Holy Pilgrimage - Hindu temples in UK

Edinburgh Hindu Mandir, UK

The Edinburgh Hindu Mandir & Cultural Centre is committed to promoting an equal opportunities policy that will reflect good practice by actively discouraging discriminatory behaviour on the grounds of race, religion, colour, nationality, age, gender, marital status or disability.

Edinburgh Hindu Mandir recognises that Scotland is a multi-cultural society and believes that cultural diversity positively enriches our society. This belief is reflected in the commitment of the Hindu Mandir and Cultural to promoting and encouraging wider access to Indian arts and cultural activities within Scotland.

The Edinburgh Hindu Mandir will develop and maintain procedures and systems for monitoring the progress of the Equal Opportunities Policy in practice. Monitoring will involve the collection of relevant information related to:

Changes in organisational procedures (for example recruitment procedures such as advertising).
Specific initiatives (for example if a program is set up to encourage elderly participation, results would be monitored by a defined criteria).
Qualitative monitoring (for example by observation) of the ways people are working within the Edinburgh Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre and within specific Edinburgh Hindu Mandir cultural initiatives.

Timings

SUNDAY	13th	JANUARY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	27th	JANUARY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	10th	FEBRUARY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	24th	FEBRUARY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	10th	MARCH	2013	MahaShivratri	2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	24st	MARCH	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	14th	APRIL	2013		2PM TO 4PM
FRIDAY	19th	APRIL	2013	RamNavami	11AM TO 1PM
SUNDAY	28th	APRIL	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	12th	MAY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	26th	MAY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	09th	JUNE	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	23rd	JUNE	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	14th	JULY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
FRIDAY	28th	JULY	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	11th	AUGUST	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	25th	AUGUST	2013		2PM TO 4PM
WEDNESDAY	28th	AUGUST	2013	Janmashtami	7PM TO 9PM
SUNDAY	08th	SEPTEMBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
MONDAY	09th	SEPTEMBER	2013	Ganesh Chaturthi	7PM TO 9PM
SUNDAY	22nd	SEPTEMBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SATURDAY	05th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri Starts - Ras – Garba	6PM TO 9PM
SUNDAY	06th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	6PM TO 9PM
MONDAY	07h	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	7PM TO 9PM
TUESDAY	08th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	7PM TO 9PM
WEDNESDAY	09th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	7PM TO 9PM
THURSDAY	10th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	7PM TO 9PM
FRIDAY	11th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri - Ras – Garba	7PM TO 9PM
SATURDAY	12th	OCTOBER	2013	Shree Durga Ashtmi	6PM TO 9PM
SUNDAY	13th	OCTOBER	2013	Navratri Ends	6PM TO 9PM
TUESDAY	22nd	OCTOBER	2013	KarvaChauth	3.45PM TO 5PM
SUNDAY	27th	OCTOBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	03rd	NOVEMBER	2013	Diwali	7PM TO 9PM
SUNDAY	10th	NOVEMBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	24th	NOVEMBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	08th	DECEMBER	2013		2PM TO 4PM
SUNDAY	22nd	DECEMBER	2013		CLOSED

Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple

The Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple in Bradford opened in April 2008, becoming the largest Hindu temple (mandir) in Northern England.^[1] The temple was designed by local architects and built by a local construction company. The temple is faced with Yorkshire stone, and the design modern, reflecting the position of Hindus as part of contemporary Yorkshire society.^[2] The temple is unusual in having most of the major deities revered by the Hindu community in addition to Lakshmi Narayan, the main deities.^[3] This reflects the needs of the Hindu population in the UK, where temples have to serve all types of Hindus rather than just followers of a specific deity.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip visited the temple on 24 May 2007.

he Hindu Cultural Society of Bradford has engaged in an ambitious project to build a new Hindu Temple and Community Centre on Leeds Road, Bradford 3, West Yorkshire.

The Hindu Community first settled in the Leeds Road area of Bradford in the sixties and now numbers about 7,000 in and around the Bradford district. Since these early days, some of us set up businesses in a variety of fields. We diverged throughout the district and we believe that we have made a significant contribution to both the city’s economic and cultural life.

Many of our children have benefited from the educational system and have gone on to pursue careers in the professions and businesses. As a community, we are grateful to Bradford and the opportunities, it has given us. We now wish to put something back.

We first established our Temple and Community Centre in a disused Social Club on Leeds Road in the sixties. This building is old and requires constant repair and is also insufficient to meet our needs. We embarked on an ambitious project to build a new Temple and Community Centre. These will be separate buildings that will look like a single building. The design of Temple will reflect our cultural and religious heritage, but also reflect the architectural style of Bradford and it will be finished in Yorkshire Stone. We hope that the building will show that we are British Hindus.

The Community Centre will provide facilities for our Elderly Day Care services, educational and cultural activities along with our religious festivals. The Centre will be available for any community group to use. There will be facilities for Football, Badminton, Basketball and Volleyball along with a Stage and Kitchen facilities. We hope to encourage other communities to get to know us and share our rich cultural and religious heritage. Over 2,000 school children visited our present Temple, last year and we will continue to welcome them and other groups in years to come.

Work on the new Temple started in June this year and is now will underway. We hope to start the second phase, the Community and Sports Centre next year. The total c ost of the project will be about £5 millions. Where ever possible, we have used West Yorkshire companies to carry out the work. The main Contractor, Brenville Construction Ltd, is Bradford based.

We have already collected nearly £1 million in pledges, but there is still a long way to go. We are now making appeal to the Hindu Community at larg e and the business community for their help. We hope that our Temple will be a major boost to Bradford’s regeneration and be an important gateway building on Leeds Road to the City Centre. We would be most grateful if everybody can support and contribute financially towards this worthy cause. Should you require any further information to make a generous contribution, please contact us.

About Temples

Temples or Mandirs (abode or dwelling) or Devalaya (abode of God) play central role in the lives of Hindus. They attract the follower to a place that is considered to be the ‘Kingdom of God’ where one can see God, render service to Him, learn about Him and associate with His devotees so as to make the path home, back to Godhead easier.

The unique feature of the Vedic (Hindu) teaching is that it can be applied, with the guidance of a spiritual teacher, according to time, place and circumstance. Temples in the West have adopted this same approach without loosing their essential function. Besides solely being the place of worship, they also accommodate recreational and social functions.

The first Hindu temple in Britain opened in late 1920s near Earls Court, London, and functioned for about four years. Over 20 years later a ‘home temple’ with stunning Deities began Hindu worship in North London, which still continues today. But it wasn’t till the arrival of the Hindu community in late 60s and early 70’s that many temples came into existence. They continue to serve the British community with the same spirit of dynamism as the temples in India have done for thousands of years.

Radha Krsna Temple, Oldham, UK

The Radha Krsna Temple, or now more commonly Radha Krishna Temple, was the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in London from the late 1960s. The Temple came to prominence when The Beatles, and especially George Harrison, started to publicly express their interest in Eastern philosophy and Krishna consciousness. The Radha Krsna Temple is also the name of an album of devotional music issued by the Temple on The Beatles' Apple Records label, produced by Harrison.

The Radha Krishna Temple

The Temple at 7 Bury Place, London WC1, close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, was the initial headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the UK from 1969 onwards, for which Harrison was a co-signee on the lease Before then, however, they had been given temporary accommodation in an outbuilding at Tittenhurst Park, John Lennon's mansion near Ascot.

George Harrison's involvement

Playing a sitar on the set of The Beatles' 1965 movie Help! and receiving a book on Hinduism on a beach in the Bahamas was the beginning of George Harrison's interest in Eastern religion and mysticism − which led to a number of visits to India and a lifelong friendship with sitar master Ravi Shankar. In 1967 he and his fellow Beatles met with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and, early the following year, they all headed off to Rishikesh to study with the Transcendental Meditation guru.^{[citation needed]}
George was already aware of the devotees of Krishna before meeting the movement's leader, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and had purchased 20 copies of the Happening album, the first recording by Swami Prabhupada and his disciples. But it wasn’t until 1969 that George met Shyamasundara dasa in the London offices of Apple Records, The Beatles’ record company. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting two years to meet you fellas," was how he greeted the devotee. Shyamasundara and five others had come to London to start a branch of ISKCON and they had sent apple pies and clockwork apples with the Hare Krishna mantra written on them to the Apple headquarters. This initial meeting led to the recording of "Hare Krishna Mantra", credited to Radha Krishna Temple (London), with George and apparently Paul and Linda McCartney and Ginger Baker all in the studio helping George produced the song and further recordings, as well as attending an Apple-organised press conference for the Temple in a park at Sydenham, south London, and their appearance on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops, where they performed "Hare Krishna Mantra" (although he did not appear in front of the cameras). The single reached the charts in twenty countries, doing particularly well in Czechoslovakia and Germany, and was even sung one afternoon by 40,000 people at Wembley.^{[citation needed]} Author Peter Lavezzoli has described the Harrison-assisted success of "Hare Krishna Mantra" as "an astonishing feat".
Swami Prabhupada made a deep impression on George: “Most of these yogis say ‘Look at me, I am the divine incarnation, let me help you,’” he explained. “Prabhupada said: ‘I am the servant of the servant of the servant.’” When George once asked Srila Prabhupada if he should also shave his head and join the temple, Prabhupada replied that he could do more for Krishna through his music. Many years previously, the great-grandfather of the Hare Krishna movement, Bhaktivinode Thakur, had predicted a day when the Maha Mantra and songs of Krishna would be sung throughout the world in the local musical style and in the local language. George would be one of the first to help towards making that prediction come true. When Prabhupada heard George’s orchestrated version of the Govindam prayers for the first time, he was moved to tears and asked for it to be played every morning in each of the movement’s temples, which still happens to this day.^[

"My Sweet Lord"

After helping the devotees at the Temple make their debut single, George started writing his own songs about Krishna and the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. In November 1970 came the album All Things Must Pass, which included the classic song "My Sweet Lord', and two-and-a-half years later, Living in the Material World, which featured "The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)" and the title track. Both these works are said to have been inspired by George's meetings with Prabhupada and by the Krishna Consciousness philosophy

Krishna book

In 1967 Prabhupada had experienced a severe heart attack and wondered whether he would live to present his disciples and the world with a translated version of the 'divine pastimes’ of Krishna on earth. He had translated the second canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, but knew that many years of translating remained before he would reach the tenth canto, where these accounts are contained. So he decided to write Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When he was finished, he requested Shyamasundara to ask George if he could help to publish it. Shyamasundara tells that he wished to be careful in making the request, as he didn’t want to give George the impression that the devotees in the Temple were after his money. But Srila Prabhupada had asked him and the spiritual master’s desire was the life and soul of the disciple, so he found himself sitting in a restaurant with George one evening. A thunderstorm raged outside, and just as he discreetly asked the question, lightning flashed, there was a loud clap of thunder, and all the lights went out. The two sat in complete darkness without saying anything for a minute or two. When the lights came on, George was smiling and said: “I suppose that means yes!

Bhaktivedanta Manor

Due to George’s celebrity endorsement, his songs, and the help he’d given the devotees in meeting other famous people who passed on the word, the little temple at Bury Place was becoming too small for the number of devotees who lived there and others who wanted to join. Again, George offered his help. He told the Temple devotees that if they found a suitable building then he would purchase it. In 1972, devotees found Piggots Manor, a former nursing home with 17 acres (69,000 m²) of land, in the Hertfordshire countryside. George could not spare the time to come and see it, but said if they liked it, he would make the arrangements immediately. And so it was that "Bhaktivedanta Manor" was purchased for £230,000. Since that time, the Manor has gone on to become one of the most famous Krishna temples outside India.
Over the years, George became a very private person. But it was apparent that he still remained a devotee of Krishna; he visited the Mayapura temple, ISKCON’s international headquarters in West Bengal. After touring the complex and taking prasadam, he spent the remainder of his time talking to the gardener about the many varieties of flowers and fruits growing there. He stayed for a few days in Vrindavan, unrecognised by everyone except the westerners there. He also kept friendships with a number of the devotees he had met in his earlier days such as Mukunda Goswami.

Charity album

n May 1971 an eponymously titled album was released by Radha Krishna Temple (London) on Apple Records produced by George Harrison, featuring devotional music. The album sleeve pictures the deities situated in the original temple from whom the Temple name derives; these have now been moved to the ISKCON temple on Soho Square in London, where they are known as 'Radha-Londonishvara'.
Both "Hare Krishna Mantra" and "Govinda" had previously been released as singles. "Hare Krishna Mantra" backed by "Prayer to the Spiritual Masters" was issued on 22 August 1969 in the United States, and 29 August in Britain. After the single's surprise success in the UK (where it peaked at number 12), "Govinda" was released as a follow-up on 6 March 1970 (24 March in the United States), with "Govinda Jai Jai" − often spelt as "Govinda Jaya Jaya" − on the B-side. This second single likewise made the British top 30, peaking at number 23.
The band on the recordings consisted of Harrison on harmonium, guitar and bass; Tamal Krishna Goswami on flute; Harivilas, Yamuna, Jivananda, Lilavati and Yogesvara on lead vocals; and assembled Hare Krishna devotees on backing vocals, mridanga and kartals In addition, Alan White played drums on the debut single, while John Barham supplied the orchestral arrangement for "Govinda". Another devotee, Mukunda Goswami (as Makunda Das Adhikary), originally a jazz musician himself, was credited with arranging the traditional songs.
The track "Govinda" is played every morning at all of the ISKCON temples around the world, to greet the deities. This was at the request of Srila Prabhupada. The album was later reissued as Goddess of Fortune on the Spiritual Sky record label. All royalties went to ISKCON After an initial release on CD in 1993, The Radha Krsna Temple album was remastered and reissued in October 2010 as part of Apple's ongoing reissue campaign, and features in the box set Fresh from Apple Records.

Track listing

All songs were traditional, and arranged by Makunda Das Adhikary.
Side one

"Govinda" – 4:43
"Sri Guruvastakam" – 3:12
"Bhaja Bhakata-Arati" – 8:24
"Hare Krishna Mantra" – 3:33

Side two

"Sri Ishopanishad" – 4:03
"Bhajahu Re Mana" – 8:53
"Govinda Jaya Jaya" – 5:57

Compact disc

"Govinda" – 4:43
"Sri Guruvastak" – 3:12
"Bhaja Bhakata-Arotrika" – 8:24
"Hare Krsna Mantra" – 3:33
"Sri Ishopanishad" – 4:03
"Bhajahu Re Mana" – 8:53
"Govinda Jai Jai" – 5:57
"Prayer to the Spiritual Masters" – 3:59 (bonus track on 1993 and 2010 releases)
"Namaste Saraswati Devi" – 4:59 (bonus track on 2010 release)

Shree Bharatiya Mandal, Indian Association Tameside, UK

It is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation and a registered charity serving the local Hindu and Indian Community in Tameside and surrounding area. Shree Ambaji Mandir (a Hindu Temple, religious place of worship) together with the Community Centre provide many services including:

Mandir (Temple) open to the public daily, Celebrating Hindu festivals and events, Cultural activities, Marriage registration, Luncheon Club for the elderly, Services for the elderly, Teaching Gujarati language, Teaching Hinduism, Youth activities, Computer classes, Councillor surgery, Advice surgery on immigration, discrimination, health, Council Services, benefits, Translation service, Representing the Hindu and Indian Community at local and national level and many more.

Mandir Information

Shree Ambaji Mandir (a Hindu Temple, religious place of worship) is open to worshippers and the general public daily as follows:
Morning: 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m.
Afternoon: 12.00 p.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Evening: 7.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.
Devotees and worshippers can sponsor and hold bhajan-satsang in the mandir. Please contact the Religious Secretary or Pujari Mr Pradipbhai Upadhyay (tel. 0161 344 1092) for further information.
All major Hindu religious events and festivals are celebrated at the Mandir. Please see Event Page for up coming events.

Religious Studies - Hinduism

What does the mandir offer in the Hinduism course?

They teach the Edexcel GCSE examination syllabus for RS- Hinduism. It is taught entirely in the English language. There are 2 modules namely,'Religion and Life' and 'Religion and Society.' Details of the course can be seen on the Edexcel webpage using the following link.

Where?
At Heys Primary School, Whiteacre Road, Ashton-Under-Lyne

When?
Tuesday evenings (during School Term) from 6.15pm

Tividale Tirupathy Balaji Temple

The Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple (grid reference SO980906) is the first temple for the deity Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) in Europe. It is on Dudley Road East, A457 behind the Meadows School in Tividale, West Midlands, England, on the border between Tipton and Oldbury; it was designed to replicate the Tirupati Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, India, which is the second busiest and richest religious centre in the world after the Vatican.
It opened on 23 August 2006 and was consecrated in a five-day ceremony between 23 and 27 August. The Vishnu incarnation Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity, with two other deities either side of him in the main temple- his wife Padmavati, an incarnation of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi, and Hanuman the monkey God featuring in the Ramayana epic. Outside there are two small Shiva temples to his sons Ganesh and Murugan, along with a hall for Navagraha or small astrological representations of nine celestial bodies. It is an increasingly magnificent, well-appointed complex, very active with resident Brahmin priests; it is not necessary to be a Hindu to visit, but shoes are removed and photographing inside is not allowed.
Also on the site are a Hindu community centre, gatehouse, fountain and various developing lawn areas and walkways (in January 2008); the main building has two storeys, with the temple upstairs and service and administration below; Vedic tradition and Sanskrit language classes are held. Many of the Hindu community in the area speak Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam; the temple is a not-for-profit organisation.
The easiest way to get to the temple is to take bus number 87 from Birmingham or Dudley. Get down at the stop just before Luxmi off-licence store.

Shri Venkateswara(Balaji) Temple of UK
Dudley Road East,
Tividale,
West Midlands,
B69 3DU,
England.
Registered Charity No.326712
Tel: 0121 544 2256
Fax: 0121 544 2257

Skanda Vale, West Wales

Skanda Vale (grid reference SN419320) is a Hindu temple and monastery in Llanpumsaint community, Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales. The temple is dedicated to Lord Subramanya, who is also known as Skanda, Karttikeya and Muruga. Notable people who visited the site were Prof Kalpana Chaudhary of the Nagpur Institute of Technology.
Skanda Vale is located in the valleys of West Wales, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the town of Carmarthen, on the way to Lampeter, the nearest village is Llanpumsaint. The road to the temple is very narrow (last 4 miles/6 km), allowing just one vehicle to pass at a time. There are three temples: The Murugan Temple, The Maha Shakthi Temple, and the Ranganatha Temple. There is a daily puja at each temple, and many monks live near the temple. There are overnight facilities for people travelling from a long distance.
The Community of the Many Names of God was founded on the worship of God in his universality, in accordance with the spiritual teachings of Lord Krishna as in the Bhagavad-Gita. It was established as a monastic centre in Wales in 1973. The present 115-acre (0.47 km²) site was originally three adjacent farms and a small block of woodland, which were separately purchased and amalgamated by the community as the grounds of Skanda Vale Monastery. Its first temple, dedicated to Lord Subramanya, was registered as a place of public worship in 1975.
A variety of animals are kept on the grounds of the temple including an elephant. In April 2007, there was controversy when the sacred bullock, Shambo, tested positive for bovine TB, and the government ruled that he must be destroyed. An international campaign was mounted to save him. On 16 July 2007, the High Court in Cardiff quashed the ruling made by the National Assembly for Wales, and that it had not in its decision to slaughter Shambo: "given the serious infringement of the community's rights under Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights that slaughter would involve.". However after 23 July 2007 Shambo again faced execution, after the Court of Appeal ruled that he should be slaughtered. Shambo was euthanized on July 26, 2007, via a lethal injection. Welsh authorities have since reported that signs of TB were present upon postmortem examination.

Shree Geeta Bhawan, Midlands

The Shree Geeta Bhawan Mandir is the first Hindu temple in the Midlands. It is situated on the corner of Heathfield Road and Brecon Road in Birmingham, on the border of Handsworth and Lozells. The building was the former St George's Presbyterian Church and was originally designed by J.P.Osborne in a cruciform shape in 1896 however was reopened as the Shree Geeta Bhawan Mandir in 1969.
The Mandir has a daily Aarti at 11am and 7pm and has weekly Poojas for Balaji on Sunday mornings, and Durga Maa on Tuesday evenings.
The easiest way to get to the temple via public transport is to take bus number 46 from Birmingham City Centre (Colmore Row) or Perry Barr (One Stop). Get off at the bus stop on the corner of Brecon Road.

Bhagwati Shakti Peeth

(Nottingham)

On 6th October 2005 a Bhagwati Mata Chonki was held at Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire after which the congregation consisting of people of all ages held a seminar. The congregation decided to formalize the meeting and a resolution was unanimously passed that there was an urgent need to organise such seminars on a regular basis. It was also felt that the generation that has grown up in this country and was now preparing for marriage and parenthood has many questions that needed addressing. We have in Nottingham a well established and well supported Hindu Temple. Although the Temple does have a daily programme, it was felt that there were gaps that need to be addressed. It was felt that there was need for another platform which will be inclusive of all of the community and more focused to address the questions posed by the next generation. This platform will be more open to all societies, faiths, cultures and religious beliefs. Thus Shri Bhagwati Mata Mandir Trust was formed.
The discussion & congregation finally get registered as charity in 2007 as 'Shri Bhagwati Mata Mandir & Sanatan Community Centre'. Mr Anil Randev along with other Executive committee members is working hard to raise funds for this project. The people from all walks of life and from different faiths have been very generous in financial and material support which the Executive Committee is very grateful and would like to express its thanks.

Bhagwati Shakti Peeth is situated in East Midland and well connected with different part of UK, being central place. East midland airport is just 20 - 30 mins away from temple. Nottingham Train Station is 10 mins and Nottingham bus services is one of the best in UK

There are ample car parking spaces if you wish to drive to temple.

Om Tat Sat

(Continued...)

(My humble salutations to the great devotees , wikisources and Pilgrimage tourist guide for the collection )

Hindu Vedic Philosophy (Holy Pilgrimage - Theertha Kshetra)