Sri Sri Giridhari Dauji Mandir | Jaipur (Gupt Vrindavan), Mansarovar
Srila Prabhupada envisioned spreading the worship of Sri Sri Radha Govindaji to the whole world, expressing his desire to establish a beautiful Krishna Balarama Temple in Jaipur. In a letter, he wrote, "So I want to open a duplicate Krishna Balarama temple in Jaipur. I am sending separately copies of pictures of our Krishna Balarama Temple in Vrindaban. Of course there is also Radha Krishna and Gaura Nitai. I wish that you have some land in Jaipur and help us in constructing a temple like in Vrindaban. " (13, July 1975)
In 1991, ISKCON Jaipur began its journey, inspired by Srila Prabhupada's vision. Then, in 2019, the grand opening of the temple was held, fulfilling Srila Prabhupada's desire for a Krishna Balarama Mandir in Jaipur. Today, ISKCON Jaipur stands as a testament to his devotion and serves as a beacon of spiritual enlightenment for all.
Mr. Colin Greenwood from Sydney (Australia), is the artist for this wonderful work. He had met Srila Prabhupada early and always had a desire to present Krishna Consciousness in Stained Glass. Working in our ISKCON Auckland Temple he made a magnificent window before coming to Jaipur where he setup the production studio and trained local men to produce stained glass windows.
The glass is all handmade, from America, with thousands of colors and textures. The faces and many parts of the dresses are painted with ceramic paint and fired in an oven at over 1200 degrees so that the paint becomes a part of the glass giving a life span of over 600 years.
We began with Jaya and Vijaya, the door keepers of Vaikuntha then ten windows of the Dashavatar. The paintings have Gem Stone Shape Colored Glasses which give a crystal appearance and directs light. In each window there is an average of three thousand pieces of glass. This is certainly a work of art, intense and time consuming.
In Pravachan Hall we have the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan. Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatana Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami, Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami and Sri Raghunath Das Goswami. Then Lord Jagannath and Lord Baladeva with Lady Subhadra in between. Finally the Panch-Tattva, Sri Advaita Acharya, Lord Nityananda, Lord Caitanya, Sri Gadadhara and Sri Srivas Thakur.
As we enter the Parikrama, either side, there are two windows of Vrindavan Forest. In the sit out on south side Kaliya Lila in three windows and on north side Govardhan Lila in three windows. Again two more Vrndavan Forest windows before we enter the Pravachan Hall. Each window had to be made to exactly fit the steel framing and each steel frame made to fit the stone, a very exact excercise.
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