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

Mannargudi - Day 2

On the next day at Mannargudi, we had an early start. After having tea through room service we left to the  Rajagopalaswamy temple. The temple gopuram can be seen at a large distance as the from the space was allocated for parking. Early morning we could see only 2 cars before us. After paying the parking fee we went inside the temple. Due to the maintenance work we were devoid of enjoying the beauty of the temple gopurams. We got to see the temple's famous elephant - Sengamalam as soon as we got in. This temple is called as south Dwaraka, there is small Krishna statue inside which we can worship by taking in our hands.  The main deity Lord Vasudevaperumal is seen here along with his cow. Next to his the baby Krishna idol which can we worshipped by devotees for their special prayers. We had a good darshan of the Perumal. Had theertham, jadaari and then walked towards the Goddess. The consort of Lord Rajagopalaswamy is Goddess Sengamala Thaayar. We had a very peaceful...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

Vijayawada trip - Part 2

 On the third day morning of our trip we were much energetic and ready to take on the day after a largely rested night. By 8:30 an we came down to the reception and was soon followed by Raju garu. He first took us to the restaurant near Vijayawada SP office for breakfast. This again was similar to the yesterday's, self-service, get your dish and eat it as you stand. As the crowd was less we for a table to place the plate. Had two maida poori, ghee dosa and coffee here for less than Rs.200.  Our first place today was the Kanaga Durga temple. Its in the middle of the city on top of a small hill. The entrance charges Rs.50 for the car. Mobile phones are not allowed inside the temple. The queues to the darshan was very huge. With the help of Raju garu we connected to one of the person inside the temple. He took us through the Rs.500 ticket queue, near to the Goddess Kanaga Durga for a much blessed darshan. In turmeric kaapu the was glowing. The temple inside was very well decorate...
Post a Comment
Read more