificent temple was inaugurated by the devotees of Rohini in New Delhi. The majestic temple welcomed the beautiful, enchanting deities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with His entourage. A grand, weeklong celebration filled the hearts of devotees with divine love. The temple covers an area of one lakh seventy-five thousand square feet and stands majestically on the main road that encircles Delhi city. The spectacular temple is spread in an acre of land with five floors which has been a result of love and hard work to create this breathtakingly beautiful home for their Lordships. The temple hall exceeds 15,000 square feet — one of the biggest after the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Mayapur.

Thousands of people thronged to witness the beautiful ceremonies. All were mesmerized with the beauty of the palatial temple. With hearts filled with love and spirits high, the devotees of ISKCON unfolded a new chapter, celebrating the august emblem of devotion to their Lordships.

The ceremonies of netronmilanam, sayana-adhivasa and prana-pratistha were attended by senior Vaishnava-acaryas from different parts of the world. His Holiness Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja, His Holiness Loknath swami Maharaja, His Holiness B.B. Govinda swami Maharaja, His Holiness Bhakti Rasamrita Swami Maharaja, and many other disciples of Srila Prabhupada and leaders of ISKCON graced the occasion and appreciated and admired the architecture and the interiors of the temple. 

Delhi, which was known as Hastinapura in Vedic times, 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 gone through many struggles to establish Krishna consciousness in Delhi. Since then, the holy name has been flowing into the hearts of the people of Delhi. His disciples and grand disciples continue to spread Krishna consciousness loyally till date.

His Holiness Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja, the GBC for Delhi, has played a vital role in motivating the devotees of Rohini to construct this temple. The desire for a temple in Rohini dates back to the year 1985, when a doctor residing in Delhi got initiated and became an enthusiastic preacher. Dr. Krishnapriya Prabhu was introduced to ISKCON by Adideva Prabhu, who is currently a businessman in Canada. Krishnapriya Prabhu started book distribution and introduced many to Krishna consciousness. Soon Bhakti Kutir, a weekly satsanga program, was established and the number of devotees started increasing tremendously. Vrajendra Nandana Prabhu from ISKCON Punjabi Bagh helped to accelerate preaching in Rohini by extending invitations to devotees for the Saturday feast lectures in 1998. Devotees attended in large numbers.

In 1987 Adideva Prabhu first applied for land. A long struggle over eight years to acquire land came to an end by the dedicated endeavors of Radhakinkara Prabhu and His Holiness Bhakti Rakshaka Gokulananda Swami. After the bhumi-puja ceremony in 2002 and the drafting of structural drawings, the construction of the temple began but soon came to a halt due to unforeseen obstructions. Then in the year 2012, the project took off again by the consistent efforts of Vedavyasa Prabhu and Rasapriya Prabhu. HH Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja left no stone unturned to preach in Rohini. Rasapriya Prabhu (my husband) and myself have personally witnessed his preaching spree when we joined ISKCON in 1999. We would follow him 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.

The temple’s entrance appears like an entrance into a fort. Fourteen huge, round pillars, hand-carved in red sandstone, greet the devotees with a salutation. The use of red sandstone in such a regal way leaves one spellbound! The huge hand-crafted jhalis with intricate designs and heavily carved huge jharokas on either side of the stairs takes one into the royal ancient times of Rajasthan. Various art forms of Rajasthan have been revived here: Tikri work of glass pieces and paint, and marble carvings and stonework hand-crafted. Skilled employees from Agra, whose forefathers had built the Taj Mahal, were employed to craft the marble inlay work in the altars alongside skilled artists from Rajasthan, who manually worked on the gold leafing on the roof.

As one climbs the entrance stepping on red sandstone steps, huge crystal chandeliers dropping from the roof throw yellow light all around. Govinda’s restaurant, the famous chain of ISKCON restaurants, is located on the ground level with a seating capacity of 120 people. The restaurant kitchen has been designed by a renowned kitchen designer and special care has been given to maintain high hygiene standards in its construction. The restaurant also has a private hall with huge, stained glasses fitted in a lovely carved Burma Teak partition. The roof is of a wooden artistic form, and the flooring boasts a multitude of different colors of marble and stone. The immaculate styles of flooring will leave you captivated.

The temple hall entrance welcomes devotees with three huge heavily carved wooden entrance doors with brass fittings. The three grand altars home to the extraordinarily beautiful deities enchant the devotees. The heavily carved wooden doors and chaukats of the three altars add to the magnificence of the temple altars. Intricate hand carvings have been done on the layers of Burma teak that frame the altars and the sliding doors giving them an aristocratic look. The marble vedi where the deities are installed has been embellished with inlay work in multicolored marble depicting a procession of men on elephants, horses, musical instruments, and flags. This unique piece of art gives pleasure to the eyes. The deities installed here are so special. For the first time in India, the Panca-tattva have been installed outside of Mayapur. Sri Sri Radha-Madhava along with Lalita and Visakha and Rama-darbar reside in their palace.

The walls of the temple display hand-painted dioramas depicting the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Each diorama is placed under an ornamental mehrab encompassed by off-white pillars on both sides. These pillars are not just ordinary pillars – they have been polished with fermented daal, lassi, and limestone, and rubbed with almond oil. An extraordinary sparkle that is no less than the marble shine emanates from the pillars. This Arise-type of work was common 200-300 years ago. To find the expertise for the temple in Rohini was a challenging task but Rasapriya Prabhu’s determination to build a “palace” for the Deities was the inspiration to build the majestic pillars of the temple hall. He took care of all the minutest detail for the pleasure of Their Lordships.

Outside the temple hall doors is a courtyard with an intricately carved white marble chatri for Tulasi Maharani. The staircases leading up to the temple hall are glittering with massive chandeliers with crystals dangling from them, and the walls are decorated with beautiful Rajasthani picture frames. The opulent temple hall is decorated with two gigantic domes measuring in diameter of 50 feet and 35 feet. The bigger dome is designed in the shape of a lotus flower with each petal depicting various pastimes of the Lord. The middle of the dome has a seventeen-feet wide chandelier in the shape of a lotus flower, and the multicolored blown glass mural dazzles the hall when lit up. The second dome has Krishna’s beloved bird, a peacock, as the theme. Sri Krishna accepts a peacock feather on his forehead, and the peacocks are extremely happy to take darshan of the Supreme Lord whose complexion is the colour of rain-filled clouds. The Tikri artwork hand-painted in the dome depicts the rasa dance movements of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna that glitter like diamonds when the peacock-shaped glass mural chandelier lights up.

on the first floor a multimedia museum depicting the pastimes of Sri Krishna will be inaugurated. The museum will host an open-air snack bar in the beautiful surroundings. The grandeur and scale of the new temple has touched everyone’s hearts. HH Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja described this temple as “one of the most artistic temples” in ISKCON. 

A senior Vaishnava added that it is not wrong to say that it is “a masterpiece of the masterpieces.” The ISKCON Rohini temple has thus appeared in Hastinapura in its full splendor to distribute krishna-prema.

Radhika Kripa Devi Dasi is a disciple of His Holiness Gopala Krishna Goswami Maharaja. She is an author as well as an online and international travelling preacher. She joined ISKCON in 1999. She is a very active book distributor, having distributed thousands of books in the last four years.