Skip to main content

Nairobi 12 - Swami Narayanan temple

Swami Narayanan is an Hindu saint belonging to the 17th century. He formed a sect called the Swaminarayan Sampraday and all his followers go by his teachings. This sect have established their temples at several places in India and abroad. Looking at all the devotees at the temple it felt like we are in a north Indian city and not Nairobi.
view from the fly-over
One such temple is in Nairobi, built in 1945. In few of the travels around Nairobi, happened to see this huge temple structure from the near by fly over and got intrigued by it. So one fine evening on a weekend made a quick visit to the temple. It was a day when all the leaders of  East African Swaminarayan Sampraday had gathered there. On seeing us as strangers the volunteers offered to help us. Mansi, a junior leader took us around the temple.
In the first floor, Swami Narayanan temple has the idols of Ganesh, Hanuman on either side of the entrance. The main deity Krishna is with Radha along with, Swami Narayanan and his successors - Pramukh Swami, Shastri, Bhagat and Yogij. There is different entrances for the Men and Women. The saints living here are in penance and do not see women hence a separate entrance. The architecture of the temple is similar to others in India and all the art work inside have been brought from India through sea. The current Maharaj's first foreign visit was to Kenya and to this temple only.
The ground floor of the temple has an exhibition. We visited this to learn about the temple, India, Hinduism and the Sampraday. Swami Narayanan was born in UP, under went penance at the age of 11. Post this he made a spiritual journey across India. During this time he had 5 questions on basic human life which was clarified by Swami Ramanand. So Swami Narayanan became his disciple. As years passed by, the sect was established.
The exhibition also talks about the ancientness of India, its rich culture and resources. There are paintings and artefacts depicting the various religions in India. The teaching for the sect is also displayed. Swami Narayanan had summarised the four vedas for the benefit of his followers. It was informative and new learning for us. Thanks to Mansi who patiently guided us around the temple.
on the way back

Labels:
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

 Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen.  On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and God...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beach - Marakkanam

Born in the coastal area one realises the beauty of the beach only in instances where you have to stay away from your place for a long time or a person from non-coastal area appreciates the beach and call you lucky for coastal nativity. When Tsunami occurred, we are sure no one wanted to live in a coastal region. Having said that, over the weekend we went on a drive while resulted in experiencing the beach, back waters and the canal in Marakanam, roughly 120 kms from Chennai and 20 kms from Puducherry. Suddenly on a Saturday morning we decided to make a short trip to Marakanam where our friend has a farm house and called us in for a visit. After completing the weekend chores and a quick lunch, we started the drive towards Marakanam. We took the Chennai by-pass route to Vandaloor and then to ECR, crossing Mahabalipuram to reach the small town of Marakanam within 2 hrs. Numerous prawn Hatcheries in this place occupy the seashore. There seems to be around 53  Hatcheries in this stretc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dhandayuthapani Temple - Nadupalani

 Nadu Palani Murugan Temple - Achirupakkam  On a Saturday we decided to go out on a short trip and zeroed-in on Nadu Palani Murugan Temple. Less than 100 kms from Chennai, this was a long time item in the bucket list.  Achirupakkam town is where this temple is located. Achirupakkam is near Melmaruvathur. We took the Chengalpet route via Tambaram. Driving through Chromepet, Tambaram and Perungalathur was a mayhem on the Saturday afternoon traffic. We took a break at Manoj Bhavan at Mamandur. Hotel has lost the earlier charm and so was the food. As guided by a person near the hotel, just in 15 kms you can see an arch at the left side on the highway itself for Nadu Palani Murugan temple. From the arch, one has to drive into the village for 6-7 kms to reach the temple, at Perukkarani village. We had to take a ticket of Rs.50 to drive in the car to the small hillock. Around 100 steps, its a easy climb too. At the foot hill are Lord Anjaneyar and Lord Idumban on either sides fo...
Post a Comment
Read more