History, Timing, Architecture, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Robbinsville, New Jersey, America
The Akshardham temple is devoted to Lord Shri Swaminarayan. BAPS Swaminarayana Temple built with blessing of Shri Pramukh Swami Maharaj. It is located in Robbinsville of New Jersey. The temple is not very old. A few sections of the temple are still under construction. It is popularly known as BAPS Shri Swaminarayan temple. One section of the temple complex was consecrated for people on the 10th of August, 2014. The Visitor’s center, the Mahamandir, and the Exhibition on Hinduism are still in progress. A large congregation hall in the complex to hold all the public gatherings.
The Akshardham Mandir was constructed by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. Pramukh Swami Maharaj inaugurated this temple in 2014. The Hindu Indians residing in New Jersey did not have any proper place of worship. They started planning their gatherings in smaller groups to perform spiritual services. People used to gather at each other’s houses for these ceremonies. Eventually, when these gatherings started to get bigger, they understood the need to construct a temple. In 1997, Pramukh Swami Maharaj first placed the idea of building a temple in Robbinsville. The idea was to build the temple on a plot of 162 acres. This could mark the temple as the biggest Hindu shrine in the world. The main building is a four-level building. The construction of other parts is still in progress. The ground-breaking ritual was performed in 2009. After that, the construction started. The first part to be completed was the Great Prayer hall and the Shikharbaddh Mandir. The hall is huge with an arrangement of 1000 people at a time. Both of them were inaugurated in 2017. The construction of the temple followed the earliest Vedas and Hindu scriptures.
Unique Architecture of Akshardham New Jersey
The architecture of the temple is a splendid thing to watch. The process of construction began in 2010. The artisans followed the idea of the Nagaradi style for building the temple. Italian Carrara Marble of 68,000 cubic feet was used in the making of the temple. The marbles were acquired from the mines in Europe. These marbles were directly sent to Rajasthan, India. More than hundreds of artisans involved themselves in the process of carving the stones. All the finished stone pieces were joined together in workshops. The engineers then numbered the units sequentially and transferred them to Robbinsville. When they reached Robbinsville, the artisans arranged all the pieces following the number sequences to make the construction easy. An enclosure or an ornamental mandap was built surrounding the temple. This idea was to protect the temple from bad weather. The framework is 133 feet long, 87 feet wide, and 42 feet high. The entrance of the Mandap is known as Mayur Dwar. It has sculptures of elephants, peacocks, and popular Hindu devotees of ancient times.
The monks of the temple follow a series of regular rituals from dawn to dusk. They wake up the deities by performing the morning hymns. This ritual is performed before dawn. The monks then clean the deities by bathing them. Eventually, they present clothes and food based on the time of the day. The foods offered to the deities are distributed among the followers in the form of Prasadam. Five types of Aarti are performed at five different times of the day. After the Shayana Aarti at night, the monks decorate the idols with night garments and ask them to rest for the night.
Diwali is the major festival celebrated in the Swaminarayan temple. The temple gets beautifully decorated with lights during the festival. People gathering here celebrates the festival for 3 days. They perform all the rituals and enjoy themselves a lot during these days. Apart from the Hindu residents, foreign people also visit the temple during Diwali. The traditional ceremonies of Dhanteras and Annakut are also performed during these days. People offer various types of food to the deity to perform Annakut.
Daily darshan timings of Swaminarayana Akshardham Robbinsville, New Jersey
The temple gate opens for visitors at 9.30 am and closes at 7.30 pm. Visitors are not allowed from 10.30 am to 11.15 am and from 6.15 pm to 7.00 pm.
The temple has a target to be the largest Hindu temple in the world. So, it gathers many visitors every year. Once the construction is completed, the number of visitors will be more.
How to BAPS Swaminarayana Temple, Akshardham, New Jersey, USA
Being of the most popular Hindu temple of USA, you can easily reach to Akshardham temple via public or private transport from any corner of USA. People can take a flight to the Newark Liberty International Airport from India. The Akshardham temple being a popular tourist spot, cab facilities are available outside the airport to reach directly.
