World's Largest Hindu Temple
A fabulous and unique trip to India this week to officially announce the BAPS Akshardham temple in Delhi as the worlds largest hindu temple was a truly amazing experience. I arrived in Delhi on Sunday morning to be whisked off to the site
of the temple on the banks of the Yamuna river. The BAPS representatives then gave me a tour of the huge structure. Built with a combination of marble, sandstone and wood the building is fabulously impressive. It is built to ancient standards
without using any steel and as such is designed to last 1000 years. The intricate nature of the carving both inside and
out is stunning and has lovingly restored an almost lost art and is already influencing other temple building projects
throughout india and the world.
- The temple building covers 32 acres
- 11,000 people worked on its construction
- It was completed in just 5 years
- 850 volunteers work their daily
- It receives 100,000 visitors a week.
That next day I was in Ahmedabad in Gujarat where I had a very priviliged private meeting with his holiness Pramukh
Swami Maharaj who has provided the inspiration for this and over 700 other temples.
Later that day I attended the last day of a huge festival to celebrate 100 years of the baps organisation as well as to honour the birthday of his holiness. Nearly 300,000 people were in the crowd, as well as millions watching on live tv,
as I gave a 5 minute speech on the massive stage and presented the certificate. It was a truly great experience that I
will never forget.
20 December 2007