"We have enough research for a thousand Ph.Ds..."

Plans for Mayapur Temple Revealed

Praghosa Prabhu introduced the presentation by saying that last year the GBC left off with the Sri Mayapur Project Development Committee (SMPDC) doing a feasibility study on building the temple where the park is now. Today the GBC received its report.

Bhakti Caru Swami spoke about the descent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and how Mayapur-dhama became manifest to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. The temple Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers to build will spread Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy throughout the world when the dhama is properly manifested, he said.

By way of an introducing Ambarisa Prabhu, Bhakti Caru Maharaja said that he felt no one could be better suited to lead us in this service than Ambarisa Prabhu, who has never been affected by his Ford family wealth. When they first met at the ISKCON restaurant in San Francisco in the early 1980s, Ambarisa Prabhu was washing pots. Srila Prabhupada emphatically instructed him to build the temple, and he has taken it to heart.

Ambarisa Prabhu said that someone once asked him whether he was not unhappy not having a son. He replied that he does not need a son, because he has ISKCON.

He told the GBC that it had been an amazing year for the core team of himself, Sadbhuja Prabhu, and Bhavananda Prabhu. They made incredible progress on the design, and the cosmology, legal, and vastu aspects. The new plan is thirty stories high. Building this temple in the park will be a major disruption to the present situation in Mayapur. It will take five or six years to build. Thus the SMPDC is working with the management to make adjustments so that the pilgrims can still visit the temple.

He thanked three young devotees, Vraja Kumar, Krsnadasa, and Srisa Prabhus, who created a DVD presentation for the GBC meeting. The DVD showed various views of the temple in relation to the present Mayapur set-up and included graphics of the interior design of the temple.

A model of temple was then displayed (later, the model was moved to the temple room for everyone to see), and Sadbhuja Prabhu described its features as he showed a slide presentation. The GBC members also received a full-color booklet about the new temple.

The new temple will fit on the ISKCON trust land, Sadbhuja said. There will be triple the park-and-garden space we have now. Srila Prabhupada wanted the main dome to resemble the Capitol in Washington, D.C. or the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, and it does. There are two additional domes over the two sides of the temple. The planetarium and a six-hundred-seat auditorium are on one side of the building, the Deities are in the central part (the kirtan hall will hold six thousand people), and Lord Nrsimhadeva's temple (which will hold two thousand people) is on the other side.

The architect, Anjan Mitra, said that his team is trying to make the temple manifest. They will make it well ventilated, comfortable, and safe. The acoustics also have to be perfect, he said.

Hari Sauri Prabhu reported on the vastu aspects. The SMPDC, in October, met with Niranjan Babu, the son of the most famous vastu authority, B. V. Raman.

Niranjan donated his services, reviewed the plans, and advised how to strengthen the vastu. The temple will face south, which is no problem according to vastu. The Deities will face Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's house, while Srila Prabhupada in his pushpa-samadhi will face the temple.

Next, in connection with the Vedic Planetarium, the GBC saw a DVD made by Danavir Swami about the Vedic version of the astronomical structure of the universe.

Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, who is in charge of the scholars working on this project, then made a presentation on the research they are doing. One group (including Carana Renu Prabhu, an astrophysicist who is now earning her second Ph.D.) is researching the Fifth Canto; another group (including Basu Ghosh Prabhu) is researching the pramanas (information on the structure of the universe from various shastras). One team is doing research on Astronomy (from scientific and shastric references), while another (including Pranava Prabhu, who is writing his Ph.D. thesis on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta) is working on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's writings on this subject. Another group (headed by Gopal Hari Prabhu, who is earning a doctorate at Oxford on science and religion) is researching sankhya (physics, creation and destruction, biology, and so on). These teams have a private wiki on which to update and share their findings, and eventually a section of the wiki will be open to the public.

This research project will grow and in the future seek affiliation with a university in India (probably I Kolkata) and take help from graduate students. "We have enough research for a thousand Ph.Ds," Ravindra Swarupa Prabhu said.

Anuttama Prabhu asked where all the visitors will stay and what will happen outside this small temple area? Previously the GBC had heard about roads, parking, hotels, and restaurants.

Ambarisa Prabhu responded that the idea is to first get the temple going.

Once the building is started, he can do a lot of fundraising. The SMPDC is thinking of adding a floor to the Long Building and converting the current Panca-tattva temple into a guest house. As land becomes available, the SMPDC will develop accordingly.