Lord Swaminarayana Temple in Beltsville, Maryland

There are thousands of followers of Lord Swaminarayana in the USA. This number of staunch followers of Lord Swaminarayana is increasing very rapidly as the new Swaminarayana temples are opening day by day in all the countries of the world. I had an opportunity recently, during last week to visit one such beautiful Lord Swaminarayana temple, which is situated at 4320, Ammendale Road, Beltsville, Maryland 20705 near the cities of Washington DC and Baltimore, having phone number as 301 931 3135. One can easily reach this temple through I-95 taking the exit of Route 212 E. The temple is situated only at around 3 minutes drive from the highway I-95 near the exit of Beltsville.

As soon as you reach inside the compound of the temple, the holy and spiritual atmosphere takes the possession of your body and mind. The entire temple is fully air conditioned and very spacious. The main temple hall is having the capacity of around 1200 people. The beautiful statues of Lord Swaminarayana, Pramukh Swamy, Swami Gunatitanandji, Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesh, and Lord Hanuman are arranged artistically in the main temple for the darshanas. The Lord Swaminarayana bhajans keep on playing at a very low volume, generating the spiritual holy atmosphere inside the temple. There are around 200 chairs kept in the temple hall for the persons who cannot sit on the ground. The small bronze statue of Lord Sahajanandji is also kept in the temple. The temple timings are 7 am to 12 noon and 4 pm to 8 pm on all weekdays. However, the temple remains open for darshanas from 7 am to 8 pm during the weekends. There are two artis held daily in the temple. The morning arti is held at 7 am and evening arti at 6.30 pm. It is really worth attending one of these artis to have a real spiritual exposure. The local priests who are expert in their field do these artis and listening to the holy bhajans in their voices is a lifetime opportunity for us all. There are special assemblies on every Sunday between 4.30 pm to 6 pm for people of various age groups. There are also musical classes, Gujarati learning classes, tabla classes, and the classical vocal music learning classes run by the temple management. All such classes are free of cost. However, you need to book your admission well in advance for such classes. Various types of health fairs are also held here at the temple that offers free screening, medical tests, and free medical treatment to all needy persons. Such medical fairs are organized through the help of leading doctors of all the fields.

There is also a food store, known as Shayona in this temple. This food store offers many types of sweets, Gujarati food items, prickles, masalas, and other selected food delicacies at a very reasonable charge. All these items are made in the temple by the volunteers of the temple and have the authentic Indian taste. The large bookstore is also located here that sells varieties of the books, photographs etc pertaining to Lord Swaminarayana, again at very nominal charges. For example, a large three feet by three feet framed photograph of Pramukh Swamy is available here in just $5. The books narrating detailed life story of Lord Swaminarayana is sold at $1 to $3. Various cultural programs are also held on all the Indian festivals at this temple. You can obtain the detailed schedule of all such celebrations from the temple management. The temple management is operated by the temple trust that is elected every year by the devotees of Lord Swaminarayana. The temple interiors are absolutely clean, neat without any blemish. The rest rooms are also designed to accommodate around 20 people at a time both in ladies and gents toilets. We got highly impressed with the entire temple environment and have decided to visit it again.

If you are a staunch follower of lord Swaminarayana, this is the most vital place of pilgrimage for you. However, even if you are not a staunch follower, the repetitive visits to this temple can surely make you the follower of great Lord Swaminarayana. I would strongly recommend all my readers to visit this temple at least once, to experience the spiritual and divine environment of this holy temple.