My New Delhi Diary – 🤲 Touch The Serene Oasis 🌸 The Baha’i (Lotus) Temple 🕊️
Winter in New Delhi is fabulous. With the coolness around, a clear 🌞sunny day can bring out the child 🧒in you.
We jostled the crowd and made our way towards the Bahá’í temple draped in a golden light
As the early morning fog lifted, we turned the nose of our War horse, Swift Diesel 🚘towards the🌸🏛️Bahá’í House of Worship Kalkaji, South Delhi.
The temple is flung 33 kilometers ↔️from Gurgaon, Haryana.
Pushing Sea of Humanity👫
Whenever and wherever you go in New Delhi or in any part of India, you will have to push a sea of humanity to get a glimpse of the tourist spot. Parking the car, we stand behind a 2-mile long queue of humansWith aching legs, enduring a queue for 90 minutes, we finally see the Kalkaji Road, on which the temple sitsYou can never miss these guys. They standwith a sullen face, but what they sell, issupremely delicious. This is called the “Jhal Muri”or Spicy Puffed rice. They containboiled potatoes,tomatoes, onions, cucumber,and green chilies, all chopped. A masala goes for theseasoning, mustard oil, and black salt, and oftenincludes peanuts, bhujiya, and chana chur for added crunchParking is a menace, across the road, tourist buses jostle around with personal cars and cabbies. We were lucky to slot our Swift in and strolled at snail’s pace towards the entrance gateYoungster, and adults cross the grey burned brick lined entrance gate. We held our excitement to see the temple within
Bahá’í Faith 🕊️✨
On the grass mounds on either side of the entrance,we find three black text over white stone engravings,they sumit all. The temple can be visitedby anyone, of anyreligion and they can practice their faith inserenity andloving calmnessThe Baha’i Faith centers around the following – Unity of all religions 🕊️, equality of all humans 🌍, and peaceful coexistence and love ❤️
Stunning Landscape 🏕️
We finally get a glimpse of the Lotus temple, it looked like a huge flower about to bud. The morning sun cast a diffused light around the green pastures. A lone dog is trying to make a sense of it allWell constructed pinkish brick pathwayscrisscrossed through beautiful lawns. Tall line of trees grown in thedistance made for a peaceful milieuManicured spot of dark green bushes sprouting from pale green pastures looked very soothing. With the light cool breeze, the environmentwas naturally electricWe climbed the velvet green mounds through arched stairs and got a pretty good bird’s eye view of the area around. You can see the bursting queue of visitors, all wanted to touch the gentle temple complexA scooped out section of the green topography looked like a space ship construction. This is the office of the Lotus temple administration. The geometric shaped red sandstone edifice thatflanked looked outstanding
Modern Expressionist Architecture 📐🏛️
We approach the Baha’i (Lotus) Temple complex. The flower 🌸 design looked stunning and is an apostle of universal message of unity and peace 🕊️Baha’i (Lotus) temple is shaped like a half-bloomed lotus flower, made of white marble from GreeceThe huge foyer of the temple under those petal shaped structure has a glass entrance and inside the temple chamber, through the glass we gota glimpse of polished wooden chairs wherepeople hold their prayersThe lotus petal shaped ceiling with its cavernous area can house 2500 prayer seekersA well decorated Persian carpet sprawled over the marble floor held a speaker podium facing the polished wooden chairs. Two glistening brass flower containers decked the stage. One can instantly feel tranquility when the circular steps are descended
Sparkling Temple Pools💧🏞️
All around the Baha’i Temple Lotus Temple, clearblue based pools encircle the entire complex. Pathwaysand walkways form a bridge over them toaccess the temple interiorThe petal shaped white Greek marbles swooped out towards the sky and blazed under the sun. The white glow it created reflected off the pool waters producing a blissful sightBy afternoon, the Baha’i Lotus Temple lookedspectacular with the fog wrapped sun. With a peacefuldisposition, we concluded our tour of this unique place
Hope, you admired one of the world’s most remarkable examples of modern architecture📐
Inference
Inaugurated in 1986, the Bahá’í House of Worship stands as a symbol of unity, peace, and oneness of humanity
Bahá’í Faith founded by Baháʼu’lláh in the 19th century.
Designed by Iranian-Canadian architect Fariborz Sahba, the temple’s structure is inspired by the lotus — a flower sacred in Indian culture, representing purity and enlightenment
The temple is one of eight Bahá’í temples worldwide and serves as a tranquil space open to people from all religions, offering a unique interfaith spiritual experience
Unique 27 marble petals and nine serene water pools surrounding it mirror harmony and simplicity
Distance from Gurgaon to Bahá’í temple, Kalkaji
33 Kms
Pocket pinch
Timings 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Closed on Mondays) Entry Fee: Free Nearest Metro Station: Kalkaji Mandir (Violet Line)
Best time to visit
Late November through mid March
Activities
Relax, soak the beauty and peace with a camera
Parking
Available across the temple, Rs. 50 for first 4 hours and Rs.20 for subsequent hours
SPITFIRE GAUTAM 