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Aluminium
Cans Used to Build Temple in London
Of what use
is an empty aluminium can? Not much at first glance, perhaps.
Yet millions of used aluminium cans have helped to fund the construction
of a temple in north London.
The recycling scheme, which was launched at major Swaminarayan
Satsang centers in 1992, has become one of the largest single
can recycling projects in the UK. Young and old volunteers collected
used cans from their neighbours, streets, markets and football
matches and deposited them at the Satsang centers, from where
they were sold to Alcan Recycling, a company specialising in aluminium
recycling.
...As the temple opening date approaches, the Mission's youth
wing volunteers have been busy preparing floats for a procession
from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square on August 18...
The
Asian Age
Monday 7 August 1995 |
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Neasden's Taj Mahal |
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Neasden's
Taj Mahal
Neasden: A New Home for the Gods
The Swaminarayan
temple is set in the suburb's suburb, a swathe of non-descript
ugliness south of Wembley stadium, where the North Circular Road
bends south towards the Thames. It is faced with 2,000 tons of
Italian marble, carved until it seems to froth like the milk on
a cappuccino. In the hard light of this extraordinary summer,
it glitters as if in the tropics. What is not marble is grey limestone
from Bulgaria, or teak, also carved until the hard wood looks
like a tapestry. It is the first temple in this style to have
been built for at least 100 years, anywhere in the world.
The
Independent
Thursday
17 August 1995
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Temple
of Neasden
They
swept through the West End like a vast multi-coloured tide. The
biggest ever march by the Asian community in Britain – more than
6,000 people, plus bands, dance troupes and floats – brought traffic
to a standstill...and the message was peace and harmony.
Today, the Gujarati men with the bands, flags and banners led
the way from Hyde Park, headed by a boys' band from Leicester
playing a medley of popular songs.
Behind came the women and girls, in their celebration best saris,
queuing patiently in a long line of gold, red, blue, pink, green
and purple.
by Richard Holliday and Allan Ramsay
Evening Standard
Friday 18 August 1995 |
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Hinduism
Comes of Age in Britain
Yesterday afternoon, 17 painted idols were
marched through the streets of Central London, from Hyde Park
to Trafalgar Square. They came from the Neasden Mandir, an extraordinary
Hindu temple which has been raised in an unprepossessing suburb
in north-west London, and were paraded through the heart of London
to welcome them to their new home.
...The new temple in Neasden is a remarkable building by any aesthetic
standard and it will probably become one of the sights of London.
The temple's materials may have cost no more than £3m. But
the labour that went into them would have cost a vast amount had
it been charged at Western market rates. It is in the labour of
volunteers that the real wealth of the sect resides.
The past couple of decades have shown an extraordinary revival
of religious energy around the world... Often these revivals have
taken violent and disturbing forms: it is hard to find a war anywhere
in the world today that does not have a religious component. One
of the remarkable things about the Neasden Mandir is that it is
an almost wholly benign expression of religious fervour.
...Amongst other things, the temple is a monument to family values.
Religions play a huge role in preserving and strengthening family
life; families, in return, are the medium through which religious
beliefs and practices are usually transmitted.
The Independent
Saturday 19 August 1995
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Temple to the Gods of NW10 |
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Temple
to the Gods of NW10
It is hallucinatory. Happen on a profusion
of milky limestone pinnacles, carved pillars...a westerner might
feast his eyes, and pass by.
"It's not so much the building, but the spirit in which it
is being built," says Michael James, a Cumbrian lorry driver
eating ham sandwiches in Brentwood Road, and musing on his and
the temple's place in the scheme of things. Two weeks ago he was
delivering goods to a supermarket and took a wrong turning in
Neasden. He saw the mountains of white limestone, and screeched
to a halt: "I was just gob-smacked. It was like...I don't
know. I've been back four times just to watch this... You want
to touch it, breathe it in..."
The
Guardian
Saturday 19 August 1995 |
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Temple Takes Neasden to New Heights
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Temple
Takes Neasden to New Heights
The largest traditional Hindu temple
outside India opened in London yesterday, bringing to fruition
the work of hundreds of volunteer workers and endowing the suburban
skyline of Neasden with domes and pinnacles.
The 70ft-high, 195ft-long holy temple, or mandir, is surrounded
by a moat and has been built to ancient Hindu designs.
There are concessions, however, to the climate and needs of modern
British society, such as a lift to provide access for disabled
people, under-floor heating, concealed lighting and parking for
550 cars.
The project was conceived by Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj, spiritual
head of the Swaminarayan Hindu Mission, which has some 20,000
followers and 26 centers in Britain.
A six-day "Festival of Inspirations" to celebrate the
monument's completion started yesterday with a cultural parade
through central London.
Barbie Dutter
The Daily Telegraph
Saturday 19 August 1995
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Gateway to Heaven |
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Gateway
to Heaven
No non-Christian religious organisation
in Britain has previously built with such confidence in the long-term
future. The new mandir, being such an evident manifestation of
a particular ethnic group, is therefore a very brave enterprise.
Such temples, we are told by the Swamis, are meant "to raise
the consciousness of civilisation". It is a beautiful building
that enriches London enormously.
The Sunday Times
Sunday 27 August 1995 |
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Britain
Sees the Gentle Face of Hinduism
A British Home Secretary
who interrupts his "sacred" weekly holiday to attend
the consecration of a Hindu temple, greets the audience with abhinandan
and reads out shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita, makes a telling
contribution to multiculturalism, and "The Images of Britain-95."
This is what Mr Michael Howard did to the delight of thousands
of Swaminarayan devotees gathered under the shadow of an exquisite
purpose-built temple, set to become a sight of London.
High Commissioner L.M. Singhvi described the temple as a gift
to Britain from Pramukh Swami Maharaj and a monument to inter-faith
understanding, and read out a message from Prime Minister Narasimha
Rao.
The consecration of the Swaminarayan temple was an event as significant
as Swami Vivekanand's lecture in Chicago, which made the world
take note of Hinduism, Mr Advani said.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj blessed the large congregation, and urged
his followers to lead a simple life of hard work and service,
which alone could bring inner peace and harmony.
The Swami's followers projected a gentle face of Hinduism which
received considerable publicity in British media.
Times of India
Tuesday 22 August 1995
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Hinduism
Finds a Home in Neasden
Colin Amery marvels
at a temple of divine perfection in a north London suburb, once
a mecca for home furnishing sheds.
It is a miracle...I went to see it late one hot evening, and in
the shadowy light it seemed I was in some crowded suburb of Ahmedabad.
In fact, Neasden is the land of London's North Circular Road:
a kind of limbo between Wembley stadium and IKEA showrooms.
To see how perfectly the temple has been built is to recognise
a continuing tradition of craft skills. At night it is wonderfully
lit, with triumphant silk pennants flying and golden pinnacles
shining. Most striking of all is its brilliant whiteness.
The spiritual head, his divine holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj,
is the inspiration for the movement...
Alongside the temple is a huge cultural center, and in the temple's
lower regions there will be a permanent exhibition, "Understanding
Hinduism". But it will be the wonder of the building itself
that will arouse curiosity.
In turn, the enormous cultural center covers more than 100,000
sq.ft. and follows the traditions of Haveli-style north Indian
timber architecture. In its way the center is as beautiful as
the temple. Certainly its scale is impressive... There are enormous
vegetarian kitchens; a small hall for marriages; health center,
sports hall and big library.
There is no doubt that London has acquired a significant new building
of traditional Indian beauty and interest. While once the imperial
English scattered the Indian sub-continent with gothic churches
and classical palaces of government, the Indian community is now
returning the compliment. We can be grateful that this has happened
in a part of London that needed transforming.
Financial Times, Canada
Monday 28 Aug. 1995
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Neasden's Temple of Light Woos Tourists
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Neasden's
Temple of Light Woos Tourists
By day London's new magnificent Hindu temple is impressive enough,
but at night it becomes a truly wondrous sight. It is likely to
become one of London's tourist attractions alongside its role
as a place of worship.
Americans Jim Hempey, 64, and his wife Jean, 63, had travelled
to England to visit their daughter who is married to a Hindu.
Mr. Hempey said: "It's great – not what we expected to see
in England. We came to Buckingham Palace and the theatres, but
our daughter told us about it and we thought we'd come."
Tom Hayes
Evening Standard
Tuesday 5 Sept. 1995 |
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Once in a Millennium |
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Once
in a Millennium
...Contemporary churches,
mosques, and even temples, are largely built by rich men keen
to advertise their spirituality who, probably, hope it will wash
away their sins. But Neasden, taking us back to medieval times,
has been the voluntary effort of Swaminarayan devotees driven
to fulfil the desire of Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
...I was tempted to ask His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj about
Krishna and Christ. But as I reached him at the end of a patient
line, he looked so gentle and peaceful in the saffron robes casually
draped round him, and was answering questions with such calmness
in his native Gujarati, that I did not feel it was appropriate.
Mihir Bose
Independent Magazine
Sunday 9 Sept. 1995
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