The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current, December 04, 2023, Page 8, Image 8

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    Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
U.S.A.
December 4, 2023
Largest Hindu temple outside India in
the modern era opens in New Jersey
By Luis Andres Henao
and Deepa Bharath
The Associated Press
OBBINSVILLE, N.J. — If stones
could talk, sing, and tell stories,
Yogi Trivedi believes the marble
and limestone that adorn the spires,
pillars, and archways of the stunning
Hindu temple in central New Jersey would
compose a paean to the divine.
The tales these stones tell are those of
seva (selfless service) and bhakti
(devotion), which form the core of the
Swaminarayan sect, a branch of
Hinduism, said Trivedi, a scholar of
Hinduism at Columbia University.
It took a combined total of about 4.7
million hours of work by artisans and
volunteers to hand-carve about 2 million
cubic feet of stone. The four varieties of
marble from Italy and limestone from
Bulgaria travelled first to India and then
more than 8,000 miles across the world to
New Jersey.
They were then fitted together like a
giant jigsaw to create what is now touted
as the largest Hindu temple outside India
to be built in the modern era, standing on a
126-acre tract. It opened to the public in
October.
The largest temple complex in the world
is the Ankgor Wat, originally constructed
in the 12th century in Krong Siem Reap,
Cambodia, and dedicated to the Hindu god
Vishnu by King Suryavarman II. It is now
described as a Hindu-Buddhist temple,
and is one of 1,199 UNESCO World
Heritage sites.
The Robbinsville temple is one of many
built by the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar
Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or
BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic
organization within the Swaminarayan
sect.
“Service and devotion are the two basic
elements that form the subtle foundation
of how a temple so majestic gets built here
in central New Jersey,” said Trivedi, who
studies the Swaminarayan faith tradition
and follows it.
This temple will be the third
Akshardham, or “abode of the divine,” the
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey
AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao
R
organization has built after two others in
New Delhi and Gujarat, where BAPS is
headquartered. The former is the largest
Hindu temple complex in the world. The
sect, which will celebrate its 50th year in
North America next year, oversees more
than 1,200 temples and 3,850 centers
around the world.
The New Jersey Akshardham, which
has been in the works for about 12 years,
came under scrutiny and criticism after a
2021 civil lawsuit alleging forced labor,
meager wages, and grim working
conditions.
Twelve of the 19 plaintiffs have now
retracted their allegations and the lawsuit
is on hold pending an investigation “with
which BAPS continues to cooperate fully,”
Trivedi said.
The complaint alleges that those
exploited were Dalits or members of the
former untouchable caste in India. Caste is
INTRICATE ARCHITECTURE. A woman (top
photo) admires the intricate architecture of the BAPS
Swaminarayan Akshardham (bottom photo), the larg-
est Hindu temple outside India in the modern era, in
Robbinsville, New Jersey. The temple was partly built
using marble from Italy and limestone from Bulgaria
hand-carved by artisans in India and shipped to New
Jersey.
an ancient system of social hierarchy
based on one’s birth that is tied to concepts
of purity and social status.
The case continues to raise questions
among activists fighting caste discrimi-
nation and those advocating for workers’
rights, about the blurred lines between
uncompensated work and the concept of
selfless service, which followers of the faith
say constitutes their core belief.
Trivedi said these allegations weighed
heavily on community members because
their faith has always taught them “to see
the divine in all and love and serve them as
manifestations of the divine.” He said
Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the sect’s fifth
spiritual successor, who envisioned such a
temple campus in the United States, was a
progressive guru who cared deeply about
social equality.
“Caste and class do not divide us,”
Trivedi said.
The temple project brought forth
volunteerism and service, which like the
sculptor’s chisel, chip away people’s egos
and prime them to learn, he said.
“In that learning, one becomes a better
person within and that is the end goal of
seva,” Trivedi said. “It’s not just to give to
the community or build these (ornate
structures), but to better oneself.”
He said the temple would not have been
possible without the service of thousands
of volunteers, many of whom took time off
school and work to serve in different
capacities. This might be the first Hindu
temple where women were involved in the
actual temple construction under the
artisans’ supervision, he added.
Families from across the country
travelled to the temple campus in October
to get a sneak peek. Devotees bowed to
each other and to monks in saffron robes.
As the sun set, two men in white robes
Continued on page 10
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