PureIndian

biggin up daas ka daas, the man speaks the truth. Very informative posts.

Wise words by daas ka daas, he speaks the truth.

^Yeh, If they wanted to build a mueseum, they should of done it properly, like the one setup by Shree TejendraPrasadji, containing original items and artifacts belonging to Swaminaryian Bhagwan himself.

 

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</td></tr></tbody></table>On 17 December 2007, Michael Whitty, official world record adjudicator and member of the management committee of Guinness World Records travelled especially to India to present two new world records to His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international socio-spiritual organisation affiliated with the United Nations.

The Guinness World Records Book is the biggest selling copyright book in history, with more than 100 million books sold around the world in more than 25 languages. This is the first time, though, that a senior member of the Guinness World Records management committee has personally travelled to India to present a World Record certificate. The presentation came on the occasion of His Holiness’ 87th birthday being celebrated as the culmination of the four-day BAPS Centenary Celebrations in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Chennai: Have officials of the Guinness Book of Records committed a blunder by declaring Delhi’s Akshardham Temple as the largest Hindu temple complex in the world?

It appears so. Officials of the famous Meenakshi Temple in Madurai maintain that Delhi's Akshardham is smaller than at least three different temple complexes in Tamil Nadu alone.

“Even if one considers the measurements of the Akshardham Temple given by the Guinness officials, Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple and the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Thiruvannamalai are definitely larger temple complexes,” said B Raja, joint commissioner of the Meenakshi Temple.

He pointed out that the outermost wall of the Meenakshi Temple is 850 ft long and 800 ft wide. The total area of the complex is 17 acres or 7.40 lakh sq ft. This is much larger than Akshardham which, press reports have indicated, is only 356 ft long and 316 ft wide, its grounds covering merely 86,342 sq ft.

When informed that the entire Akshardham complex was spread over 30 acres, Raja said, "A temple is a place for prayer. It is incorrect to include facilities for non-religious activities such as restaurants or boating arrangements as the Akshardham complex has, as part of a temple, just because they happen to be in the vicinity."

Raja also noted that the Thiruvannamalai Temple dedicated to Lord Siva is even larger — at 25 acres or 10.89 lakh sq ft — than the Meenakshi Temple. “However, the built-up area in Madurai covers a wider area than Thiruvannamalai,” he said. Also the main tower at Thiruvannamali is 217 ft high.

Even these two temple complexes are dwarfed in size when one takes into account the massive Sri Ranganthaswamy Temple complex in Srirangam near Tiruchy, a noted historian pointed out.

“Srirangam, surrounded by the waters of river Kaveri, is a 600-acre island-town enclosed within the seven walls of the gigantic Sri Ranganathaswami Temple. There are 21 gopurams, among which the Rajagopuram (on the left) is the tallest in South India — it is 72 metres (about 220 ft) in height, and dates to the 17th century, although it was fully completed in 1987. The temple complex measures 950 metres by 816 metres (about half a square mile) along its outer perimeter,“ writes Prof VS Seshadri.

"But we are curious to know if their officials visited our large temples like Srirangam, Madurai Meenakshi, Thiruvannamalai and Thiruvarur temples before arriving at this verdict," said a senior official of the Temple Administration Department.

State Temple Administration officials, however, said they have no immediate plan to challenge the Guinness classification of Akshardham.

“But we are curious to know if their officials visited our large temples like Srirangam, Madurai Meenakshi, Thiruvannamalai and Thiruvarur temples before arriving at this verdict,” said a senior official of the Temple Administration Department.

Thanks for the promt reply and answering those Questions.

I am fully aware that the Sampraday is the REAL/LEGIT sect of Swaminarayan, infact my local Swaminaryan mandir in the UK is that of the Swaminaryan Sampraday headed by Acharya Shri Koshalendraprasadji Maharaj and I beleive his son is following in the footsteps as well.

Hello All,

Many people will have come across Mataa Ji's during Navratri especially whilst Aarti is performed. Can someone tell me what goes on in with the people who get this and how? Also are you beleivers of these events that occour.

Hello All, I am not a Swaminaryan follower myself, but I would like to put a few questions to the Swaminaryan Experts of this board.

Ok here goes....

Did Lord Hanuman protect Bhagwan Swaminaryan against demons during his time on earth?

In the Shikshaputri, it states that those of a Lower Caste should not put a Tilak, only a Chandlo. Is this so that people can identify lower castes? Doesn't the Swaminaryan faith beleive in equality?

Why are the majority of Swaminaryan followers....Patel? Is this because of the BAPS Movememnt where by Pramukh himself is a Patel?

Do Acharaya of the Original Sampraday visit BAPS Mandirs and vise versa?

Why does the BAPS sect feel the need to build mandirs in every city, shouldn't money be spent where its needed like charitiy causes in India?