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= ISKCON TEMPLE AHMEDABAD =

*INTRODUCTION
Located close to the Gujarat Samachar Press, The ISKCON Temple in Ahmedabad is the best place to experience spirituality and mental bliss. Also referred to as the 'Hare Krishna Temple', this temple with its calm and peaceful atmosphere, offers the perfect spot for meditation.

Inside the Hare Krishna Mandir, one can always hear the chantings of Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Many devotional lectures and addresses are arranged for the benefit of devotees, especially those with a spiritual bent of mind. The followers hold sessions in institutes, corporates, etc., to teach the techniques of spiritualizing the daily life. The constant chanting of the holy names is a special feature at the centre.

History
The Iskcon temple was constructed during 1997 AD to finish the requests of Bhaktivedanta Swami. He founded it through “Hare Krishna Movement”. Followers of the ISKCON development see Prabhupada as a heavenly symbol and delegate of Krishna. The temple is much noteworthy as it is still prescribed as one of the most prominent sanctuaries in Ahmedabad. Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) sanctuaries are discovered everywhere throughout the world. They owe their cause to Swami Prabhupada who experienced childhood in Kolkata. As he grew up he met Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in 1922 and was entrusted with spreading the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In 1933, he turned into a devotee of Bhaktisiddhanta and was occupied with production work in 1944. He accepted the life of a swami in 1959 and began voyaging all around the world, lecturing the Bhagavad Gita and the act of bhakti yoga. He established ISKCON in 1966 and set up a chain of sanctuaries across India.

The temple is situated on Sarkhej Gandhinagar Highway at the intersection of Satellite Road and it is a well-known fascination for Krishna bhakts as well as for vacationers. Sri Radha Govind Dham was constructed in 1997 on the requests of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ISKCON fans are the biggest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism signifies 'love of Vishnu', and Gauḍa alludes to the zone where this specific branch of Vaishnavism began. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a following in India, particularly West Bengal and Odisha, for as far back as five hundred years. Bhaktivedanta Swami spread Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology in the Western world through broad compositions and interpretations, including the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavat, Chaitanya Charitamrita, and different sacred texts.

Architecture and Design
Wonderfully developed, this temple is a fine rendering of the Rajasthani Khamira and antiquated Hindu temple compositional styles. In all there are two temple and a visitor house for explorers in the ISKCON temple at Ahmedabad.

The Ahmedabad Shri Radha Govind Dham is professionally overseen and it is a colony of exercises. Explorers and fans keep on visiting the sanctuary in an endless stream yet there are likewise a lot of progressing exercises. Sprawling over a zone of four sections of land, the design of the temple is an amicable mix of Gujarati Sompura and Rajasthani Khamira style Very much composed of the master planners, the sanctuary includes the biggest sanctuary rooms in India, which can oblige around 4000 aficionados. Mind boggling marble work, excellent paintings, lovely segments, impeccable marble floors and originator dividers of the sanctuary are every one of the demonstrations of the dedication to this place of holiness At the focal point of the temple, there are symbols of the gods Radha, Krishna and srinathji.On the right side the icons of Sita, Rama, Lakshmana and Hanumanji whereas on the left side the symbols of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda, Prabhupada and Sarasvati Thakura.

The temple is very much kept up and to a great degree slick and clean and got high appraised in tidiness and love. The plan philosophy fuses contemporary visual styles with "association and dissemination standards of antiquated India shape," says the official statement. The 20,000 square-meter structure is deliberately divided into "outwardly enamoring sub-structures characterizing its rising structure" to give the temple a feeling of delicacy The arrangement reasoning breakers contemporary visual styles with "affiliation and dispersal gauges of out of date India shape," says the official explanation. Outside sacred water body reflects the temple and furthermore gives a genuinely necessary cooling impact around the structure. Feasible measures will be taken in each part of the temple’s development: "Everything [from] the fundamental supplication rooms, contemplation lobbies… and walkways are made with screens to encourage normal ventilation while giving shade. Due to the light and breezy outline with regular ventilation, it won't require aerating and cooling in the temple. Iskcon temple's architecture's is considered to be one of the best architecture in the history.

Darshan Timings
The temple is open all the week days for all the devotees of radha-krishna. The temple is open from 4:30 am in the morning. The day starts with the morning arti called MANGALA ARTI at 4:30am followed by tulsi arti at 5:00 am, Shringar Dharshan & Guru Pooja at 07:15am, Srimad Bhagavatam Class at 08:00am, Dhoop Aarti at 08:30am, Raj Bhoga Aarti at 12:30pm. The temple closes at 12:45 pm and again opens at 04:00pm with Pushpa Aarti. The evening arati starts at 7:00 p.m. where devotees sing kirtan. In the main temple the arati is performed by three priests. This arati is followed again by kirtan where devotees can be seen dancing to the rhythm of "Hare Krishna Hare Rama".

Festivals
The main festival celebrated at Isckon temple in ahemdabad is Janmashtami. Celebrations erupt on the streets of Ahmedabad with devotees celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna at temples and homes. Several thousand devotees make a queue at the various temples including ISKCON to offer their prayers to Bal Krishna. Many temples and havelis start preparations for the occasion. At ISKCON, a cultural programme begins at 6 pm and deputy chief minister along with several other dignitaries attends this programme. Also, a cultural programme called 'Krishna Leela' is organised by ISKCON temple on SG highway at around 10.30am. At the Sola Bhagwat Vidhyapith, special arrangements are made as they expect a footfall of over three lakh devotees. The vidyapith have darshan of Bal Krishna beginning from the midnight upto 1am.

Activities
ISKCON advocates preaching activities. Bhakta's try to spread Krishna awareness by singing the Hare Krishna Mantra or also called Maha Mantra which is - "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare" and also by selling the books written by Bhakti Vedanta Swami. The most visible activities of this campaign is street preaching. ISKCON street preachers sometimes invite members from the public to educative activities, such as a meal with an accompanying talk.

According to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one does not need to be born in a Hindu family to take up the practice of Vaishnavism. There are four types of contact between those in ISKCON and prospective members. These are: individually motivated contact, contact made with members in public places, contact made through personal relationships, and contact with the supporters of the movement who strongly encourage people to join the movement.

There are ISKCON communities around the whole world with schools, restaurants and farms. Basically, funds collected by ISKCON are treated as a joint property which is used to support the whole community and to promote the preaching operation. Many temples also have programs (like Food for Life) to provide meals for the needy. In addition, ISKCON has recently brought the academic study of Krishna into eastern academia as Krishnology.

The ISKCON Ministry of Education checks educational activities within ISKCON, and supervises the operation of primary, secondary, tertiary, and seminary schools and centres of education. The Ministry of Education also oversees education for religious and sastricstudy, developed and monitored by the UK-based Vaishnava Training and Education organisation.

ISKCON has inspired, and funded, a project called "Food for Life". The goal of this project is to "generously distribute pure vegetarian food throughout the whole world", as inspired by Bhakti Vedanta Swami's teachings, given to his followers in 1974, "No one within ten miles of a temple should go hungry ... I want you to immediately begin serving food". The international headquarters known as Food for Life Global, established by Paul Rodney Turner and Mukunda Goswami, coordinates the project. Food for Life is currently active in over sixty countries and serves up to 20 lakhs free meals every single day. Its welfare achievements have been noted by The New York Times and other media worldwide.

How to reach
The roots to reach this temple are many. We can reach here through airways, railways or roadways. The nearest airport is Ahmedabad International Airport, which is approximately 18 km away from Iskcon temple.The nearest railway station is Kalupur. There are many trains available from all over Gujarat.The nearest Bus station is Kalupur and Gita Mandir. You can easily reach to the Iskcon temple at Sarkhej by taking local Buses or by hiring taxis and auto from anywhere in Gujarat.