1st Temple in Abu Dhabi - Page 8

Originally posted by: Dimdim

This is right. Our regular Hindu Gods are secondary at the BAPS NJ temple.

That's what rubs me the wrong way.  No offense to people who do revere Swaminarayan, but when people raise themselves to be the equivalent of the gods, let alone their superior, we're now in cult territory.  When I went to Robbinsville, it hardly felt like a temple at all: it felt like a thoroughfare.  Sharp contrast to, say, the Durga temple at Crosspointe, Virginia

In the case of the US, I've been to normal Hindu temples, where I worship our regular Hindu gods.  In Northern Virginia, I visit the Durga temple for most religious functions, & more recently, the Washington Kali temple, if I wanna observe Bengali specific functions, like Durga/Kojagori Lakshmi/Kali/Jagadhattri Puja.  So there is choice here.  There probably is in Britain as well, but in the Emirates, Hindus are stuck w/ either this, or whatever they have at home

Originally posted by: Kyahikahoon

As far as I know , Swaminarayan considered Krishna as his Ishtdeva.

Swaminarayan ordered the construction of several Hindu temples and he had built six huge temples by himself and installed the idols of various deities such as Radha Krishna, Nara-Narayana, Laksmi Narayana, Gopinath, Radha Ramana, and Madanamohana.

That's different from people worshiping Swaminarayan himself, or declaring him as an avatar.  For regular Hindu observances, there should at least be a shastric basis for recognizing someone as an avatar - maybe Shrimad Bhagvatam or something else

Originally posted by: Vr15h

That's what rubs me the wrong way.  No offense to people who do revere Swaminarayan, but when people raise themselves to be the equivalent of the gods, let alone their superior, we're now in cult territory.  When I went to Robbinsville, it hardly felt like a temple at all: it felt like a thoroughfare.  Sharp contrast to, say, the Durga temple at Crosspointe, Virginia

In the case of the US, I've been to normal Hindu temples, where I worship our regular Hindu gods.  In Northern Virginia, I visit the Durga temple for most religious functions, & more recently, the Washington Kali temple, if I wanna observe Bengali specific functions, like Durga/Kojagori Lakshmi/Kali/Jagadhattri Puja.  So there is choice here.  There probably is in Britain as well, but in the Emirates, Hindus are stuck w/ either this, or whatever they have at home

No offense meant to any BAPS followers, but it doesn't feel like a temple, more like a beautiful piece of Architecture, with Idols of all their revered Gurus. We are fortunate to have other temples that resemble our Indian temples. I am not sure though if all Akshardham temples follow the same structure.

Having said this, glad for the Indian diaspora in the UAE.  Something is better than nothing in their case. Special mention to UAE for their progressive step

Edited by Dimdim - 2 months ago

https://youtu.be/zRdA5BWpcQI?si=rn1ps8rfHGApGMOd

I am not a Baps follower.
Having been to the Baps temple in Robbinsville, NJ, I can say that it does have deities of Shiv Parvati Ganesh, Ram Sita, Radha Krishna. The BAPS organization is extremely well run and helps communities around the world through its humanitarian services and grassroots initiatives.  Their philosophy is rooted in ancient Hindu scriptures and the Vedas.  Their temple complexes are beautiful and their grandeur in today’s day and age are comparable or better than the churches built in Europe thru the centuries. They truly are ambassadors of Indian Vedic/Hindu culture in foreign countries. People of all nationalities visit the temple in Robbinsville and are awed and impressed. It’s true that Shiv, Ram, Krishna are not the primary deities, but regardless a visit to the temple is a spiritual experience. One comes away with a feeling of pride in our Sanatana dharma,  regardless of whether you are a Baps follower. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/qFLuLfeO7Ec?si=vJ_p_1EG6kEBvQXi

Edited by Vr15h - 2 months ago

Originally posted by: Sorrento

I am not a Baps follower.
Having been to the Baps temple in Robbinsville, NJ, I can say that it does have deities of Shiv Parvati Ganesh, Ram Sita, Radha Krishna. The BAPS organization is extremely well run and helps communities around the world through its humanitarian services and grassroots initiatives.  Their philosophy is rooted in ancient Hindu scriptures and the Vedas.  Their temple complexes are beautiful and their grandeur in today’s day and age are comparable or better than the churches built in Europe thru the centuries. They truly are ambassadors of Indian Vedic/Hindu culture in foreign countries. People of all nationalities visit the temple in Robbinsville and are awed and impressed. It’s true that Shiv, Ram, Krishna are not the primary deities, but regardless a visit to the temple is a spiritual experience. One comes away with a feeling of pride in our Sanatana dharma,  regardless of whether you are a Baps follower. 

It's not a question of whether Lord Shiva or Vishnu are primary deities: there have been images of them actually waiting on Ghanshyam Pandey.  At that point, as far as actual Vedic/Puranic traditions go, they are in blasphemy territory: how is it different from Paundrak, who claimed to be the real Vishnu?  When one depicts our gods serving a mere mortal, it's certainly not ambassadors of Hinduism

Yeah, their architecture is beautiful, & they're nice people.  However, I was pretty unimpressed by the 🛕 in New Jersey, which has a giant statue of Ghanshyam Pandey dwarfing everyone else.  2 🛕 I normally go to - Durga Temple of Virginia & Washington Kali Temple - are both decent sized, but do not belittle our deities the way BAPS does

 I personally thought the gigantic statue of Swaminarayan at NJ was a bit gaudy, no offense to Baps followers. However, they have the organizational structure and financial resources to build magnificent temples like this everywhere as they see fit.  I marvel at the architecture. The one in NJ had run into labour issues with the US government and received a lot of negative publicity due to leftist woke propaganda and only the BAPS folks could have resolved these issues and built this temple despite that. Yes there are many other temples in the US but not on this grandeur and scale. A visit to the Baps temple is an experience and I go to the Baps temple, NJ to get in touch with my spiritual roots and marvel at architecture. But I go to the numerous other temples in NJ when I need to worship. It’s good that we have a choice.

Kudos to the Baps folks for building the Abu Dhabi temple.