BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Toronto

A ten-hour campus day, with the inner sanctum closing three times inside it. The afternoon closure is half an hour shorter at weekends.

BAPS in Canada began modestly. In 1973 two students, Bhagwanjibhai Mandaviya and Ghanshyambhai M. Patel, arrived separately and began Sunday satsang assemblies, and Pramukh Swami Maharaj made his first visit to Canada on 27 July 1974. By 1975 about 15 families attended the Sunday assembly, and Diwali and Annakut were celebrated in a church.

The decision to build a mandir was taken during Pramukh Swami Maharaj's fourth visit, in 1984. In 1996 BAPS bought 18 acres off Highway 427 in Etobicoke, and in 2000 he performed the shilanyas, the foundation stone ceremony, on the same visit on which he became the first Asian to receive the Key to the City of Toronto. The wooden Haveli was inaugurated first, in 2004.

The stone was carved by more than 1,800 craftsmen at 26 sites in Rajasthan and shipped to Toronto in 305 containers. There, around 400 volunteers, from a Canadian community of only about 500 BAPS families, served more than 17,115 hours between 2005 and 2007, in temperatures down to minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The mandir was dedicated on 22 July 2007 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller present.

Dedicated

22 July 2007

Built in

18 months, with about 400 volunteers

Carved stone

Over 24,000 pieces, no steel

Pillars

340 in total, 112 intricately carved

Pinnacles and domes

5 shikhars, 1 large dome, 11 small domes

Entry

Free, no booking for individuals

Why the Toronto mandir matters to Hindus

The central shrine holds Parabrahma Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Aksharbrahma Gunatitanand Swami. The other shrines hold Harikrishna Maharaj with Krishna and Radha; Nilkanth Varni, Swaminarayan in his youthful ascetic form; Rama, Sita and Hanuman; Shankar, Parvati and Ganesh; and the gurus of the BAPS lineage, from Bhagatji Maharaj to Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

Daily worship follows a round of darshan, arti, the ritual waving of lighted wicks, and thal, the ritual offering of food to the deities, for which the inner sanctum closes twice a day. On the ground floor, the Nilkanth Abhishek Mandapam welcomes all visitors to take part in the abhishek ritual, through which, the mandir says, personal prayers offered with devotion and faith are fulfilled.

The mandir also describes itself as a cultural landmark: Canada's first traditionally hand-carved stone and marble mandir, built by the principles of the ancient Shilpshastras, and, with its Heritage Museum and Understanding Hindu Dharma exhibition, the largest initiative of its kind undertaken by the Indo-Canadian community.

The mandir publishes a full set of visitor guidelines, and the photography rule is the one worth reading before you arrive.

Quoted from the mandir's own visitor guidelines.

• All clothing must cover shoulders and knees. Sarongs will be available.
• Footwear must be removed upon entering the Mandir or the Haveli. Shoe racks are provided.

The campus is open 9:00am to 7:00pm every day of the year, but the inner sanctum is not open all that time. It closes from 10:25 to 11:15am and from 5:40 to 6:30pm for the Thal ritual, and from noon to 4:00pm on weekdays or to 3:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The best times to see the murtis are the morning window from 9:00 to 10:25am, or the afternoon window that runs until 5:40pm.

Individuals and families do not need to book, so any day of the week works. Groups and schools need advance reservations, and guided visits at weekends and on holidays depend on available time slots. Diwali and Annakut, at the end of October or in early November, are among the grandest celebrations of the mandir's year and a vivid time to come, though the mandir reserves the right to alter visits or close the premises without notice.

Tips before you go

• Wear clothing that covers the shoulders and knees; sarongs are available if you need one.
• Go in through the wooden Haveli front doors, the only entrance to the Mandir, Haveli and exhibition.
• Keep photography to a mobile phone outdoors at ground level, as it is prohibited inside the buildings.
• Switch your phone off or to silent before entering, and keep quiet in the marbled areas.
• Discard chewing gum before you go in, and eat or drink only in the designated areas.
• Make sure anyone aged 17 or under is accompanied by an adult at all times.

The mandir publishes unusually detailed figures on how it was built, and clear directions for reaching it without a car.

How it was built

The mandir is built without steel, from 2,638 tonnes of Turkish limestone, 2,260 tonnes of Carrara marble and 1,484 tonnes of Indian pink sandstone: over 24,000 hand-carved pieces carved at 26 sites in Rajasthan and shipped to Toronto in 305 containers.

The stonework in Toronto took 18 months spread over 2005 to 2007, with around 400 local volunteers. The finished mandir is 72 feet high, 151 feet long and 108 feet wide, with 5 pinnacles and 340 pillars.

Reaching it by transit

From Wilson subway station, bus 96B stops in front of the mandir gates on Claireville Drive. From Finch station, bus 36B to Viewcrest Circle, after Humber College, leaves about a ten-minute walk.

By car, the mandir gives the route from Highway 427 North: exit on Finch Avenue, turn right on Finch, left on Humberline Drive and left on Claireville Drive. The mandir states that there is ample parking on site.