How did it all start?
Srila Prabhupada constantly travelled to Delhi to print books before he went to the West. In the later years, he also made Delhi his base, where he stayed at Shri Shri Radha Vallabhji temple located at Chippiwara, Delhi. He would move around Delhi to distribute the “Back to Godhead” magazine.
While he preached to a relatively uninterested crowd of this great historical place, he saw the changing India, which was “developing,” according to its leaders. Witnessing the degradation of the Vedic values with time, Srila Prabhupada wanted to rejuvenate this ancient culture in the national capital.
Srila Prabhupada again came to Delhi, with all grandeur, accompanied by his worldwide disciples in 1973 when he gave a vision of building twelve great temples in Delhi.
ISKCON Ghaziabad: Enlivening its people
Keeping the vision of Srila Prabhupada always close to his heart, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj inaugurated the seventh temple in the National capital region, naming it ISKCON Ghaziabad.
In a three-day inauguration ceremony on the auspicious day of Nityananda Triyodashi, the temple was open to all on January 31, 2007. Around 8,000 people welcomed the Lord to His new home. The Mayor of Ghaziabad showed his support for the temple by naming the temple compound “Hare Krishna Square,”and the road leading to the temple “The Hare Krishna Marg”.
ISKCON Ghaziabad: Sweet Struggles and Achievements
The temple of Ghaziabad was a great accomplishment for all the devotees who had a sigh of relief after spending over a decade developing their community and three years in temple construction.
The four-story temple, along with a fifteen-room guest house, was built with great help from the Arora family residing in London. They donated the temple land at one of the most affluent areas of Uttar Pradesh, in Raj Nagar. The temple is made with pink Jaipur stone with ornately carved wooden altars, Italian marble floors, gold-leafed ceiling motifs, chandeliers, and a spiral staircase.
ISKCON Ghaziabad: Home of the Lord of the Universe
The heart of the entire temple is the Lord of the Universe, Lord Jagannath, along with His siblings, Baladeva and Subhadra. ISKCON is also the home of Shri Shri Radha Madan Mohan Ji, who blesses all the inhabitants of Ghaziabad with Their merciful glances.
Since the opening of the temple, ISKCON Ghaziabad has been focusing on youth outreach as the city of Ghaziabad is home to many of India’s top engineering colleges. The temple has newly opened a BBT book store, large conference, seminar, and food halls to help facilitate more and more youth crowd.
