About Us
Our temple, in Bengaluru is home to the most extraordinarily beautiful and powerful deities of Sri Sri Gandharvika Giridhari, Sriman Mahaprabhu and Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimhadeva. It’s fascinating how this temple started with humble beginnings, how we got our deities, how they were installed, and how this has become a beautiful temple where the local community and bhaktas from all over Bengaluru gather to worship the magnificent Lordships with reverence, love and great joy. Our deities have a huge community following online too!
The Story behind the Deities
Usually a single sculptor makes the deities of both Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, so that the deities look similar and match each other perfectly as the Divine Couple. But our Sri Giridhari made a sudden but grand entrance into our hearts, on a trip to Jaipur!
The management team was visiting Jaipur and saw Sri Giridhari in His most beautiful pose - tugging at their heart strings. They were awe-struck with His attractiveness and decided He was theirs! When Sri Giridhari decided He needed His eternal consort Sri Gandharvika, the management team was apprehensive about finding the perfect match. They placed an order, but with a different sculptor! Lo and behold She made her appearance and it was a perfect match, the most exquisitely beautiful Sri Radha-Krishna, the worshipable Divine Couple.
Our initial days were a struggle in terms of building the temple. When we went to our revered Spiritual Master, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja to seek his blessings, he instructed us that we should also worship Lord Gauranga alongside Sri Radha-Krishna. At this point HG Varada Krsna Dasa had taken over as the Temple President. Maharaja gave instructions on the exact posture and height (2’’ taller than Sri Radha-Krishna) of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Sriman Mahaprabhu was sculpted by the same sculptor who made Sri Gandharvika, along with a cow.
The most awaited event of naming the deities had arrived. Maharaja lovingly gave Them the unique names of Sri Sri Gandharvika Giridhari and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The cow was named Surabhi. Our deities are named after the deities worshipped by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur in the Uri Caitanya Math in Mayapur, the very first Gaudiya Math.
Now came the most challenging part - completing the temple construction within five months, to coincide with the first anniversary of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhadeva’s installation. After many struggles, our deities were installed in 2013, in the divine presence of the Sannyasi disciples of Srila Prabhupada, our Gurumaharaj HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja and HH Bhanu Swami Maharaja, alongside HH Bhakti Vinoda Swami Maharaja. It was a grand occasion with celebrations running for nine days.
Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimhadeva
The first deity worshipped in our temple was the most powerful Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimhadeva. These deities came from Shivarapatna (a village in Malur), famously known as the Land of Gods and Sculptors. At the time this deity was received, we did not have a proper residence for Them. The deity was housed in our current day dining hall and honoured with very simple worship. Only in 2012, after building a home for Them, were the deities of Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimhadeva transferred and Prana Pratishta ceremonies were completed. Many sincere devotees’ prayers have been answered by Sri Narasimhadeva. Devotees are now under the safety and shelter of the Lotus Feet of Their Lordships and enjoy blissfully serving Them.
