Peace by Piece

Isn’t it great to stand in the presence of something so breathtaking that your daily worries flee? A visit to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Lilburn puts things into perspective. In fact, Mandir is a Sanskrit word that means “mind” (Man) “peace” (Dir).

“We haven’t traveled far from home, but it feels like we are in a different time,” my daughter said. We seemed to have traveled back more than 200 years to when the Swaminarayan branch of Hinduism originated in India.

Opened in 2007, the Mandir is the largest Hindu temple of its kind outside of India. More than 34,000 individual pieces of stone – Turkish limestone, Italian marble and Indian pink sandstone (no metal is used) – were carved by hand in India, then assembled in Lilburn like a giant 3-D puzzle. Construction, using 1.3 million volunteer hours, took only 17 months! This amazing wedding cake of a temple is always open to the public.

In the gift shop, we enjoyed looking over the books written in Hindi, especially the comic books explaining religious traditions. We also bought a memento of Ganesh, the elephant-head deity known as the remover of obstacles (and don’t we all need that?!) Audio tours can be picked up here, too, and the narration shares interesting insights into Hindu art, architecture and philosophy. You get much more out of your visit using an audio tour or arranging a guided tour.

In the Hindu manner, we removed our shoes at the entrance to the Mandir, and then were free to walk around the intricately carved worship space, in awe. While the exterior of the building is a feast, the interior spiritual spaces are what take your breath away.

We observed the ritual of Arti, during which the Swamis, holy men in saffron robes, emerge to illuminate the murtis, the sacred images which inspire faith. (To us, they looked like friendly, colorful statues.) This dates from the ancient days when murtis were carved in caves and had to be lit by candlelight to be seen during prayer. Men and women sit separately on the floor during Arti. We also observed Abhishek, an ancient ritual of bathing the murti of God.

For us, no outing is complete without food, so we grabbed a delicious bite at the BAPS Shayona vegetarian snack shop. We came away from our visit feeling peaceful and curious to learn more.

Insider tip: Visitors are made to feel welcome, but read the attire guidelines on the website and dress appropriately (no shorts, cover knees and shoulders, etc.). A wrap is available to borrow for those who need further covering.

– Melanie Rohrbach