Around Middle East: Part Eleven
In which I visited a temple in Arab land
Day Four continues...
BAPS Hindu Mandir is built by the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan) Sanstha. The mandir stands 108 feet tall, 262 feet in length and 180 feet in width. Other architectural features include: two ghumats (domes), seven shikars (spires) symbolic of the seven Emirates in UAE, 12 samrans (pyramidal domes) and 402 pillars. The land to build this Hindu mandir was donated by a Muslim king, while the lead architect for the project was a Catholic Christian, and the construction project was managed by a Sikh who worked for a Parsi-owned company. The foundation designer was a Buddhist, and a director of the mandir is a Jain. This shows the significance of interfaith and cultural harmony in this mandir project.
The Wall of Harmony is a 47m long 3D-printed wall completed by the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community. We passed by the theatre, left side had the waterfall and divine eye. We turned right to the shoe counter to remove shoes and wash our hands. On the opposite side is a floral exhibition, we can buy flowers for the worship. Adjacent to it is the food joint Orchard. We climbed staircase to the main temple. Ears felt good after hearing the sound of temple bells. The deities worshipped are in the order from left to right, photo clicking was prohibited. Each murthi was beautiful and divine.
The first shrine houses murthis of the Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati (aadishakti) and their sons Karthikeya and Ganesh. The second shrine houses murtis of Jagannath, a form of Krishna, accompanied by his siblings Subhadra and Balabhadra. The third shrine houses murthis of Radha-Krishna, tale of eternal love. There is an idol of Pramukh Swami Maharaj, visionary of mandir. The centre shrine houses the murtis of Swaminarayan and Gunatitanand Swami, who are collectively worshiped as Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj. Swaminarayan is the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya and is revered as Purushottam (God) and Gunatitanand Swami is the first spiritual successor of Swaminarayan and is revered as Akshar. There is an idol of Shastriji Maharaj, founder of BAPS. The fifth shrine houses the black granite murtis of Srinivasa, an incarnation of Vishnu and Padmavati, an incarnation of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth. The sixth shrine houses panchaloha murthi of lord Ayyappan. The seventh shrine houses the murthis of Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman.
The Divine Eye is a blend of contemporary art and ancient aspirations. It combines the spirituality of India's Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers, and symbolizes the UAE's dedication to peace, tolerance, social, cultural, and spiritual harmony.
We were done with the temple visit and had coffee in the Orchard.
We left the temple at 4:30pm and drove to the airport in 30 minutes. Luggage was loaded off at the departure gate. We were given dinner packets, which we started eating since the checking counter was yet to open.
We checked in the luggage and got our boarding pass. Post that we headed for the immigration, got the passport stamped and cleared the security check by 7pm. Now we had an hour to move around the airport. We reached the gate at 8pm. I had a little chat with Shweta Kulkarni, Aparna Kelkar, MJ and Meena in the waiting area. The flight was getting delayed. We boarded the flight at midnight. The Akasa Air QP 585 seats were divided as ABC | DEF. My seat was 25F, window seat! The flight took off and we bid adieu to the Arab land. Meal was served, I drank only the hot chocolate. I dozed off for half the journey, got up feeling suffocated. We landed at the CSMIA at 4am IST on 16th Dec, walked to the immigration counter, got the passport stamped, got the luggage from the belt, waved goodbye to Neha and left the airport by 5:15am, took an auto and reached the Andheri station, boarded the 5:54 Virar Fast and dozed off. I reached home at 7am. Finally the 14th country ticked on my bucket list.
