It is more than 6 months we shifted to 'Garden City' and ideally speaking I have not been to any of the places here. I had come to Bangalore on my college trip and been to more places in those 8 days than I have been now, only reason I am enjoying the most beautiful phase of life - Motherhood, leaving very less scope for exploring the city.
My sis has visited us and when I asked her on which place she wants to go, immediately she said 'ISKCON' (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple. We had been planning to visit there but every time our plans got cancelled. So finally we planned for today. Though we were supposed to start by 10 am, it was 1 pm when we actually left home. Being new to Bangalore, we took help of navigation app on phone. It was supposed to take us by fasted route but we ended up taking slowest route. On reaching the temple parking entrance at 3 pm, we found that temple is closed for Darshan and will reopen at 4:00 pm. So, we ended up spending an hour at nearby Big Bazaar doing grocery shopping.
We went to temple at 4:15 pm and got into the queue, looking at which I thought it will take more than hour but luckily it was short. At the entrance, There was a notice board picturizing dress code of Saree and suits for women and shirt and full pant for men. It was for first time I saw dress code mentioned in temple. A lady in front of me was wearing sleeve less Kurta and jeans and she was stopped and questioned for it, before allowing inside. Even I was wearing sleeveless Kurta but a baby and my scarf saved me from being questioned. Next we were handed with card with the chants - 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare ; hare Rama hare Rama Rama Rama hare hare' which we are supposed to say while stepping on every step laid on the way till the entrance of Shri Varhada Narsimha temple. We took a Darshan of Shri Varhad Narsimha and Shri Balaji before entering the main temple of Shri Krishna. I loved the way each idol was beautifully decorated. We had a peaceful darshan followed by delicious snacks that were sold in the temple premises. We were also served yummy curd rice as free prasadam on our way out.
Apart from food stall, it has lots of stall selling books on Krishna, idols, traditional clothing, etc
Some tips for the visiting ISKCON Temple-
Dress Code - Saree & Salwar suit/Kurta pajama for women; shirt/Tshirt and FULL Pants for men.
Timings - 4:15 am to 12 noon ; 4:15 pm to 8:30 pm
No Cameras allowed inside temple.
Have you been to ISKCON before? What all you liked about it?
