ISKCON Bhubaneshwar
To know the history of the Krishna Balaram Temple, Bhubaneswar, we have to go back to the year 1975 when Srila Prabhupada instructed Gour Govinda Swami to build a temple on the donated land. At that time it was jungle, far from Bhubaneswar town.
Srila Gour Govinda Swami came to Bhubaneswar from Vrindavan carrying the weight of his spiritual master’s instructions in his heart. At first he stayed in a Dharmashala near Ananta Basudev temple in Old Town, Bhubaneswar, 6 kilometers from the jungle site where he was to stay alone for many years. From that Dharmashala he would walk to this land every day.
In early 1977, after bringing water and electricity to the land, Srila Gour Govinda Swami requested Srila Prabhupada to come to Bhubaneswar. He arranged for Srila Prabhupada to stay comfortably in the government guesthouse, but Prabhupada refused, saying, “I will stay only where my disciple, Gour Govind has built a mud hut for me.” Srila Prabhupada stayed in Bhubaneswar for seventeen days.
After Srila Prabhupada left this world on 14th November 1977, Srila Gour Govinda Swami preached extensively in Orissa and traveled all over the world. Many Western devotees came to help. Srila Gour Govinda Swami saw the temple almost complete in 1991 after a long 15 years of struggle. It was inaugurated on Nityananda Trayodasi day, the same auspicious occasion when in 1977 Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation stone.
As instructed by Srila Prabhupada, Srila Gour Govinda Swami installed Sri Gour Nitai, Sri Krishna Balaram and Sri Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Devi Devi on three altars and named the temple Sri Krishna Balaram Temple.
Video gallery >>
Web site: http://www.iskconbhubaneswar.org/