Diary of a Retired Parson

Christopher Lewis-Jenkins joins the Hindu faith tourism trail

As you may know this is being compiled in Pennsylvania, USA, where we are visiting our daughter and family. Whilst here we visited a Hindu Temple, Akshardham, in Robbinsville, New Jersey. It’s the third largest temple in the world, the other two both being in India. The temple stands in 185 acres of land. It’s an incredible sight.

At the entrance stands a statue of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a young man who had a vision to walk the whole of India. The statue is 49 feet high, the age that he died after his mammoth trek.

There is a huge traditional stepped pond which brims with water from 300 water sources worldwide, including India’s 108 holy rivers and those flowing through the USA. There are six large fountains that pay tribute to our planet’s precious resources and inspire visitors to reflect on the beauty of nature and its creator.

The grand centre-piece is at the heart of the campus which embodies the divine abode of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, to whom this campus is dedicated. It contains millions of pieces of hand-carved limestone and marble. There are 548 stone pillars, 20,000 statues and statuettes, 235 stone canopies with hundreds of decorated stone ceilings. The whole site was constructed with the help of 12,500 volunteers from the four corners of the world, an incredible feat.

The elephant is very important in the Hindu religion so the photograph [left] is only one of many, many statues of them throughout the site.

The whole complex is really inspiring. It is visited by thousands of people every day and makes one think, whatever religion they are or even of no religion, of the importance of nature and mankind’s connection to it and our duty to do all in our power to save what we have for our future generation.