Skyscraper temple at Vrindavan soon
Five years from now, the holy land of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh will boast of the world’s largest and the first “skyscraper” temple for Lord Krishna, who is believed to have born and raised in Mathura and Vrindavan, with a height of 700 feet in a sprawling campus that will also resemble the verdant forests of some 5,000 years ago.
President Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone for the “Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir” here on Sunday by participating in the “anata sesha puja” which marked the placing of Lord Ananta Shesha beneath the foundation of the proposed skyscraper temple.
The temple, at a height of 210 metres ( 700 feet), is to come up in a campus of over 30 acres, and will have a capsule elevator to take visitors from ground level to the 700- foot- tall viewing gallery, giving an immersive 3D sound and light experience of different planetary systems described in Vedic literature.
Laying the foundation stone, President Mukherjee termed the proposed temple an “architectural marvel” that will enable tens of thousands of pilgrims who come to Vrindavan to have a glimpse of how Lord Krishna lived in this land several thousand years ago.
“This temple will serve as another attraction to thousands of people who visit the holy land of Vrindavan and other religious tourists... Krishna con-
There can be no better way of doing this than spreading the Bhagvad Gita’s message of universal love and humanity,” he said. Elaborating the proposed temple’s features, the President appreciated the efforts of the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir movement for successfully implementing a mid- day meal scheme that feeds 1.4 lakh children in Mathura district.
“Lord Krishna, through His timeless teachings in the Bhagvad Gita, has shaped the intellectual, cultural and spiritual mindscape of India for several millennia.
It is thus only appropriate that Vrindavan strives to become a world renowned centre for spiritual enlightenment, from where the message of divinity and peace resonates across all humanity,” he said.
The temple will have a footprint of about five acres and is to rise to a height of about 700 feet ( 213 meters, or 70 floors), and will be vibrant with festivals and religious activity throughout the year, with a lookalike of verdant forests of Vrindavan to recreated around this magnificent structure. The movement also plans to construct a Krishna Lila Theme Park inside the sprawling campus, to include themed sto- rytelling areas, musical fountains, garden lawns and water features.
There are also plans to build a Krishna Heritage Museum, Bhagvad Gita expo, lecture halls and a centre for Krishna heritage studies inside the proposed skyscraper temple. UP governor Ram Naik, Mathura Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini and Rajya Sabha Congress MP Oscar Fernandes also participated in the ceremony.