LOTUS TEMPLES

The Lotus Temple, located in Delhi, India, is a Bahá'í House of Worship that was dedicated in December 1986, having been completed for a total cost $10 million.^[1] It serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent. Notable for its flower like shape, it has become a prominent attraction in the city. Like all Bahá'í Houses of Worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all, regardless of religionor any other qualification. The building is composed of 27 free-standing marble-clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides,^[2] with nine doors opening onto a central hall with height of slightly over 40 metres^[3] and a capacity of 2,500 people.^[4] The Lotus Temple has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.^[5] A 2001 CNN report referred to it as the most visited building in the world.^[6]

AKSHARDHAM MANDIR

Akshardham or Swaminarayan Akshardham complex is a Hindu mandir, and a spiritual-cultural campus in New Delhi, India.^[1][2] Also referred to as Akshardham Temple or Swaminarayan Akshardham, the complex displays millennia of traditional Hindu and Indian culture, spirituality, and architecture.

The temple, which attracts approximately 70 percent of all tourists who visit Delhi,^[3][4] was officially opened on 6 November 2005 by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.^[5] It sits near the banks of the Yamuna adjacent to the 2010 Commonwealth Games village in eastern New Delhi.^[6] The temple, at the centre of the complex, was built according to the Vastu shastra and Pancharatra shastra.The complex features an Abhisheka Mandap, Sahaj Anand water show, a thematic garden and three exhibitions namely Sahajanand Darshan (Hall of Values), Neelkanth Darshan (an IMAX film on the early life of Swaminarayan as the teenage yogi, Neelkanth), and Sanskruti Darshan (cultural boat ride). According to Swaminarayan Hinduism, the word Akshardham means the abode of almighty Lord Swaminarayan and believed by followers as a temporal home of God on earth.^[7][8]

SIGNIFICANCE AND MEANING OF A HINDU TEMPLE

A Hindu temple, also known as mandir and kshetra, is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, using symbolism to express the ideas and beliefs of Hinduism.^[2] The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions.^[2] A temple incorporates all elements of Hindu cosmos—presenting the good, the evil and the human, as well as the elements of Hindu sense of cyclic time and the essence of life—symbolically presenting dharma, kama, artha, moksa, and karma.^[3][4]

In ancient Indian texts, a temple is a place for Tirtha - pilgrimage.^[2] It is a sacred site whose ambience and design attempts to symbolically condense the ideal tenets of Hindu way of life.^[14] All the cosmic elements that create and sustain life are present in a Hindu temple - from fire to water, from images of nature to deities, from the feminine to the masculine, from the fleeting sounds and incense smells to the eternal nothingness yet universality at the core of the temple.