ISKCON Temple Bengaluru: A Travel Guide
Do you want to visit one of the famous tourist spots in Bengaluru? Then ISKCON Temple can be for sure on your list of places. Read this article to know the complete details regarding the Location, timings, temple details and how to reach there.
ISKCON Temple located in Bengaluru is one of the largest ISKCON Temples in the world. It is one of the famous tourist places to visit in Bengaluru and it is the best place to spend some time in a spiritual way in the City. It is maintained by The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) whose aim is to propagate Krishna Consciousness and knowledge of Bhagavad-Gita to the entire world. Bengaluru Development Authority had given the land of the temple in 1987 to the society and the total construction is completed in 1997 and was inaugurated by then Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma.
About the Temple
After the initial security checks and keeping your footwear at the designated places, you will walk through a long pathway which will first give you the glance of the entire temple on the hill. Temple has a 17m high dhwaja-stambha. Then devotees need to pass through 108 blocks (steps), Devotees will be given a mantra sheet and devotees have to chant the holy mantra "Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare... Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare" once on each step and cross all the 108 steps in the same way. This will give a divine special feeling when you are chanting along with all the devotees around you. Then first you will enter the Sri "Prahlada Narasimha" Swamy Temple, then after that, you will enter Sri "Srinivasa Govinda" temple who is also known as Lord Venkateswara. After visiting these 2 temples, you will enter the main temple where you can have darshan of Sri "Radha – Krishnachandra", Sri "Krishna – Balarama" and Sri "Nitai – Gauranga". There is a provision for devotees to sit and do meditation as well. After having the darshan, then they will be lead into a way where you can buy different products by ISKCON such as Books related to Lord Krishna, Photos of Lord Krishna, different types of Prasadam's made out of pure ghee and milk. Then at the end, Free Prasadam is served to all the devotees who visit the temple. All major festivals related to Lord Vishnu are celebrated in the temple and Sri Krishna Janmashtami is the biggest festival celebrated here. That day, several thousands of devotees visit the temple.
Temple Timings: Everyday Temple will be first open between 4:15 AM to 5 A.M. During Monday – Friday, Temple opens at 7:15 AM and will be open till 01:00 PM. Then again Opens at 4:00 PM and open till 8:20 PM. During Weekends and Public Holidays – Temple will be open from 7:15 AM to 8:30 PM.
Location and How to Reach: ISKCON Temple is located on Hare Krishna Hill which is in Chord Road, Rajaji Nagar, North Bengaluru.
Through Road: It is well connected with city bus network. These are the city bus numbers which can help your reach, ISKCON Temple
From Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic) – 80, 80A, 80B, 80E, 80F, 80G, 252F
From City Market – 77, 77E
From Shivajinagar – 79E
Through Metro: You can also reach ISCKON Bengaluru through Bengaluru Metro. You can get down in "Mahalakshmi" station or "Sandal Soap factory" Station. From there it is around 500m distance.
The nearest Railway station and Airport: Nearest Railway station is Yeshwantpur station which is 2.2km away and Bengaluru City Railway station is 9.6kms away. Nearest Airport is Kempagowda International Airport which is around 33 Km's away from the temple.
A nice article about ISCKON, Rajajinagar, Bangalore. Having visited this quite a few times, I would like to add on the follow.
It is bang on the major road with major hospitals close by and the traffic is too congested from 5:30PM to 7PM. This is worse on Sundays and holidays. New visitors who cross the road have to be very careful as there is a haphazard parking of autos and cabs with speeding traffic around the pedestrians. Beyond 8:30PM, coming back becomes an issue especially if someone is depending on public transport.
Within the temple, all the idols of Lord Vishnu, Lord Venkateshwara and the main idols are radiant and catches the attention of the visitor instantly. Around 8:15 PM, they have a deepavosthava pooja where in all the lights are switched off and we can see the Lord in natural light of the oil/ghee deepams. This is followed by a Pallakivosthava, before the temple closes.
There are many souvenir shops wherein one can buy many religious articles, lamps, dresses etc. One can also donate to the unique 'Akshaya Pathra' scheme which offers free meals to needy students in Bangalore and other cities. It is the largest mid day meal NGO in the world, around 1.3 million children are fed every day in 9 states(https://www.iskconbangalore.org/akshayapatra).
For those who have time, it is worth visiting the restaurant attached to Isckon known as 'The Higher taste', they cook food without garlic and onion and have a fabulous veg spread for buffet lunch and dinner(http://www.iskconhighertaste.com/). Reservations can be made online.