Lotus Temple is in Delhi is a place that is sure to leave you in awe!
Imagine walking through the entrance gate and being greeted by a gorgeous floral garden, complete with sparkling pools and lush green shrubs. Even though there’s a bustling crowd around you, a sense of calm and tranquility envelopes you.
As you make your way towards the temple, you can’t help but feel a sense of excitement building up. The temple’s structure is inspired by the lotus flower, and the 27 free-standing marble-clad “petals” arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides will make your jaw drop. And trust me, it’s not just the building’s design that’s impressive – the temple’s ideology will leave you in introspective silence.
The Lotus Temple is dedicated to the Baha’i faith, and its message of oneness of the Almighty is open to people of all nationalities, religions, races, and genders. You can read and chant religious texts of any faith, and musical renditions of religious texts can be sung without any inhibitions in the temple complex.
It’s fascinating to learn that the architect of this temple was Fariborz Sahba, a Canadian-Iranian who now lives in La Jolla, California. The temple’s construction was completed in 1986 by the ECC Construction Group of Larsen & Toubro Limited, and it cost $10 million. Interestingly, a portion of the construction budget was saved and used to build a greenhouse to study indigenous plants and flowers that would be appropriate for use on the site.
But what makes this temple unique is not just its design and construction but also its inter-religious significance. The lotus is often associated with purity, sacredness, spirituality, and knowledge, and the nine doors of the Lotus Temple open onto a central hall that can seat 1,300 people and hold up to 2,500 in all. And the surface of the House of Worship is made of white marble from Penteli mountain in Greece, the same marble used in the construction of many ancient monuments (including the Parthenon) and other Baháʼí buildings.
So, there you have it folks – the Lotus Temple is a must-visit place in New Delhi, not just for its magnificent architecture but also to experience a new way of meditation in a completely different, blissful ambience. So, pack your bags, and let’s get going!