The US state of New Jersey is now home to the world’s second-largest Hindu temple, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The Akshardham Temple in Robbinsville City, which stands at 191 feet high and covers 185 acres, was inaugurated on October 8 in a grand ceremony attended by thousands of devotees and dignitaries.
The temple is a tribute to the life and teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, the founder of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan (BAPS) sect, which has over a million followers worldwide.
The temple has stones from seven different countries, including India, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece and Turkey, which were shipped to India for carving and then assembled in the US.
The temple also has stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata carved on its stones, as well as all the major dance postures on its pillars and walls.
The temple also reflects universal values and pluralism, as evident from the Brahmakund or the step wall at the front, which has water from 400 different rivers and lakes from around the world, including Ganga and Yamuna from India, Mississippi and East River from the US. The temple welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds to experience its beauty and spirituality.
The temple was built with the selfless service and devotion of 12,500 volunteers, who contributed their time, skills, and resources to make this dream a reality. The volunteers ranged from 10 days to more than five years of service, working in various aspects of the temple construction and management.
The temple aims to inspire people with values such as dharma (righteousness), gyan (knowledge), vairagya (detachment), and bhakti (devotion), which are the four pillars of ekantik dharma, a philosophy propounded by Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
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