Swarminarayam Akshardham

09:00 at the mundir.  Acres of temple for the devotees, followers and saadu of Swarminarayam.  Again thanks to family connections we didn't have to wait anywhere and were guided by a lovely young volunteer from Melbourne. 

All electronic devices are prohibited so no photos.  The whole compound is only about 10 years old and took five years to buld.  The walls pink and red sandstone and the temple itself, italian marble.  Delhi's mist casts orange light.  The stones are highly carved.  Inside is a giant statue of the swarmi in gold leaf.  We're assurred that his spirit resides in the staue because it was put there by the current swarmi.

The money is everywhere.  The whole compound speaks wealth, in stark contrast to the basic feeding at yesterday's Seikh Gudwara.  By the time we emerge from inside of the temple learning about the life of this 16th centuary Hindu saint, the Sun has a little more heat, but the fog is still thick and the compound is filling with devotees.

We're encouraged to make a dharshaan (prayer) to a little gold statue containing the spirit of the god.  We annoint with warm water so as not to chill him, and I smudged my chandloh down my nose.

The compound is free to enter but the exhibitions are payed.  With our VIP pass relations we're spirited to the front of the queues, which  only consist of one or two poeple.  We also have the use of the cleanest western toilet I've seen outside the hotels (a highlight for all but having said that, the general toilets here are clean and abundant).

Exhibition one is a inside boat ride around a series of diaramas depicting '10,000 years of Indian history in 10 minutes'.  You'll be imaging creaky animatronics and risable mannequins but the silence from our boat, even from the kids, speaks of the quality of artistry and staging  that Disney would have approved.  Either. That or we're all still knackered from the late night/early morning.  The one reservation is the persistant claims for Indian originated academy;
'gravity 1500 years before Newton'
'plastic surgery'
'aeroplanes and spaceships'
All wholly plausible but I can't shake the character from 'Goodness Gracious Me' exclaiming 'Father Christmas?  Indian!'

Exhibition two is an IMAX cinema screening of the Swami's deeds as he walked the perimeter of the sub-continent demonstrating the way to release of desire and the release from fear.  Again, take a second to adjust up your imaginings.  This is a luxury IMAX cinema with reclining seats and wireless headphones piping in an English translation showing a hollywood quality featurette, replete with SFX.  Absolutely georgous.

My personal thoughts about this place drop it in line with the Vatican.  The craftsmanship of the sculpting is truly incredible and well deserving of the adoration it inspires.  And as a draw for donating middle-class accolites, I have never seen anything comparable.  I haven't been educated in the charity work the group does but I don't doubt it runs many worthy and enabling projects.  But were I to hold a faith, my god would not need such ostentatious  dwellings. That is not meant to detract from the sheer beauty of this place, however it is a shrine to human imagination and desire, contrary to the message I received from the Swarmi's actions.