BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (London)
बीएपीएस श्री स्वामीनारायण मंदिर लंदन
The first traditional stone Hindu mandir in Europe, hand-carved in India and raised in London by BAPS volunteers in 1995 in honour of Bhagwan Swaminarayan
Neasden, London, England, United Kingdom
BAPS Śrī Swāmīnārāyaṇa Mandir (London)Also known as: Neasden Temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Mandir Neasden
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (London)
बीएपीएस श्री स्वामीनारायण मंदिर लंदन
युग
A modern traditional mandir, hand-carved in India and assembled in London, opened and consecrated in 1995 under Pramukh Swami Maharaj
वास्तुकला
A traditional shikharbaddha Hindu mandir in the Nagara idiom, hand-carved from Italian and Indian marble and Bulgarian limestone, with an adjoining haveli, a cultural complex, in carved wood
विशेष
The mandir keeps the daily round of the BAPS Swaminarayan worship, with the arti waved before the deities and the abhishek of the murti of Nilkanth Varni offered by devotees. Timings for darshan, arti and the Understanding Hinduism exhibition are set by the mandir and are published by BAPS; they should be confirmed on the official channels, above all around Diwali and the Annakut.
पवित्र कथा · पवित्र कथा
In the autumn of 1995, in the London suburb of Neasden, there rose a building unlike anything Europe had seen before: a traditional Hindu mandir of hand-carved stone, its pinnacles and domes worked in white marble and pale limestone, standing among the terraced streets and warehouses of north-west London. It was the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, and it was the first traditional shikharbaddha mandir, a stone temple built to the ancient canons of Hindu sacred architecture, ever raised in Europe. The mandir belongs to the BAPS Swaminarayan tradition, the fellowship gathered around Bhagwan Swaminarayan, who lived in Gujarat from 1781 to 1830 and whom his devotees revere as the manifestation of Parabrahman, the supreme reality. The tradition follows the Akshar-Purushottam teaching, that the supreme God, Purushottam, is ever attended by his ideal devotee, Aksharbrahman, present on earth as the living guru, and that the soul draws near to God through the guru. It was the fifth of these gurus, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who conceived the London mandir and consecrated it, and the sixth, Mahant Swami Maharaj, who guides the tradition today. What astonished those who came to see it was how it had been made. No traditional stone mandir had been built in the modern West, and the craft of temple carving survived only in India. So the stone was quarried in Bulgaria and Italy and India, shipped to India, and there carved by hand into more than twenty-six thousand pieces by teams of craftsmen following the old rules of proportion; the numbered pieces were then shipped to London and fitted together, like a vast puzzle in stone, by an army of BAPS volunteers. Beside the mandir rose the haveli, a great hall in the Indian style, its interior worked in carved English oak and Burmese teak. Since that opening the mandir has become a landmark of Hindu presence in Britain, a house of daily worship where the arti lamps are waved and the deities bathed each morning, a centre for the British Hindu diaspora, and a place visited by hundreds of thousands, drawn by its Understanding Hinduism exhibition and by the great crowds that fill it at Diwali and the Annakut. It stands as the proof of a conviction of the tradition: that the sacred art of India could be carried whole across the sea and raised, by devotion and volunteer hands, in the heart of a Western city.
Sacred Designationपवित्र पदनाम
Sacred Origin Storyपवित्र उत्पत्ति कथा
Source: The BAPS Swaminarayan tradition and the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan
The BAPS Swaminarayan tradition takes its origin from Bhagwan Swaminarayan, who was born Ghanshyam Pande in 1781 in Chhapaiya, near Ayodhya, and who as a boy of eleven set out alone on a seven-year journey across India as the young renunciant Nilkanth Varni. He came at last to Gujarat, where he joined the fellowship of the ascetic Ramanand Swami, was given the name Sahajanand Swami, and was made the leader of the community. He became known as Swaminarayan, after the mantra he gave his followers, and his devotees revere him as the manifestation on earth of Parabrahman, Purushottam, the supreme God.
In his years in Gujarat, until his passing in 1830, Swaminarayan gathered a great fellowship, initiated hundreds of ascetics, built mandirs, and taught a way of ethical and devotional living. He gave two great scriptures to his followers: the Shikshapatri, a letter of two hundred and twelve verses setting out the code of right conduct, and the Vachanamrut, the record of his spiritual discourses, gathered by his senior disciples. He taught non-violence, purity, honesty and devotion, and forbade his followers intoxicants, meat and the taking of what is not given.
The teaching at the heart of the tradition is the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan. It holds that the supreme reality is Purushottam, Parabrahman, God himself, manifest on earth as Swaminarayan; and that God is ever accompanied by Aksharbrahman, his ideal and eternal devotee, the perfect servant through whom the soul comes to God. Aksharbrahman is present on earth as the God-realised guru, and the succession of these gurus, the Gunatit gurus, carries the presence of Aksharbrahman from age to age. To attach oneself to the living Aksharbrahman guru, and through him to worship Purushottam, is the path the tradition teaches to liberation and to the highest state, that of becoming brahmarup, one who has realised his own soul as brahman and offers perfect devotion to Purushottam.
The guru succession runs from Swaminarayan through Gunatitanand Swami, whom the tradition holds to be Aksharbrahman himself, and on through Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj, who established the BAPS organisation in 1907 to uphold the Akshar-Purushottam teaching, Yogiji Maharaj, and Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth successor, to Mahant Swami Maharaj, the sixth and present guru. It was Pramukh Swami Maharaj who inspired and consecrated the London mandir, and in it the deities are worshipped in the Swaminarayan manner, with Bhagwan Swaminarayan and the Aksharbrahman guru enshrined together as Akshar and Purushottam, the eternal devotee and the supreme God.
उद्धृत स्रोत:
- BAPS Swaminarayan tradition and the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan
- The Shikshapatri and Vachanamrut of Bhagwan Swaminarayan
- History of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
अन्य परंपराएँ · अन्य परंपराएँ
The building of the mandir in the West
विद्वत संदर्भ
The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha is a modern Hindu tradition with roots in the early nineteenth-century Gujarat of Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830), and it is among the most organised and globally present of Hindu movements, with mandirs across India, East Africa, North America, the United Kingdom and beyond. The particular teaching that defines BAPS is the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan, systematised by Shastriji Maharaj, who separated from the older Vadtal and Ahmedabad dioceses of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya to found the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha in 1907, upholding the doctrine that Gunatitanand Swami was Aksharbrahman, the eternal ideal devotee, and that the God-realised guru in his line carries that presence. Scholars of religion have studied the movement as a case of a traditional devotional Hinduism adapting to modernity and to global diaspora, retaining rigorous ethical discipline, a strong lay volunteer culture, and elaborate ritual, while building institutions on a large scale. The Neasden mandir, opened in 1995, is significant to the study of religion in Britain and of the Hindu diaspora, as the first traditional stone Hindu temple built in Europe and as a striking instance of the transplantation of a sacred building tradition. Its construction, with stone hand-carved in India by traditional craftsmen following the shilpa canons and assembled in London by volunteers, has been widely noted as an example of the survival and export of Indian temple craft, and the mandir has been studied and cited as a landmark of the settled British Hindu community and of the public presence of Hinduism in the West. Its Understanding Hinduism exhibition and its role at festivals such as Diwali have made it a point of contact between the tradition and the wider British public. Eternal Raga presents the BAPS Swaminarayan tradition as its adherents understand it, and treats the mandir as both a living house of worship and a landmark of the Hindu diaspora.
Historyइतिहास
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at Neasden was opened and consecrated in the summer of 1995, the first traditional stone Hindu mandir built in Europe. It belongs to the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, the fellowship of the Akshar-Purushottam tradition founded on the teaching of Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830), and it was conceived and consecrated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth spiritual successor in the tradition's line of gurus.
The Swaminarayan community had taken root in Britain with the migration of Gujaratis, many by way of East Africa, through the twentieth century, and the BAPS fellowship in London had worshipped for years in a converted building. When it was resolved to build a mandir worthy of the tradition, Pramukh Swami Maharaj chose that it should be a traditional shikharbaddha mandir, carved from stone to the ancient canons, a thing that had never been attempted in the modern West. Because the craft of temple carving survived only in India, the stone, Italian and Indian marble and Bulgarian limestone, was quarried and carried to India, where craftsmen carved it by hand into more than twenty-six thousand numbered pieces; these were shipped to London and assembled on the Neasden site by teams of volunteers. Beside the mandir was raised the haveli, a great cultural complex in the Indian style, its interior worked in carved English oak and Burmese teak.
The mandir opened in August 1995 to wide public attention, celebrated as one of the largest Hindu temples outside India and a marvel of traditional craft. From the day of its consecration it has kept the full round of the BAPS Swaminarayan worship: the murtis, among them Bhagwan Swaminarayan enshrined with the Aksharbrahman guru as Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj, are attended with the daily arti and the abhishek, and the mandir observes the festival calendar of the tradition, above all the Annakut of the New Year that follows Diwali, when a great display of vegetarian food is offered to the deities and enormous crowds come.
In the decades since, the mandir has become a fixed landmark of Hindu life in Britain and a place of pilgrimage and visit for people of every background, its Understanding Hinduism exhibition introducing the faith to the wider public. It served the British Hindu diaspora as a spiritual home and a centre of community, education and volunteer seva, and its success helped inspire the building of further traditional BAPS mandirs across the world, from Chino Hills and Robbinsville in North America to the great mandir at Abu Dhabi. Under Mahant Swami Maharaj, the sixth and present guru, the Neasden mandir continues as a living house of the Swaminarayan worship and a symbol of the settled and confident presence of Hinduism in the West.
Historical Timelineऐतिहासिक कालक्रम
Bhagwan Swaminarayan lives in Gujarat, gathering a great fellowship, initiating ascetics, building mandirs, and giving the Shikshapatri and the Vachanamrut; his devotees revere him as the manifestation of Parabrahman.
Bhagwan Swaminarayan (born Ghanshyam Pande, 1781-1830) is the founder of the Swaminarayan tradition, from which BAPS descends.
Shastriji Maharaj establishes the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS), upholding the Akshar-Purushottam teaching that Gunatitanand Swami was Aksharbrahman, the eternal ideal devotee of Purushottam.
The founding of BAPS in 1907 marks the institutional beginning of the Akshar-Purushottam tradition in its own line.
Gujaratis of the Swaminarayan tradition, many by way of East Africa, settle in Britain, and the BAPS fellowship takes root in London, worshipping for years in a converted building.
The Swaminarayan community in Britain grew substantially through post-war migration, including twice-migrants from East Africa.
Under Pramukh Swami Maharaj it is resolved to build a traditional shikharbaddha mandir in London, carved from stone to the ancient canons, a thing never before attempted in the modern West.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj was the fifth spiritual successor in the BAPS guru line and the guiding inspiration of the Neasden mandir.
Italian and Indian marble and Bulgarian limestone are quarried and carried to India, where craftsmen carve the stone by hand into more than twenty-six thousand numbered pieces following the shilpa canons.
The mandir's stone was carved in India by traditional craftsmen and assembled in London, an example of the export of Indian temple craft.
The London Hindu community raises the funds and gives its volunteer labour, some famously through the collecting of used aluminium cans and waste for recycling, and the numbered pieces are shipped to Neasden and assembled on site.
The mandir was built through community fundraising and volunteer seva, a defining feature of the BAPS tradition.
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at Neasden is opened and consecrated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the first traditional stone Hindu mandir in Europe, with the adjoining haveli in carved wood.
The mandir was consecrated in 1995 and was widely celebrated as one of the largest Hindu temples outside India at the time.
The mandir keeps the full round of BAPS Swaminarayan worship, with the daily arti and abhishek and the festival calendar, above all the Annakut of the New Year, when a great display of food is offered to the deities.
The Understanding Hinduism exhibition opens within the complex, introducing the faith, its history and contributions to hundreds of thousands of visitors of every background.
The success of the Neasden mandir helps inspire the building of further traditional BAPS mandirs across the world, from Chino Hills and Robbinsville in North America to the great mandir at Abu Dhabi.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who conceived and consecrated the Neasden mandir, passes away, and Mahant Swami Maharaj becomes the sixth and present guru of the tradition.
The Neasden mandir remains a living house of the Swaminarayan worship and a landmark of Hindu life in Britain, filling with huge crowds at Diwali and the Annakut and serving the British Hindu diaspora as a spiritual and community home.
What You'll Seeदर्शन में
The murtis of the Neasden mandir are worshipped in the Swaminarayan manner, and the deepest object of the worship is Bhagwan Swaminarayan himself, revered as the manifestation of Parabrahman, Purushottam, the supreme God. In the central shrine he is enshrined together with the Aksharbrahman guru as Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj, the eternal ideal devotee and the supreme God worshipped as a pair, an image of the very teaching of the tradition: that God is never worshipped alone but always with his perfect servant, through whom the soul comes to him.
Bhagwan Swaminarayan is shown as the serene and dignified figure of the tradition, worshipped as Ghanshyam Maharaj and, in his form as the young renunciant of his years of pilgrimage, as Nilkanth Varni, whose murti receives the daily abhishek. Around the central deities the mandir enshrines other forms of God honoured in the tradition, among them Shri Radha-Krishna, Shri Sita-Ram, Shri Shiv-Parvati and Shri Ganpati and Hanuman, so that the great deities of Hinduism are worshipped within the Swaminarayan framework, with Swaminarayan revered as Purushottam at the centre.
The murtis are richly dressed and adorned, changed through the day and the seasons, and attended with the arti and the offering of food, in the elaborate and orderly ritual that marks the Swaminarayan worship. Around them the carved stone of the mandir itself is a work of iconography: its pillars, arches, domes and ceilings are worked with the figures of deities, sages, dancers and the ornament of the traditional canons, so that the whole building is a carved offering, the sacred art of India raised in stone in a Western city. The controlling image throughout remains Akshar and Purushottam, the eternal devotee and the supreme God, the teaching of the tradition made visible in the central shrine.
Distinctive Practicesविशिष्ट परंपराएँ
The Daily Arti and Abhishek
दैनिक आरती और अभिषेक
Daily, at the mandir
The mandir keeps the daily round of the Swaminarayan worship: the arti, the waving of lit lamps before the deities with the singing of the arti hymn, is offered at set times through the day, and devotees perform the abhishek, the ceremonial bathing of the murti of Nilkanth Varni, the young Swaminarayan of his pilgrimage years, pouring consecrated water over the sacred image with prayer.
In the Swaminarayan tradition the murti is not a symbol but the living presence of God, to be served as a beloved and honoured guest, and the daily arti and abhishek are the acts of that service. The arti offers light and song to God, the devotee's love raised in flame and voice; the abhishek of Nilkanth Varni recalls Swaminarayan's own years of ascetic pilgrimage across India and lets the devotee serve God directly with his own hands, pouring the sacred water with a prayer. To keep this daily worship is to hold the mandir a living house where God dwells and is attended, and to order one's own devotion by the rhythm of his service.
Devotion to the Aksharbrahman Guru
अक्षरब्रह्म गुरु के प्रति भक्ति
Continually, in the life of the devotee
The tradition holds that the soul draws near to Purushottam, the supreme God, through Aksharbrahman, present on earth as the living God-realised guru. The devotee therefore attaches himself to the guru, at Neasden the line running to Pramukh Swami Maharaj and to Mahant Swami Maharaj, honours his image beside the deities, follows his guidance, and understands his own devotion and ethical life as offered through the guru to God.
The Akshar-Purushottam teaching is that God is ever attended by his ideal devotee, Aksharbrahman, and that the soul cannot reach Purushottam except through him; the perfect servant is the door to God. The living guru is understood as the embodiment of Aksharbrahman in the age, and to associate with him, to serve and obey and imitate him, is to be drawn into the ideal devotion he embodies and so toward God. This is why the guru's image stands beside the deities in the central shrine and why devotion to the guru is not set apart from devotion to God but is its very means: through Akshar the devotee comes to Purushottam.
Volunteer Seva and Ethical Living
स्वयंसेवक सेवा और नैतिक जीवन
In daily life and in the running of the mandir
The BAPS tradition is marked by its culture of volunteer seva, selfless service, and by a rigorous ethical discipline. The mandir at Neasden was built by volunteers, and its worship, upkeep, festivals, education and charitable work are carried by the unpaid service of the community; devotees also keep the ethical vows of the tradition, abstaining from meat, intoxicants, theft, adultery and impurity, following the code set out by Swaminarayan in the Shikshapatri.
In the Swaminarayan teaching, devotion is not confined to ritual but is lived out in conduct and in service. Seva, the offering of one's own labour without reward, is held a form of worship, the giving of oneself to God through service to the mandir and the community; and ethical living, the keeping of the vows Swaminarayan set out in the Shikshapatri, is the ground on which devotion stands, for the tradition holds that purity of life and love of God rise together. To serve as a volunteer and to live by the code is to make one's whole life an offering, so that the mandir is upheld, and the devotee sanctified, by the same devotion.
The Annakut Offering
अन्नकूट की भेंट
At the New Year, following Diwali
On the New Year that follows Diwali the mandir keeps the Annakut, the mountain of food, when a great array of vegetarian dishes, often numbering in the hundreds, all cooked by the devotees, is arranged before the deities as a thanksgiving offering, later shared as the sanctified food of God. It is the most spectacular of the mandir's festivals and draws enormous crowds.
The Annakut, offered at the start of the New Year, is an act of gratitude and of loving service: the community gives to God the first and the best of its food, the labour of many hands cooked and arranged with devotion, in thanks for the year past and in hope for the year to come. In the Swaminarayan understanding the food is offered to the living presence of God in the murtis and, having been accepted by him, is returned to the devotees as prasad, the grace of God made tangible in what is eaten. To keep the Annakut is to acknowledge that all sustenance comes from God and to receive it back from him blessed, the whole community fed at the table of the deity.
Did You Know?क्या आप जानते हैं?
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at Neasden, opened in 1995, was the first traditional stone Hindu mandir built in Europe, raised to the ancient canons of Hindu sacred architecture.
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
The stone, Italian and Indian marble and Bulgarian limestone, was carved by hand in India into more than twenty-six thousand numbered pieces and then shipped to London and assembled on site.
BAPS accounts of the building of the mandir
The mandir was conceived and consecrated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth spiritual successor in the BAPS guru line; Mahant Swami Maharaj is the sixth and present guru.
History of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
The tradition follows the Akshar-Purushottam teaching, that the supreme God, Purushottam, is ever attended by Aksharbrahman, his ideal devotee, present on earth as the living guru through whom the soul comes to God.
Akshar-Purushottam Darshan
Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830) gave his followers two great scriptures: the Shikshapatri, a code of right conduct in two hundred and twelve verses, and the Vachanamrut, the record of his spiritual discourses.
The Shikshapatri and Vachanamrut
Beside the mandir stands the haveli, a great cultural complex in the Indian style, its interior worked in carved English oak and Burmese teak.
BAPS Neasden mandir
The mandir was funded by the community and built by volunteer seva, some of the funds famously raised through the collecting of used aluminium cans and waste for recycling.
BAPS accounts of the building of the mandir
The Understanding Hinduism exhibition within the complex introduces the faith, its history and contributions to hundreds of thousands of visitors of every background.
BAPS Neasden mandir
The New Year Annakut, following Diwali, sees hundreds of vegetarian dishes cooked by devotees arranged before the deities, and it draws enormous crowds each year.
Worship at the BAPS Neasden mandir
Visitor Accessप्रवेश जानकारी
The mandir warmly welcomes visitors of every faith and background, and no admission charge is made to enter the mandir and worship. Visitors are asked to dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and footwear is removed before entering the mandir. Silence and respect are asked within the shrine. As a working house of worship with a valued sacred interior, the mandir sets rules on photography and on conduct, and there are security arrangements at the entrance in keeping with a major public building; large bags may be restricted. Photography is generally not permitted inside the mandir; follow the posted rules and the directions of the volunteers. The mandir keeps daily times for darshan and arti and for the Understanding Hinduism exhibition, and these, together with any charge for the exhibition, are published by BAPS. At Diwali and the Annakut the mandir draws very large crowds, and visitors should plan for queues and busier arrangements at those times.
आध्यात्मिक आधार
The mandir is a house of the living presence of God, and its rules of dress, silence and conduct flow from the reverence owed to that presence. In the Swaminarayan tradition the murtis are not symbols but God himself, served with the full order and dignity of the daily worship, and the visitor is asked to enter as into the home of the divine: modestly dressed, unshod, quiet, respectful. The absence of any charge to enter the mandir and worship reflects the tradition's understanding that the darshan of God is freely given. The rules on photography and the security arrangements are the ordinary care of a working shrine and a major public building, guarding the sanctity of the interior and the safety of the many who come. To keep them is not a burden but a part of the respect the mandir asks: the visitor comes not as a tourist to a monument only but as a guest in a house of God, and the conduct asked is the conduct owed to that presence.
समकालीन संदर्भ
The Neasden mandir is one of the best known Hindu sites in Britain, a landmark of north-west London visited by devotees, school groups, tourists and dignitaries alike. It serves the British Hindu diaspora as a spiritual home and a centre of community life, education, youth activity and charitable and volunteer work, and it introduces the wider public to Hinduism through its Understanding Hinduism exhibition and its open welcome. Easily reached from central London by Underground and Overground, the mandir sees a steady flow of visitors through the year and very large crowds at the great festivals, above all Diwali and the Annakut. BAPS publishes the mandir's timings, its rules for visitors and its festival arrangements, and these should be checked on the official channels, especially before a festival visit, when queues and special arrangements are to be expected.
व्यावहारिक मार्गदर्शन
The mandir is in Neasden, in the London Borough of Brent, easily reached by Underground and Overground, with Neasden and Stonebridge Park the nearest stations, and by road from the North Circular. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and be ready to remove footwear before entering the mandir. Keep silence and respect within the shrine, and follow the rules on photography, which is generally not permitted inside; large bags may be restricted at the entrance security. Come on an ordinary day for an unhurried darshan and a quiet look at the carved mandir and the Understanding Hinduism exhibition, or at Diwali and the Annakut for the fullest experience of the festivals, when the mandir is at its most vivid but also its most crowded, and queues are to be expected. Check the mandir's darshan and arti times, the exhibition's hours and any charge, and the festival arrangements on the official BAPS channels before visiting.
Festivalsत्योहार
Diwali and the New Year Annakut
दीवाली और नववर्ष अन्नकूट
Oct-Nov (Kartik)
The greatest of the mandir's festivals, when Diwali is kept with the worship of the deities and the New Year that follows brings the Annakut, a great array of hundreds of vegetarian dishes cooked by devotees and offered before the murtis in thanksgiving; the celebration draws enormous crowds and is the height of the mandir's year.
Swaminarayan Jayanti and Ram Navami
स्वामिनारायण जयंती और राम नवमी
Mar-Apr (Chaitra)
The birth anniversary of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, who was born on the day of Ram Navami, is kept with special worship, the singing of his glory and the celebration of his advent, the two observances falling together as the tradition marks the birth of the one it reveres as Purushottam.
Guru Purnima
गुरु पूर्णिमा
Jun-Jul (Ashadha)
The festival of the guru, of high importance in a tradition that holds the Aksharbrahman guru to be the means through whom the soul comes to God; the day is kept with the honouring of the line of gurus and the reaffirmation of the devotee's bond with the living guru.
Janmashtami
जन्माष्टमी
Aug-Sep (Bhadrapada)
The birth of Krishna, honoured in the mandir where Shri Radha-Krishna are among the enshrined deities, kept with worship, the singing of the Lord's glory and the joy of his advent in the Swaminarayan manner.
Traditional Offeringsपारंपरिक अर्पण
प्राथमिक अर्पण
Arti (waving of lamps)
आरती (दीप घुमाना)
Ārati
The arti, the waving of lit lamps before the deities with the singing of the arti hymn, is the central daily offering of the Swaminarayan worship, the devotee's love and reverence raised to God in light and song, offered at set times through the day.
Abhishek (ceremonial bathing)
अभिषेक (अनुष्ठानिक स्नान)
Abhiṣeka
The abhishek, the pouring of consecrated water over the murti of Nilkanth Varni, the young Swaminarayan of his pilgrimage years, is offered by devotees with prayer, letting each serve God directly with his own hands in an act of loving worship.
Thal and Annakut (food offering)
थाल और अन्नकूट (भोजन भेंट)
Annakūṭa
Food cooked with devotion is offered to the deities as thal, and at the New Year as the great Annakut, the mountain of hundreds of vegetarian dishes; accepted by God and returned as prasad, it is the sanctified food of the deity shared among the devotees.
Flowers and garlands
पुष्प और मालाएँ
Puṣpa
Flowers and garlands are offered to the deities and used to adorn the murtis, the beauty and fragrance of the flower given to God as an offering of love in the daily worship and at the festivals.
Seva (volunteer service)
सेवा (स्वयंसेवक सेवा)
Sevā
Seva, the offering of one's own labour without reward in the worship, upkeep, festivals and charitable work of the mandir, is held in the Swaminarayan tradition a high form of devotion, the giving of oneself to God through service to his house and his community.
Recitation of the scriptures
शास्त्रों का पाठ
Pāṭha
The reading and recitation of the tradition's scriptures, above all the Shikshapatri and the Vachanamrut of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, is held a high offering, the word of God taken up in study and prayer as the flower and the lamp are offered in worship.
इस मंदिर की विशेषता
The Offering to Akshar and Purushottam
अक्षर और पुरुषोत्तम को भेंट
What is particular to the Swaminarayan worship is that the offering is made not to God alone but to Akshar and Purushottam together, the supreme God enshrined with his ideal devotee, the Aksharbrahman guru, as the very form of the tradition's teaching. At Neasden the arti, the food, the flowers and the service are offered before Bhagwan Swaminarayan and the guru enshrined as Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj. The deepest offering the tradition holds is the offering made through the guru: the devotee brings his worship and his life to God not directly but through Aksharbrahman, the perfect servant, so that his devotion is drawn up into the ideal devotion of Akshar and carried to Purushottam. To offer at Neasden is thus to offer in the pattern of the teaching, God and his devotee worshipped together, and the soul's love raised to God through the one who is ever perfectly devoted to him.
Offerings at the Neasden mandir follow the BAPS Swaminarayan tradition, with the arti, abhishek, the thal and Annakut food offering, flowers and volunteer seva central, made before Bhagwan Swaminarayan and the guru enshrined as Akshar-Purushottam Maharaj, and the ethical code of the Shikshapatri and the discourses of the Vachanamrut shaping the devotee's life. Eternal Raga presents these practices as a devotional tradition; specific arrangements should be confirmed on the official BAPS channels.
How to Reachकैसे पहुँचें
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir stands in Neasden, in the London Borough of Brent, in north-west London, near the North Circular Road, and it is easily reached from across the city.
By air: London Heathrow is the nearest international airport, from which the mandir is reached by road or by the Underground; London's other airports also serve the city.
By Underground and Overground: Neasden station on the Jubilee line and Stonebridge Park on the Bakerloo line and Overground are the nearest stations, each a short walk from the mandir; Wembley Park is also within reach.
By road: the mandir is near the North Circular Road and is signposted locally; there is limited parking, and public transport is often the easier way to come, especially at the festivals.
The mandir is a fixed landmark of the area, and its white pinnacles are visible from around; visitors of every background are welcomed, and it is easily combined with the other sights of London. Check the mandir's timings on the official BAPS channels before setting out.
Plan Your Visitयात्रा की योजना
🌤 सर्वोत्तम मौसम
London can be visited through the year, and the mandir is open across the seasons. The spring and summer months, roughly April to September, bring the mildest and brightest weather and are the most comfortable for travel, while the autumn and winter are cooler and darker but see the mandir's greatest festival, Diwali and the New Year Annakut, in October or November. The festivals, above all Diwali and the Annakut, are the most vivid times to come, when the mandir is at its fullest, though also the busiest, with large crowds and queues to be expected. On ordinary days the darshan is unhurried and the carved mandir and the exhibition can be seen at leisure. Mornings and the times of the arti are the most atmospheric for darshan; check the mandir's daily timings on the official BAPS channels before visiting.
👘 पहनावे का नियम
Modest dress is asked of all visitors, with shoulders and knees covered, in keeping with a working house of worship. Footwear is removed before entering the mandir. Simple, respectful attire is appropriate; the mandir welcomes visitors of every faith who come in this spirit of respect.
📱 फोन और फोटोग्राफी
Photography is generally not permitted inside the mandir, whose carved interior and murtis are treated with reverence; follow the posted rules and the directions of the volunteers, and keep phones silenced within the shrine. Photography of the exterior is usually allowed.
🏨 आवास
As the mandir is within London, the whole range of the city's accommodation is available, from hotels near the mandir in Brent and Wembley to the full choice of central London, all within easy reach by Underground and Overground. Wembley, close by, has many hotels and is well connected. Demand and prices rise across London at busy times and around major events, and the area near the mandir fills at the great festivals, above all Diwali and the Annakut; booking ahead is advisable for a festival visit.
Sacred Soundsपवित्र ध्वनि
क्या आप जानते हैं? · Did You Know?
वही अनुवाद त्रुटि जिसने हिन्दू धर्म में '33 कोटि' को '33 करोड़' बनाया, बौद्ध धर्म में भी हुई। बौद्ध ग्रन्थों के चीनी अनुवाद ने 'सप्त कोटि बुद्ध' (7 श्रेष्ठ बुद्ध) का अनुवाद '7 करोड़ बुद्ध' कर दिया। तिब्बती अनुवाद ने सही किया: 7 प्रकार, 7 करोड़ नहीं। एक संस्कृत शब्द, दो प्रमुख विश्व धर्मों में गलत पढ़ा गया, ने दो एकसमान भ्रम स्वतन्त्र रूप से उत्पन्न किए।
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