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The proposed ISKCON temple site in Poigai Mottur,
near Vellore.Photo: D.Gopalakrishnan
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The Hindu: The Lord Krishna temple to be built by the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Vellore would be based on
South Indian temple architecture, said Priya Govinda Das, spiritual
mentor of ISKCON, Vellore.
Talking to
The Hindu
on Wednesday at Hare Krishna Land, a seven-acre stretch acquired by
ISKCON in Poigai Mottur village in Vellore taluk, 10 km from Vellore
city and about five km off the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway, Mr.
Das said that ISKCON has planned to build a traditional stone temple for
Lord Krishna that would last for more than 1,000 years. “We want to do
some serious research on the type of materials to be used to build the
temple before starting the work. It would take another 10 years for the
temple to be ready”, he said.
At present, the Hare
Krishna Land has a couple of buildings which houses a temporary temple,
kitchen, Prasadam hall and a Brahmacharis’ (celibates) rest house. A new
four-storeyed guest house would be built at the spot to accommodate the
devotees who visit the temple. The proposed guest house would have
about 60 rooms, said Mr. Das.
A group of 10 ISKCON
devotees from the U.S. visited the ISKCON centre here on Wednesday, as
part of their pilgrimage to India. The devotees had already visited
Tirupathi, Ahobilam, Srirangam and Udipi. From here, they left for
Salem, after which they would be visiting other pilgrim centres in the
country.
The Bhagawad Gita philosophy, he said, was
not sectarian knowledge belonging to any particular caste, creed or
entity, but meant for all living entities.
ISKCON
founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who went to the U.S. in 1965
and founded ISKCON in 1966 preached the message in the U.S. In 12
years, he travelled all over the world 14 times. He gave an
institutional structure to preach the message of Bhagawad Gita in an
organised way. He built 108 temples and wrote more than 80 volumes of
books. “We have more than 500 ISKCON temples in more than 160
countries”, he said.
About the project
Vellore popularly known as Fort Town of Tamilnadu is situated in the Northern part of Tamilnadu and surrounded by small towns like Arcot, Arni, etc. It has a big historical background. It is Chennai – Bangalore highway kms from Chennai. Katpadi Railway Junction is the main Railway Station which is on the Chennai – Bangalore Railway line. It is one of the fast developing towns of Tamilnadu. The famous Christian Missionary Hospital (C.M.C). V.I.T, Vellore Institute of Technology and Golden Temple are situated in Vellore.
ISKCON was started preaching in Vellore before 7 years in a rented
place. In the past 7 years it has made many fulltime and family
devotees. Its Krishna Janmastami function conducted at Ford Ground
every year attracts thousands of people. To provide a base for the
devotees for practising Krishna consciousness and attract the General
people ISKCON Vellore has decided to build its own temple for this
purpose it has purchased 7 acres of land in a village known as Poigai
Mottur, which is 10 kms from
Vellore old Bus Stand and New Bus Stand.
ISKCON, Vellore project has three phases. In the first phase a Temple
(Double Storey) will be built. It will have a temple hall which cans
accommodate 700 devotees, 3 guest rooms, 3 rooms for official purpose
and a Brahmachari Ashram which can accommodate 60 devotees. Another
building known as Prasadam Bhavan has been already constructed which
have a big kitchen and Prasadam Hall.
In the Second Phase a big guest house with 40 rooms will be constructed
with all facilities. It is meant for giving accommodations etc., In
this ground floor of this building a Govinda restaurant will be
constructed to provide.
There will be small deities of six Goswamis also.
Big boundary walls along with four gopurams will surround the temple and
Vimana will be on Radha-Krishna deity. The whole stone structure will
have intricate carvings and paintings.
