Swaminarayan Mandir

Len went to Ahmedabad, Gujarat for a work trip.  While there his group visited the Swaminarayan Mandir (a Hindu Temple).

The sadhus (monks) met them outside and gave them a tour.  Notice on the right where they left their shoes before entering.

Notice the security guards who were tasked to follow the High Commissioner (Ambassador in New Delhi) everywhere they went in Gujarat.

Leonard received his first chandlo (bindi), which is made of red saffron powder.  They also tied a bracelet made out of thread to his wrist.

Here they are performing the Abhishek ritual by pouring water from the sacred rivers of India over the image of Swaminarayan, who lived in the late 1700s to early 1800s, and whom followers of Swaminarayan Hinduism believe was the complete manifestation of Narayana or Purushottam Narayana (the Supreme Being and thus superior to other avatars).

The murti of the recently deceased spiritual leader.

Afterwards they had a good conversation during which the sadhus explained their beliefs, talked about the terrorist attack on their Akshardham Temple (which Leonard also got to tour) in 2002, and the construction of their temple in Toronto which was completed in 2007.  One of the sadhus (originally from Canada) told Len that if he brought his family back to Ahmedebad that he would make sure we got a full guided tour of Akshardham.

Sounds good to me!

Leonard said Ahmedebad is very different from Mumbai.  This isn't the best shot, but I love that he got a picture of a teenager riding a camel.  I also love that you can see the man on the scooter also taking a picture of it.  Unfortunately, he missed getting a shot of the elephant he saw and he also saw many horses and cows wandering the streets.

I'm ready to go visit now!