ISKCON Temple, Ujjain

ISKCON
Name
Other names	ISKCON Temple
Proper name	Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan Mandir
Geography
Country	India
State	Madhya Pradesh
District	Ujjain District
Location	Mahashweta Nagar, Ujjain
Culture
Primary deity	Radha Madanmohan (Krishna and Radha)
Architecture
Architectural styles	Hindu temple architecture
History and governance
Date built	2004
Website	[1]

Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan Mandir, also known as ISKCON Temple is a temple in the holy city of Ujjain. ISKCON is a renowned Vaishnav temple of Lord Krishna and Radharani in the form of Radha Madanmohan. The project was conceived in 2004 by Bhakti Charu Swami and the temple was opened in 2006. It is located in the Mahashweta Nagar area of Ujjain, India and is close to the Sandipani Ashram.

History

Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan Mandir is a very wonderful and vibrant temple, with exquisitely beautiful deities, a befittingly gorgeous opulent temple, a flourishing Tulsi garden and attractive lush flower gardens, as if enveloping the temple awaiting to serve The Divine Couple. HH Bhakti Charu Swami had the temple erected from rough rocky ground to a breathtakingly beautiful marble temple, in an unbelievable and historical 10 months and 20 days! The temple is made from the finest of marbles which HH Bhakti Charu Swami personally selected from the very famous Marble mines of Makarana. It is marble from this very place that was used to build one of the seven wonders of the world – The Taj Mahal!

Words fail to describe the Beauty of Their Lordships. This might sound like an exaggeration but truly speaking, the Unparalleled Beauty of The Most Merciful Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan ji, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Krishna Balaram ji is just simply breath taking and heartrending. They are limitlessly merciful, and attract a dedicated following from the local residents too. The locals bring so many gifts of offerings for Their Lordships daily and talk to Them! Whether that has something to do with the fact that They are sambandha deities? Maybe! For a similar reason the devotees of Ujjain are very warm,welcoming and expert at making guests feel at home very quickly. Anyone who comes to visit even though for just a few days certainly leaves with tears and a very heavy heart.

Under the expert guidance of HH Bhakti Charu Swami ISKCON Ujjain runs a wide range of valuable and successful projects – Preaching Project which conducts preaching programs in colleges, schools, villages, Bhakti Vriksha , Youth programs, etc; Mid Day Meal Project based at the ISKCON Jagannath temple, which feeds 22,000 school children per day in 146 schools, Deity Dress Project where not only our Deities’ stunningly gorgeous outfits are made but also for the Deities of various temples; Murti Project and Altar Project where deities of Guru Parampara and Srila Prabhupada and exquisitely beautiful carved altars are made and supplied worldwide; Incense Project where we sell our own brand of wonderfully fragrant natural incense; A Goshala where (13) cows are lovingly taken care of; GCL (Gita Champion League) project, A Guest house with 28 beautifully furnished rooms to mention a few. There are more exciting ones in the pipeline including a school across from the temple!

Although the temple community is abuzz with so many activities, the temple itself maintains a sweet serene mood with kirtan right from morning till night. Ekadasi brings a special treat as there is non-stop 24-hour kirtan in the temple and as if that’s not enough there is a special Deep Daan – offering of ghee lamp on Ekadasi and Purnima day. It is like the month of Kartik more than twice a month all year round!

Devotees all over the world visit here regularly. 18 Maharaj’s came for the inauguration of our temple in 2006 including HH Radhanath Swami, HH Lokanath Swami, HH B.B. Govinda Swami, HH Indradyumna Swami, HH Devamrita Swami, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami, HH Niranjana Swami, HH Bir Krishna Goswami etc. Several very eminent celebrities took part in the inauguration as well including top Bollywood actress- Rani Mukherji, Alfred Ford-son of Mr Ford, Mr. Babulal Gaur-Industry Minister of Ujjain. Many important ISKCON events took place in ISKCON Ujjain including Guru retreat, Devotee Care event, RGB meeting etc.

2011-12 are important years for ISKCON Ujjain as we became a fully Solar powered temple on the auspicious day of Janmashtami 2011. ISKCON Ujjain is the 1st Solar Powered temple in Ujjain and probably the only fully solar powered temple in ISKCON.  We also launched our full-time LIVE broadcast of the temple this year with a state-of-the-art control room. ISKCON Ujjain is also the 1st temple to have LIVE broadcast in Ujjain city. These positive breakthrough stories were covered by the top 5 newspapers in India-that our temple is really breaking ground by setting high standards being environmentally conscious and using the latest technology to spread the Vedic culture to the world.  Apart from this, we reinstated the Food Life Program to feed the needy and poor of our community in 2012. The School project was initiated this year as well.

We are involved in a lot of community service projects. Some of our projects are- IFRF-Mid Day meal program, Food for Life, Goshala, De-Addiction Campaign/ Re-habilitation program, ISKCON Pride of Ujjain Award which is given to a person or organization who is contributing significantly in the field of social work, and Bhaktivedanta Meditation Center for the welfare of Policemen as they work under great stress etc.

It is also important to note the spiritual significance of this very Holy Place Avantika which is now more commonly known as Ujjain. It is in this very place that Sri Krishna and Sri Balaram came to study under the tutelage of Sri Sandipani Muni. They stayed for 64 days in which They learnt 64 arts! This simple and peaceful city is very famous for its Prinicpal Deity Sri Mahakaleswara who is one of the 12 self-manifested Jyotilingams of Lord Shiva. Also Ujjain is one of the 7 Moksa Puris i.e., anyone who leaves his body here will receive liberation.

Temple Complex

The complex consists of the main temple hall, Brahmachari ashram and devotee kitchen, guesthouse and office complex, resident housing and Goshala.

Worship of Lord

Six aratis are performed daily to the deities.

Festivals

Main article: List of Hindu festivals

See also

• Vaishnavism
• ISKCON Temple Bangalore
• ISKCON Temple Chennai
• ISKCON Temple Delhi
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism

External links

• [2]