Prem Mandir- Vrindavan: Unique combination of Devotion, Art and Grandeur

In the month of December 2013, I got the opportunity to visit Mathura and Vrindavan along with my elder brother and two friends. This was my second visit to the holy city of Mathura and Vrindavan. Last time I came here in March 2012 with my family. In the last visit I missed lot of old temples, especially -Sapt Devalayas (seven holy places). Six out of these seven are situated in the interior streets of Vrindavan and are not well known to majority of tourist.

These are oldest temples of Vrindavan and were established by the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also known as the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan. Many stories of Miracle and sight of Lord Krishna and Radha Rani are related to these temples. I will write in details about these Temples some time later. Name of these Sapt Devalayas are:

1. Govind Dev Temple
2. Radha Gopinath Temple
3. Madan Mohan Temple
4. Radha Raman Temple
5. Radha Damodar Temple
6. Radha ShyamSundra Temple
7. Gokulanand Temple

Beside these Sapt Devalayas there are a lot of temples .Some of these are quite famous eg Sh. Banke Bihari Temple, Rang Nath Temple, Jaipur Temple, Shah Ji ka Temple, ISCON (Krishan-Balram Temple), Prem Mandir, Dau ji Temple, Ashta Sakhi Temple, Radha Vallabh, Vrindavan Bihari, Sewa Kunj, Nidhi Van etc.

In our group, it was first journey to Mathura and Vrindavan for all except me. We reached at Mathura railway station on 22/12/2013 at 8AM. We stay there for two full days and visited as many Temples as we can. In this post I will discuss and concentrate only on Prem Mandir.

Prem Mandir

Prem Mandir is situated in Raman Reti in the holy land of Shri Vrindavan; the divine abode of Shri Radha Krishana’s loving pastimes. This temple is an outstanding monument in terms of its unique architecture beauty and grandeur. It is adjacent to ISKON temple and on the Chhatikara Road. A few important facts regarding the temple are listed below.

• Foundation laid on 14^th January 2001.
• Inaugurated on 17^th February 2012.
• Temple situated on sprawling 12 acre of land.
• Well-arranged gardens, fountains and dioramas.
• The combined efforts of approximately 1000 artisans and thousands of labourers who worked tirelessly for 11 years to complete this Temple.
• Constructed of 30,000 tons of Italian karara marble.
• 125 feet high, 122 feet long and 115 feet wide.
• Majestically standing on 150 artistically carved pillars.
•  Decorated with 9 beautifully engraved domes.
• Resplendent with 17 golden coloured pitchers (Kalash) and a grand flag mast at the top.
• Built on the basis of Nagaradi architecture.

Prem Mandir in the daylight

Prem Mandir in the daylight

Prem Mandir in the daylight

Entrance 

                  When you enter the temple premises through the beautifully engraved entrance door, one beholds the exquisite beauty of the grand temple, the beautiful gardens and the lively dioramas, all of which give extreme mental peace to the beholder.

Entrance Gate – Prem Mandir

Main Temple

The spotlessly white marbled Prem Mandir is like a pearl in the center of the spacious temple premises. All the entrance doors of the temple are beautifully carved. The pillars are engraved with beautiful statues of Kinkari Sakhis and Manjari Sakhis serving Shri Radha Krishana in various ways. The entire temple is brightly lit with attractive chandeliers. All the doors and windows are also beautifully engraved.

Carved marble pillars

Floor decoration with colourful semi-precious stones

Beautiful statues on Marble Pillars

The floor and the walls are decorated with colourful semi-precious stones, depicting floral vines with flowers and buds. The engravings on the main sanctum and its ceiling are extraordinary attractive and eye-catching. The inner walls of the temple are inlaid using semi-precious stones and with selected verses extracted from ‘Prem Ras Madira’ and ‘Radha Govind Geet’, both written by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj.

First Floor- Shri Sita Ram

The sanctum on the first floor has beautiful deities of Janaknandini Shri SIta Ji and Dashrathnandan Shri Ramchandra Ji along with their foremost devotee, Shri Hanuman Ji. On the same floor one beholds some important pastimes from the life of Shri Gaurang Mahaprabhu as well. The grand statue of the previous original Jagadgurus and the Rasik Saints of Braj are also displayed here. Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj reconciles and honors the philosophies of the previous original Jagadgurus and has paid homage to them by establishing their statue in Prem Mandir.

Artistically carved marble pillars along the staircases, engraved with beautifully peacocks

Shri Sita Ram ji

20 feet long Chandelier

Carved dome with LED lighting

Second Floor- Shri Radha Krishna

The ground floor has the beautiful deities of Vrishbhanunandini Shri Radharani and Nandnandan Shri Krishna, along with the eight Mahasakhis, their dearest associates. The doors of the sanctum are made of pure sandalwood. On both sides of the sanctum doors, couplets are inlaid using semi-precious stones. On the same floor is a beautifully statue of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and the beautiful statue of the distinguished speakers of Shrimad Bhagvat,Shri Sukhdev Paramhans. The inner walls of the temple depict the various pastimes of Shri Radha and Krishna.

The two staircases on either side of the ground floor of the temple, leading to the first floor are decorated with artistically carved pillars, engraved with beautifully peacocks.

Decoration with LED lights

Wall paintings

Holy verses on the walls

Sri Radha-Krishna

Decoration of both floors

Circumambulation

The Circumambulation route, which is 40 feet wide, begins from the main entrance of the temple. This route consists of beautifully engraved pillars, 8 latticed windows, 48 panels displayed on the ground floor and 32 panels displayed on the first floor. In all these 80 panels, the different pastimes of Shri Krishna as described in the Shrimad Bhagavat Puran have been chronologically displayed in three dimensional formats.

Swing on the Kadamb tree and Radha-Krishna sitting on the swing

Here the Supreme Lord Krishna is standing in the midst of the cowherd boys, the brajvasis and the cows, holding the Govardhan Hill on the little finger of his left hand. The cowherd boys are also seen holding sticks under the hill in order to assist the Lord in lifting the hill.

Different shades of Prem Mandir with LED lighting

Different shades of Prem Mandir with LED lighting

Different shades of Prem Mandir with LED lighting

Different shades of Prem Mandir with LED lighting

Darshan Timings

Prem Mandir is a monument of God’s love. Prem Mandir is a like a magnet that attracts the heart and mind of every sincere spiritual seeker and everyone who desires to experience the love of God. It has revealed, rejuvenated and firmly established the true form of devotion, and gives guidelines and devotional material for spiritual aspirants for all time to come. Kripalu Trayodashi, a profound and concise overview of all Hindu philosophy in only thirteen verses, composed by Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj, is displayed just next to the main shrine. 84 scenes of Radha Krishna leelas are carved into the outer walls. In the surrounding beautiful gardens there are fountains and scenes of Radha Krishna in Jhulan Leela, Govardhan Leela, Kaliya Naag Leela and more that are treasures for roop dhyan. A massive dome shaped sadhana hall is being constructed so that thousands of devotees can do their devotion together. In Prem Mandir, you don’t just hear the word “Prem”, you learn the philosophy of what “Prem” is and have the chance to actually experience it.

The latest statistics from Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat facebook page show that the visitor count is approaching 1 million per month (823,870 in July 2013 alone). The amazing thing is that Prem Mandir complex is so huge that you never feel crowded and there are no queues. When you enter the Prem Mandir monument, you feel like it is just you there, alone with Radha Krishna or Sita Ram.

Prem Mandir has been built under the auspices of Jagadguru Kripalu Prishat (JKP). JKP is an international, nonprofit, spiritual, educational, social and charitable organization. It was founded by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj . Shri Maharaj Ji was honored with the title of Jagadguru by Kashi Vidvat Parishat, the distinguished and exclusive organisation of 500 Vedic scholars, in the holy city of Kashi, on 14 January 1957. This title of Jagadguru was last granted more than 700 years ago. In the last five thousand years, only four other saints have been acknowledged as original Jagadgurus- Jagadguru Shri Shankaracharya, Jagadguru Shri Ramanujacharya, Jagadguru Shri Nimbarkaracharya  and Jagadguru Shri Madhvacharya. This prestigious title is only awarded to a divine personality who possesses complete theoretical knowledge of all scriptures as well as a practical experience of God, and who brings about a spiritual revolution in the world. Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj is the fifth original Jagadguru of this age.

(All the information about the Prem Mandir has been taken from the book which I have purchased from the Prem Mandir)

Some Pictures are from my last tour in 2012.