Brahmaviharidas Swami thanks UAE rulers' generosity, Modi's integrity for BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi

THE upcoming Akshardham in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the first of its kind in the Middle East, is a result of the generosity of the country's rulers, the head of the ambitious project has said.

The Hindu temple, which is expected to be inaugurated in February next year, would truly be a spiritual oasis for global harmony, according to Brahmaviharidas Swami, who is in charge of the under-construction temple by the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan (BAPS) Sanstha.

“It is about generosity, integrity and spirituality. The generosity of the rulers, the integrity of our leader and the spirituality of his holiness, Pramukh Swami and Mahant Swami Maraj. The combination of these three is the birth of the BAPS, Hindu Mandir Abu Dhabi,” he said in an interview with the Press Trust of India.

Emphasising that the BAPS Hindu temple is a spiritual oasis for global harmony, Brahmaviharidas Swami said, "Imagine a Muslim king donating land to a Hindu temple, where our lead architect of the complex is a Christian Catholic; where our foundation designer is a Buddhist from Malaysia, where our project director is a Sikh, where our contractors of making the complex are Parsis, where one of our directors is coming from a Jain tradition."

All of them have come with great selfless service in charity to help out with this BAPS Hindu Mandir, which is coming up, said the BAPS leader who was recently in New Jersey in the United States to attend the inauguration of the Akshardham temple in Robbinsville city.

“Almost 50,000 people of different countries, cultures, religions, and not just Indians, have come forward to carry a brick and put it for the construction of the BAPS Hindu Mandir. So it's not just harmony at the idea level, it's not just harmony at the philosophical level, it's harmony at the practical level where everybody's identifying it,” he said.

Brahmaviharidas Swami said the temple in Abu Dhabi will be opened for the public from every walk of life on February 14.

Speaking on the history behind the temple's evolution in the UAE, he said the story began in 1997 when the then spiritual leader of BAPS Pramukh Swami Maharaj expressed his desire to have a temple in the UAE during his visit to that country.

“We had gone to Sharjah and in the middle of the desert on a sand dune for the evening prayers, suddenly he said that may there be a temple in Abu Dhabi. Everybody was quite astounded because it was incredible to even think like that. But slowly, slowly time changed,” Brahmaviharidas Swami said.

The leader also praised Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for the success of the mission.

“I believe it's a story of faith and hope. And then our prime minister whose integrity is so high, and his friendship with the rulers of Abu Dhabi was so deep as well. Slowly this whole idea emerged that there could be a temple. In 2015, when the first announcement for the land was done. Then almost three years went by. And then after land was identified,” he said.

“The generosity of the rulers (of UAE) is also worth mentioning. They had space in their heart. I think that's very important. From 2.5 acres of land, they changed it to five, then 13.5, and then another 13.5 for parking. So now they have gifted 27 acres of land for a beautiful temple,” he said.

The BAPS Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, he said, is a temple made in traditional stone, just as you see the shape.

“The entire concept of the whole complex is that we are bringing in three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna, and Sarasvati. The arrival plaza is a sand dune. Everybody will walk into the sand dune because the original Sankalp, which was done by Pramukh Swami Maharaj was done on a sand dune,” he said.

“The mandir is made out of stone and it is uniquely placed because it'll have seven spires symbolically representing the seven Emirates as well. Seven spires. The traditional Hindu mandir,” he said.

“In the last 600 years, I don't think there's a temple which has been done in this fashion, which is known as Samdaryu, which means it's from the North Indian design. But each shrine which will hold the seven important deities of our culture,… Around those shrines, this is another unique feature that has been placed in the mandir, is on the outside where we have either birds, animals, and old carved or designs, we have taken stories and the scriptures of that deity,” he said.

“We have also gone one step beyond because when we say that our culture's core value is, Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam, then have to keep the whole world together. So once all these stories have been carved, there is another band that continues and that's where we have taken inspiring value tales from 14 ancient civilizations,” Brahmaviharidas Swami said.