20 February 2014

Karuna Bhavan: ISKCON Scotland Temple

We finally made it to Karuna Bhavan temple at Lesmahagow two weeks ago. Here are a few pictures:





The temple experience was good. A few points that drew me are:
  • Beautiful Sri Gaura Nitai deities.
  • A devotee gardener who thinks he needs to grow fresh flowers to make daily garlands for Their Lordships.  
  • More local western devotees compared to Indians. Prabhupada wanted to preach mostly to westerners in western countries. It pleased Prabhupada when more and more westerners took to Krishna Consciousness. In US and Australia, today we see temples are not preaching to local people anymore. It is easy to preach to Indians instead.
  • Non-stop ecstatic bhajans lead by multiple devotees giving short explanations to songs that were being sung for the pleasure of Sri Gaura Nitai. It was Sri Nityananda Triyodasi celebrations; what better time to have visited the temple than this. Hari nama for the sake of hari nama is an art lost to most of Indian ISKCON temples lately but here at Scotland it was purely ecstatic. Hours of ecstasy!
  • Beautiful Vrindadevi deity and a pool of hundreds of Salagram silas to worship.
  • Creche for kids. Yes, the temple had a well-designed creche for kids. Thoughtful!
  • Amazing prasadam that came with special srikhand at the end.
I couldn't have asked for anything better. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, you must of being going about with your eyes & ears firmly closed.

Diya said...

It's not about eyes or ears, it's about having heart open. Lord Krishna is there, where Harinama is chanted.